Finance

Overview

Finance is essential to business. Finance faculty boast expertise in foundational concepts like corporate finance and macroeconomics, as well as specialized areas like mergers and acquisitions, derivatives and foreign exchange markets. Students within the program benefit from access to the Burridge Center for Securities Analysis and Valuation and the CU Real Estate Center. Our curriculum prepares students to succeed in areas such as financial management, business economics and real estate.

The finance program addresses issues in the financial services and securities area, including topics related to high technology firms, large corporations, and entrepreneurial companies. The finance program is designed to provide students with in-depth exposure to the background necessary for entry-level positions in various areas of financial management. Students study financial management, money and capital markets, investments and derivative securities, and financial institutions.

This program enables students to develop the ability to evaluate financial problems and formulate sound financial decisions and policies. Although emphasis is on financial management of profit-oriented organizations, the principles and concepts covered are applicable to nonprofit and governmental organizations.

The school recommends that finance students use their business electives to take additional accounting courses beyond the business core, such as ACCT 3220 and 3230.

Career Opportunities

Through the finance program, students acquire the skills to work in corporate finance, consulting, financial markets, and investment and commercial banking. Graduates are able to handle job responsibilities such as financial analysis, cash management, securities analysis, or trading. Jobs may be very lucrative, even in non-management positions such as currency trading.

Larger businesses generally divide finance activities into treasury and control functions, while smaller firms often combine the two. Treasury activities include managing cash, acquiring assets, raising funds through securities issues, and negotiating bank loans to finance assets. Early career opportunities are often in cash management, financial analysis, or asset acquisition activities. Starting positions in investment management include securities analysts or traders for investment banking firms.

Undergraduate Requirements

Required Courses

• ACCT 3220 Corporate Financial Reporting I (3) (counts as a business elective)
• FNCE 3010 Corporate Finance (3)
• FNCE 4030 Investment and Portfolio Management (3)
• FNCE 4850 Senior Seminar in Finance (3)

Students must also take three of the following courses: Two of which must be completed before enrolling in FNCE 4850

• FNCE 4000 Financial Institutions Management (3)
• FNCE 4040 Derivative Securities (3)
• FNCE 4050 Capital Investment Analysis (3)
• FNCE 4060 London Seminar in International Finance and Business (6) (Students may count 3 hours in the area of emphasis and 3 hours as Business Elective credit)
• FNCE 4070 Financial Markets and Institutions (3) (Formerly FNCE 3020)
• FNCE 4830 Seminar in Investment Banking (3)
• FNCE 4831 Seminar in Investment Management (3)
• FNCE 4820/4825 Special Topics or Experimental Seminar (variable credit)*
  *(Only one FNCE 4820/25 course can be applied in the FNCE area of emphasis)

In addition, one of the following courses can be substituted for one of the above FNCE elective courses to meet finance Area of Emphasis requirements.

• APPM 4720 Mathematical Finance (3)
• ESBM 4570 Entrepreneurial Finance (3)
• FNCE 4832 Micro Finance (3)
• INBU 4200 International Financial Management (3)
• REAL 4100 Real Estate Finance & Investment Analysis (3)

Selected Publications

Forthcoming

Sanjai Bhagat, Brian Bolton. Director Ownership, Governance and Performance. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming.

Sanjai Bhagat, Brian Bolton, A. Subramanian. Manager Characteristics and Capital Structure. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming.

Liang Peng, William Goetzmann, Jacqueline Yen. The Subprime Crisis and House Price Appreciation. Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, forthcoming.

Jamie Zender, Emmanuel Morales-Camargo, Orly Sade, Charles Schnitzlein. Divisible Good Auctions with Asymmetric Information: An Experimental Examination. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, forthcoming.

2012

David L. Ikenberry, Konan Chan, Inmoo Lee, Andrew Wang. Informed Traders: Linking Legal Insider Trading and Share Repurchases. Financial Analysts Journal Jan/Feb 2012.

2010

David L. Ikenberry, Konan Chan, Inmoo Lee, Yanzhi Wang. Share Repurchases as a Tool to Mislead Investors: Evidence from Earnings Quality and Stock Performance. Journal of Corporate Finance 16 137-158.

