Academic Learning Compact - Finance

The finance major enables you to gain the basic finance, communication and critical thinking skills required for entry-level positions in corporate financial analysis, banking, investment and certain regulatory agencies. You will learn the basics of financial statements, the basics of working capital management and capital budgeting decisions, the types of securities available to investors and the risk/return attributes of those securities, the factors affecting security pricing, and the tradeoffs inherent in financing a business and paying out the profits of a business.

Additional information is available from your major's website.

Before Graduating You Must

• Take the Educational Testing Service’s Business Major Field Test. The score from this exam will be incorporated into MAN 4504 taken in the final term.
• Complete requirements for the baccalaureate degree, as determined by faculty.

Skills You Will Acquire in the Major (SLOs)

1. Understand computer technology and develop the ability to access and work with financial data.
2. Integrate and apply principles and methods of scientific inquiry, social sciences, arts and humanities to the business environment.
3. Understand individual business disciplines and their relationship to the domestic and global business environment.
4. Understand the basics of financial statements produced by corporations.
5. Understand basic operating decisions that require financial analysis such as working capital management and capital budgeting.
6. Understand the types of securities available to investors and the risk/return attributes of those securities.
7. Understand the tradeoffs involved in deciding how to finance a business and how to pay out profits to investors.
8. Understand the factors that determine the pricing of equity, debt and derivative securities.
9. Apply mathematical concepts to interpret, understand and communicate quantitative data.
10. Analyze and interpret economic and financial events for internal decision-making purposes.
11. Prepare spreadsheets for forecasting cash flows and valuing the cash flows with appropriate discount rates.
12. Effectively produce, interpret and analyze written text, oral messages and multimedia presentations used in business.