This program prepares students for a wide range of careers in the financial services sector and economics. Our curriculum merges solid academic principles with real-world application. Pursue industry-recognized accreditations, including the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certifications. Specialize in financial management and modeling, forecasting, analysis, investment strategies, and more. As part of the Finance program, students may earn a Bachelor's or Master's degree, or a Certificate of Proficiency (Financial Planning). Students also have the ability to minor in Finance and pair these skills with another major.
Students will be effective at corporate financial management
Objective 1 - Use capital budgeting techniques to value a firm or project, including forecasting cash flows; estimating horizon value if necessary; selecting an appropriate discount rate; and computing value using NPV, IRR, and profitability index. Students should also be able to conduct risk analysis on capital budgeting projects, such as sensitivity analysis, scenario analysis, and real options.
Objective 2 - Evaluate capital structure for a firm or project, calculate a firm’s weighted average cost of capital, and value the value of a leveraged project (or the change in value of a leveraged firm) using WACC and other leveraged firm valuation methods.
Objective 3 - Evaluate how firms manage their working capital to increase value.
Objective 4 - Develop a risk management plan for a firm or project.
Objective 5 - Describe how corporate financial management decisions affect firm performance.
Students will understand basic portfolio theory, implications of the efficient market hypothesis and behavioral finance.
Objective 1 - Demonstrate an understanding of the stock, bond, option, and futures markets and how they function.
Objective 2 - Describe the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), including its assumptions, and the security market line (SML);
Objective 3 - Explain minimum-variance portfolios, the efficient frontier, and capital market line (CML);
Objective 4 - Describe market efficiency and the potential relevance of behavioral finance in understanding market anomalies.
Objective 5 - Explain the benefits of diversification, how correlation effects the benefits of diversification, and the implications of diversification on portfolio construction.
Objective 6 - Calculate the return and risk measures of an individual security and a portfolio.
Students will be knowledgeable of operation, risk measurement and management, and regulation in financial institutions.
Objective 1 - Demonstrate understanding of the function of different financial institutions in providing financial services, industry composition and trend, operating activities and performance, and the nature of government regulation imposed on the industry.
Objective 2 - Apply risk-evaluating approaches to measure the risk exposures of financial institutions in interest rate, credit, liquidity, market, foreign exchange, off-balance-sheet activities, and other operations.
Objective 3 - Demonstrate knowledge of capital requirements set by U.S. regulators to protect financial institutions from insolvency and failure, and different risk- and category-based capital adequacy measures used by financial institutions and regulators.
Objective 4 - Describe how financial institutions use derivative contracts, loan sales, and asset securitization to hedge liquidity, interest rate, and credit risks originated from their asset portfolio.
Students will be knowledgeable of the valuation of certain asset classes
Objective 1 - Perform valuation calculations using time value of money techniques such as NPV and IRR and valuation formulas such as the dividend growth model, the capital asset pricing model and other appropriate valuation formulas.
Objective 2 - Value equities using different models and the assumptions behind them.
Objective 3 - Value different types of bonds and understand the nature of the yield curve and how the pure expectations hypothesis explains the yield curve.
Objective 4 - Describe the customer adoption process and product life cycle
Objective 5 - Demonstrate an understanding of options terminology, the factors affecting option prices, and be able to create basic strategies involving options.
Students will be knowledgeable of financial statement analysis and understand how financial statements can be used to evaluate and value a business.
Objective 1 - Construct a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement using basic accounting transactions and link each of primary financial statements together.
Objective 2 - Calculate and interpret financial ratios to manage desired financial outcomes and identify and diagnose company problems, challenges, and opportunities.
Objective 3 - Forecast the future pro forma financial statements and performance of a company.
Objective 4 - Compare the financial statements of peers and comparable companies to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a company and create a top-down view of the industry and sector in which a company operates.
Objective 5 - Value an enterprise using a company’s historic and pro forma financial statements
Of marketing graduates are First Gen Students
45% of finance internships were completed by students over the age of 25
Of finance graduates have a salary over $45K after graduation
Median Salary for Utah: $102,580
Semester 1
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 or 5 |
ENGL 1010 or ENGH 1005Introduction to Academic Writing/Literacy and Composition |
3 |
MATH 1050 or MATH 1055 or MATH 1090College Algebra or College Algebra with Preliminaries or College Algebra for Business |
3 |
Physical ScienceDistribution |
2 |
HLTH 1100 or PES 1097Personal Health and Wellness or Fit for Life |
3 |
Fine ArtsDistribution |
1 |
General Elective
|
Notes: Milestone courses (pre-requisites for a course in one of the subsequent semesters) are marked in red and italicized.
Semester Total:
15
Semester 2
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 |
MGMT 2240* (preferred) or MATH 1100Business Calculus or Intro to Calculus |
3 |
ENGL 2010lntermediate Writing-Academic Writing & Research |
3 |
American InstitutionsDistribution |
3 |
BiologyDistribution |
3 |
General elective(IM 2010/2600 ** recommended) |
Note: **Complete with B- grade or higher
Semester Total:
15
Semester 3
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 |
ACC 2110Principles of Accounting I |
3 |
PHIL 2050Ethics and Values |
3 |
ECON 2010Principles of Economics I |
3 |
MGMT 2340Business Statistics I |
3 |
Humanities |
Notes:
Semester Total:
15
Semester 4
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 |
MGMT 2400Introduction to Data Analytics for Business Professionals |
3 |
ACC 2600Business Law and Ethics |
3 |
ECON 2020Principles of Economics II (fulfills Social/Behavioral Science credit) |
3 |
MKTG 220GWritten Business Communication WE (Complete with a B- grade or higher) |
3 |
Additional Biology or Physical ScienceDistribution |
Notes: Students can matriculate at the end of this semester. Students can apply for an Associate in Science degree Pre- Major in Business this semester.
Semester Total:
15
Semester 5
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 |
MGMT 3000Organizational Behavior WE |
3 |
ECON 305G or MGMT 332G or MGMT 330GInternational Economics or Cross-Cultural Communications for International Business or Survey of International Business |
3 |
General Elective |
3 |
MKTG 3600Principles of Marketing |
3 |
General Elective |
Notes:
Semester Total:
15
Semester 6
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 |
ECON 3020Managerial Economics |
3 |
MGMT 3345Business Statistics II |
3 |
FIN 3100Principles of Finance |
3 |
Finance Elective |
3 |
MGMT 3450Operations Management |
Notes:
Semester Total:
15
Semester 7
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 |
FIN 3150Financial Management |
3 |
FIN 3400Investment Management |
3 |
FIN 4100Management of Financial Institutions |
3 |
Finance Elective |
3 |
Finance Elective |
Notes:
Semester Total:
15
Semester 8
Credit Hours |
Course Title |
---|---|
3 |
MGMT 4860Business Strategy Formulation and Implementation |
3 |
Finance Elective |
3 |
Finance Elective |
3 |
General Elective |
1 |
MGMT 495R or ENTR 493RExecutive Lecture Series or Entrepreneurship Lecture Series |
2 |
General Elective |
Notes:
Semester Total:
15