Iulian Obreja, Berndt, A. Decomposing European CDS Returns. Review of Finance 14, 189-233.

Liang Peng, Jim Clayton, Norman Miller. Price-Volume Correlation in the Housing Market: Causality and Co-movement, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics 40(1), 14-40.

Michael J. Stutzer. The Paradox of Diversification. Journal of Investing 19(1).

Jaime Zender, Chris Yung. Moral Hazard, Asymmetric Information and IPO lockups. Journal of Corporate Finance, 16, 320-332.

Jaime Zender, Michael L. Lemmon. Debt Capacity and Tests of Capital Structure Theories. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 45, 1161-1187.

2009

Sanjai Bhagat, Rajesh Aggarwal, S. Rangan. The Impact of Fundamentals on IPO Valuation. Financial Management 38, 253-284.

Matthias Kahl, Gary Gorton, Richard Rosen. Eat or be Eaten: A Theory of Mergers and Firm Size, The Journal of Finance 64(3): 1291-1344.

Mattias Nilsson, Arturo Bris and Yrjö Koskinen. The Euro and Corporate Valuations. Review of Financial Studies 22, 3171-3209.

Mattias Nilsson, Henrik Cronqvist, Fredrik Heyman, Helena Svaleryd, Jonas Vlachos. Do Entrenched Managers Pay Their Workers More? Journal of Finance 64, 309-339.

Liang Peng, Gina Nicolosi, Ning Zhu. Do Individual Investors Learn from Their Trading Experience? Journal of Financial Markets 12(2), 317-336.

2008

Sanjai Bhagat, Brian Bolton. Corporate Governance and Firm Performance. Journal of Corporate Finance 14, 257-273.

Matthias Kahl, Gary Gorton. Blockholder Scarcity, Takeovers and Ownership Structures, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 43(4): 937-974.

Thomas G. Thibodeau, Allen Goodman. Where are the Speculative Bubbles in US Housing Markets? Journal of Housing Economics 35 (2): 209-232.

Michael J. Stutzer. Asset Allocation Without Unobservable Parameters. Financial Analysts Journal, 2004. Reprinted in Horan, ed., Private Wealth: Advances in Wealth Management Practices. Research Foundation of the CFA Institute, 2008.

Jaime Zender, Michael L. Lemmon and Michael R. Roberts. Back to the Beginning: Persistence and the Cross-Section of Corporate Capital Structure. Journal of Finance 63, 1575-1608.

2007

David L. Ikenberry, Konan Chan, Inmoo Lee. Do Managers Time the Market?: Evidence from Open Market Share Repurchases. Journal of Banking and Finance 31, 2673-2694.

Nathalie Moyen. How Big is the Debt Overhang Problem? Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 31, 433-472.

Thomas G. Thibodeau, Allen Goodman. The Spatial Proximity of Metropolitan Area Housing Submarkets. Real Estate Economics 35(2):209-232.

2006

Nathalie Moyen, Khang Min Lee. Optimal Liberalization of Financial Markets, Journal of International Money and Finance 25 1319-1335.

Mattias Nilsson, Arturo Bris, Yrjo Koskinen. The Real Effects of the Euro: Evidence from Corporate Investments, Review of Finance 10, 1-37.

Michael J. Stutzer, Eric Hughson and Chris Yung. The Misuse of Expected Returns. Financial Analysts Journal, Nov/Dec 2006. Winner of Readers Choice Award and a Graham and Dodd Scroll Award.

Jaime Zender, Orly Sade and Charles Schnitzlein. When Less (Potential Demand) is More (Revenue): Asymmetric Bidding Capacities in Divisible Good Auctions. Review of Finance, 10, 389-416.

Jaime Zender, Orly Sade and Charles Schnitzlein. Competition and Cooperation in Divisible Good Auctions: An Experimental Examination. Review of Financial Studies, 19, 195-235.

2005

Sanjai Bhagat, Nathalie Moyen, Inchul Suh. Investment and Internal Funds of Distressed Firms. Journal of Corporate Finance 11, 449-472.

