Graduate Courses for Finance (BUFN)

Schedule of Classes: Fall | Winter | Spring | Summer
(Only current and next semester available)

BUFN 700 Investment Management (3 credits)
Corequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 743 or BUFN 700. Formerly BMGT743.
Methods of security selection and portfolio management in the debt and equity markets. Investment alternatives, securities markets, bond and common stock valuation, options, portfolio theory, and behavior of stock prices.

BUFN 702 Applied Equity Analysis and Portfolio Management (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 702 or BUFN 702. Formerly BMGT702.
Applications of finance concepts to definitions of investment objectives, equity analysis, portfolio analysis and management, and investment performance evaluation. Cases and studies of actual securities. Emphasis on fundamental analysis and stock recommendations.

BUFN 714 Advanced Financial Management (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 741 or BUFN 714. Formerly BMGT741.
Advanced corporate finance course that builds on the core course. Study of investment and financing decisions faced by firms at various stages in their life cycles. Topics include advanced capital budgeting and capital structure, real options and option-like features in securities, financial contracting, governance, financial distress, and capital-raising transactions ranging from IPOs for young firms to complex hedging strategies for large firms. Pedagogy uses mix of lectures and case studies.

BUFN 716 Financial Restructuring and Strategy (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 742 or BUFN 716. Formerly BMGT742.
Integration and extension of financial theory and principles to analyze financial, asset and ownership restructuring decisions. A valuation framework is used to study strategic decisions such as mergers and acquisitions, share repurchases, exchange offers, leveraged recapitalization, joint ventures, employee stock option plans, divestitures and spin-offs.

BUFN 722 Banking and Financial Institutions (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 745 or BUFN 722. Formerly BMGT745.
The role of financial management in banking and financial institutions. The economic role and regulation of banking and financial institutions, analysis of risks and returns on financial assets and liabilities, and the structure of assets, liabilities and capital.

BUFN 724 International Financial Management (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 746 or BUFN 724. Formerly BMGT746.
The role of financial management in the multinational firm. The financing and managing of foreign investments, assets, currencies, imports and exports. National and international financial institutions and markets.

BUFN 726 Futures and Options Contract (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI 640. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BMGT 744 or BUFN 726. Formerly BMGT744.
The institutional features and economic rationale underlying markets in futures and options. Valuation of futures and options. Hedging, speculation, structure of futures prices, interest rate futures, efficiency in futures markets, and stock and commodity options.

BUFN 731 Fixed Income Securities (3 credits)
Corequisite: BUFN 700. For BMGT majors only.
Focuses on understanding financial instruments that have market values which are sensitive to interest rate movements. Develop tools to analyze interest rate sensitivity and value fixed income securities. Topics include a variety of fixed income assets and related securities, including: zero coupon government bonds; coupon bearing government bonds; exchange-traded bond options; bonds with embedded options; floating rate notes; caps, collars and floors; floating rate notes with embedded options; forward contracts; interest rate swaps; bond futures and options on bond futures.

BUFN 735 Computational Finance (3 credits)
Prerequisites: BUSI 630 and BUSI 640.
Introduces and applies various computational techniques useful in management of equities and fixed income portfolios, valuation of financial derivatives, such as stock options, valuation of fixed income securities and their derivatives. Techniques include portfolio Monte Carlo Simulation, binomial and Black-Scholes option pricing models, value at risk and stochastic processes.

BUFN 738 Investment Fund Management (3 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI 640. For BMGT majors only. Repeatable to 09 credits.
Provides second-year Master in Business Administration students with the opportunity to apply the skills learned in finance classes to actual investment decisions through management of an investment fund.

BUFN 750 Valuation of Corporate Finance (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI640. For majors only. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN714 or BUFN750. Formerly BUFN714.
An advanced topics course in Corporate Finance dealing with valuation. Main topics will be, building pro forma statements, cost of capital, using ratios and comparables to value projects and firms, dicounted cash flow valuations, WACC and APV methods of valuation and Real Option Valuations.

BUFN 752 Financial Restructuring (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI640. For majors only. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN716 or BUFN752. Formerly BUFN716.
Focuses on identifying ways to increase firm value through corporate restructuring. Specific topics include: mergers and tender offers, spin-offs, carve-outs, divestitures, takeover defense strategies, leveraged buy-outs, and international acquisitions. Additionally, the theory, practice and empirical evidence related to each of these topics will be covered. Emphasis will be placed on valuation analysis and strategic considerations.

BUFN 753 Corporate Governance and Performance (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI640. For majors only.
Deals with corporate governance and its impact on shareholder value. Divergence of interests between corporate insiders and providers of funds leads to agency problems which can impair corporate performance and shareholder value. Various instruments of corporate governance - internal as well as external mechanisms - that can help align managerial incentives with those of outside investors, and hence help restore shareholder value will be studied.

BUFN 754 Corporate Risk Management (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI640. For majors only.
Surveys the theory and practice of financial risk identification, measurement, and mitigation at financial and non-financial firms. Topics will include hedging with options and futures, interest rate risk management, Value-at-Risk (VaR), Cashflow-at-Risk (CaR), Earnings-at-Risk (EaR), credit risk, equity risk, commodities risk, exchange rate risk, and lessons from risk management disasters.

BUFN 758 Special Topics in Finance (1-4 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of department. Repeatable to 09 credits if content differs. Formerly BMGT798.
Selected advanced topics in the various fields of graduate study in finance.

BUFN 759 Independent Study in Finance (1-6 credits)
1 semester hours. Repeatable to 06 credits if content differs. Formerly BMGT708.
Independent study for Masters students in finance.

BUFN 765 Fixed Incomd Derivatives (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI640. Recommended: BUFN761. For Majors Only. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN731 or BUFN765. Formerly BUFN731.
Surveys fixed income assets and related securities such as Exchange-traded bond options; bonds with embedded options; floating rate notes; caps, collars, and floors; floating rate notes with embedded options. Also surveys advanced tools for interest-rate and fixed-income portfolio management, including the use of derivative securities, and the application of binomial trees for analysis of options, and a sound understanding of stochastic yield curves.

BUFN 766 Financial Engineering (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUFN761 or BUFN726. For Majors Only. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN735 or BUFN766. Formerly BUFN735.
Develop Excel and Visual Basic (VBA) models to solve problems related to portfolio management, options valuation, fixed income securities, interest rate processes, and risk management. This course thus bridges theory with the design of algorithms and models that can be directly applied in practice.

BUFN 771 International Corporate and Project Finance (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUFN770. For majors only. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: BUFN724; or BUFN770 and BUFN771. Formerly BUFN724.
Continuation of BUFN770. Issues addressed will include captial budgeting, project financing, exhange rate exposure (operating, translation, and transaction), foreign investment strategy, and risk management.

BUFN 773 Institutional Asset Management (2 credits)
Prerequisite: BUSI640. For majors only.
Examines how money is managed by organizations such as university endowments, pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, and private equity funds. Involves a mixture of finance and economics and emphasizes the incentives professional money managers face within the context of the organizational structure in which they operate. Particular attention is paid to compensation structures and monitoring mechanisms.