All finance specialists should take the following courses:
-Corporate Finance (BA 351) -Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management (BA 352) -Derivatives (BA 353) and/or Money and Capital Markets (BA 450)These courses are foundational. While the derivatives course may seem to be more oriented to students making a career in investments, derivative instruments (futures and options) play a crucial role in corporate finance. There are specific modules in this course, that are corporate finance oriented, devoted to the role that derivatives play in the risk management of the firm. As a result, we recommend all students take the derivatives course. The investment analysis course is important in developing tools that help assess the relation between risk and expected return. While this course also appears to be oriented toward investment management, students pursuing a corporate finance career need to be familiar with the latest asset valuation techniques. An important module of this course include cost of capital estimation These techniques are critical for both mergers and acquisitions and project evaluation.