Sanjai Bhagat, David Hirshleifer, Ming Dong, Robert Noah. Do Tender Offers Create Value? New Methods and Evidence. Journal of Financial Economics (76) 3-66.

Mattias Nilsson, Henrik Cronqvist. The Choice Between Rights Offerings and Private Equity Placements, Journal of Financial Economics 78, 375-407.

2004

David L. Ikenberry, Inmoo Lee, Konan Chan. Economic Sources of Gain in Stock Repurchases. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.

J. Chris Leach, Douglas Cook, Laurie Krigman. On the Timing of Open Market Repurchases. The Review of Financial Studies.

J. Chris Leach, Leslie Boni. Expandable Orders in the Brokered Interdealer Market for U.S. Treasury Securities. Journal of Financial Markets.

Nathalie Moyen. Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities: Constrained Versus Unconstrained Firms, Journal of Finance 59, 2061-2092.

2003

Matthias Kahl, Jun Liu, Francis A. Longstaff. Paper Millionaires: How Valuable is Stock to a Stock-holder Who is Restricted from Selling it? Journal of Financial Economics 67(3): 385-410.

J. Chris Leach, Douglas Cook, Laurie Krigman. An Analysis of SEC Guidelines for Executing Open Market Repurchases. Journal of Business.

Mattias Nilsson, Henrik Cronqvist. Agency Costs of Controlling Minority Shareholders, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 38, 695-719.

Michael J. Stutzer. Portfolio Choice with Endogenous Utility: A Large Deviations Approach. Journal of Econometrics, 116, 365-386.

2002

David L. Ikenberry, Sundaresh Ramnath. Underreaction to Self-selected News Events: The Case of Stock Splits. Review of Financial Studies 15, 489-526.

Matthias Kahl. Economic Distress, Financial Distress and Dynamic Liquidation. The Journal of Finance 57(1): 135-168.

J. Chris Leach, Leslie Boni. Supply Contraction and Trading Protocol: An Examination of Recent Changes in the U.S. Treasury Market. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.

Nathalie Moyen, Ann M. Carlos and Jonathan Hill. Royal African Share Prices During the South Sea Bubble, Explorations of Economic History 39, 61-87.

Michael J. Stutzer, Yuichi Kitamura. Connections Between Entropic and Linear Projections in Asset Pricing Estimation. Journal of Econometrics 107, 159-174.

Jaime Zender, Jim Wang. Auctioning Divisible Goods. Economic Theory, 19, 673-705.

2001

Mattias Nilsson, Henrik Cronqvist, Peter Hogfeldt. Why Agency Costs Explain Diversification Discounts, Real Estate Economics 29, 85-126.

Liang Peng, William N. Goetzmann, Roger Ibbotson. “A New Historical Database for the NYSE 1815 To 1925: Performance and Predictability,” Journal of Financial Markets, 2001, 4(1), 1-32.

Michael J. Stutzer. Improving Your Morningstar Ratings Using Options: A Comment. Journal of Investing Winter 2001.

Thomas G. Thibodeau, Brent Ambrose, Richard Buttimer, Jr. A New Spin on the Jumbo/Conforming Loan Rate Differential. Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 23(3): 309-335.

2000

David L. Ikenberry, Josef Lakonishok, Theo Vermaelen. Stock Repurchases in Canada: Performance and Strategic Trading. Journal of Finance October 2000, 2373-2398.

Courses

ACCT 3220: Corporate Financial Reporting I

Undergraduate

First of a two-course sequence intended to provide students with increased fluency in the language of business.

BCOR 2200: Introductory Finance

Undergraduate

Emphasizes the concepts and skills needed to make sound financial decisions. Topics include financial statement analysis, time value of money, interest rates, bond valuation and bond markets, stock valuation and stock markets, cost of capital and capital structure, capital budgeting, financial forecasting, and working capital management. Prereqs., BCOR 1020, 2000, and ECON 2010 or 2020. Coreq.second semester of ECON series and 26 hours completed. Formerly BCOR 2100.

FNCE 3010: Corporate Finance

Undergraduate

Covers the theory and practices governing the management of capital in a business firm.

FNCE 4000: Financial Institutions Management

Undergraduate

Analyzes the structure, markets, and regulations of financial institutions. Studies problems and policies of internal management of funds, loan practices and procedures, investment behavior, deposit and capital adequacy, liquidity, and solvency. Prerequisite: FNCE 3010

FNCE 4030: Investment and Portfolio Management

Undergraduate

Develops modern portfolio theory and applies it to pricing both individual assets and portfolios of assets. Topics include Markowitz portfolio selection model, capital asset pricing model, arbitrage pricing theory, options, futures, bonds, portfolio performance measurement, and issues of market efficiency. Prereqs., FNCE 3010 and 3020.

FNCE 4040: Derivative Securities

Undergraduate

Develops the modern theory of contingent claims in a mathematical framework oriented toward applications. Examines how to use derivatives for risk management and to tailor portfolio payoffs. Provides an in-depth analysis of the properties of options. Prereqs., FNCE 3010 and 3020.

FNCE 4820: Special Topics: Seminar in Investment Management

Undergraduate

Offered irregularly to provide opportunity for investigation into new frontiers in finance. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Restricted to 52 hours completed.

FNCE 4850: Senior Seminar in Finance

Undergraduate

Develops analytical and decision making skills necessary to address real-world business finance situations. Topics include financial analysis and forecasting, capital budgeting, valuation, capital structure policy, international finance, and financial ethics. Uses a combination of lecture and cases; team and individual work. Prereqs., ACCT 3220, FNCE 3010, 4030, and 102 hours completed. Restricted to graduating senior FNCE majors. Formerly BCOR 4002.

FNCE 7200: Doctoral Seminar: Empirical Research Methods in Finance

Ph.D.

Develops an understanding of current empirical methods used to examine research issues related to corporatefinance and the capital markets.

FNCE 7800: Finance Proseminar

Ph.D.

Provides finance doctoral students with an orientation to the finance field.

INBU 4200: International Financial Management

Undergraduate

Examines the financial policies and problems associated with firms doing business internationally. Topics include the foreign exchange environment, country risk, managing foreign exchange exposure, international working capital management, international capital budgeting, and international financial markets. Prereqs., BCOR 1020, 2000, and 2200. Restricted to students with 52 hours completed.

MBAX 6200: Advanced Corporate Finance

Evening MBA

Applies the theory of asset pricing to capital budgeting, capital structure choice, mergers and acquisitions, and risk management.

MBAX 7100: Finance Theory

Ph.D.

Develops the foundations for the study of modern financial economics.

Video

Beyond Security at DIA

Keith Downham ('94 finance) and Marcus Robinson provide a tour of DIA, including the control tower and eastern most runways. From his office overlooking the Frontier Airlines terminal, Downham discusses his role at DIA and a recent stint in Doha, Qatar.

Faculty

Students

News

CFA Gains Momentum at B-Schools

Bloomberg Businessweek

June 18, 2012

In the past few years the number of undergraduate finance majors and MBA students interested in taking the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam has been on the upswing as students look to distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive job market.

Is Uncertainty Responsible for High Unemployment?

American Enterprise Institute

May 11, 2012

Sanjai Bhagat, provost professor of finance, and Iulian Obreja, assistant professor of finance, produced a paper that correlates cash flow uncertainty with job losses and declines in capital investment.

Did Hedge Funds Steal The Facebook IPO Pop?

Forbes

May 21, 2012

Leeds Assistant Professor of Finance Roberto Pinheiro is featured in a Forbes article about the Facebook IPO.

RMB Capital Management Awards

Leeds School of Business

May 11, 2012

The first annual RMB Capital Management Finance Student of the Year awards and the RMB Capital Management Finance Excellence awards honor students who have displayed great integrity in their academic pursuits and who've completing the most rigorous coursework in Finance.

Why Corporate Governance Matters

eHow

January 28, 2011

While regulation compliance is one obvious reason why corporate governance matters, companies with systems of leadership checks and balances also reap other business benefits.