In addition to meeting with your advisor throughout your time at Tippie, you'll also use the course planning worksheet—it will help you know what courses you need to take for your major, as well as help you plan when you'll take them. Plan your course schedule with the worksheet and read about the courses you'll be taking below.
Major courses
Professional Finance Seminar (FIN:3020)
Seminar topics include finance careers, curriculum, understanding of current events, internships, professional designations, ethics, and general finance acumen. (1 s.h.)
Financial Information Technology (FIN:3100)
Applications of commonly used financial software and data systems reviewed by student teams. Corequisite: FIN:3000. (2 s.h.)
Investment Management (FIN:3200)
Investment in marketable securities in domestic and international markets; financial markets, securities trading, evaluation of risk/return trade-off, formulation and implementation of investment strategies, efficient portfolio formation. Prerequisite: FIN:3000. Corequisite: FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
Corporate Finance (FIN:3300)
Advanced managerial decision making; corporate financial policy, dividend policy, agency theory, corporate restructuring, capital structure strategies, mergers and acquisitions, option pricing fundamentals, convertible debt, callable debt, warrants. Prerequisite: FIN:3000. Corequisite: FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
Financial Accounting and Reporting (ACCT:3020)
External financial reporting practices in context of decisions by management, current and potential stockholders, financial analysts; emphasis on interpretation, use of financial statements. Prerequisite: ACCT:2200. Requirement: nonaccounting major. (3 s.h.)
Elective courses
Principles of Risk Management and Insurance (FIN:3400)
Introduction to risk and insurance; risk identification and evaluation, demand for insurance, effects of limited liability, theory of moral hazard and adverse selection; business and personal risk; insurance as a risk management tool. Prerequisites: ECON:1100 and ECON:1200. (3 s.h.)
Topics in Finance (FIN:4020)
Contemporary issues in finance. Prerequisites: FIN:3000 and FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
Futures and Options (FIN:4210)
Use of options, futures, and other derivative securities in financial management; understanding types of derivative securities, markets, trading technology; applications of risk management and speculation; pricing relations with underlying securities. Prerequisites: FIN:3100 and FIN:3200. (3 s.h.)
Fixed Income Securities (FIN:4220)
Theories of fixed income securities, term structure of interest rates; asset pricing models, valuation of fixed income securities and contingent claims, fixed income portfolio management, immunization strategies, yield curve analysis. Prerequisites: FIN:3000 and FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
Real Estate Process (FIN:4230)
Fundamentals of real estate finance and investments; economic base analysis, asset analysis, market analysis, mortgage markets, underwriting, alternative mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, real estate securitization, land development, valuation principles, investment analysis, tax consideration, portfolio management. Prerequisites: FIN:3000 and FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
International Finance (FIN:4240)
International monetary systems, exchange rate determination, use of currency derivative in hedging and risk management, currency swaps, foreign direct investment, international corporate finance, international capital budgeting, international portfolio investment, Third World debt, privatization, joint ventures. Prerequisites: FIN:3000 and FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
Applied Equity Valuation (FIN:4250)
Equity valuation and portfolio management techniques by investment professionals; economic forecasting, industry analysis, financial statement analysis, spreadsheet modeling, cost of capital estimation, equity valuation and portfolio construction; students manage the University of Iowa's Krause Fund (an endowed equity portfolio that blends academic rigor with real-world portfolio management experience). Prerequisites: FIN:3100 and FIN:3000. Requirement: UI cumulative GPA of at least 2.80. (3 s.h.)
Advanced Corporate Finance (FIN:4310)
Understanding and evaluating major corporate actions such as mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, spinoffs, and debt and equity issuance; introduction to venture capital and leveraged buyouts; includes a substantial experiential learning component and attempts to nudge students away from textbook-based learning toward acquiring practical skills needed to succeed in the corporate finance industry; students will be required to collect and evaluate financial information and be challenged to think beyond the lecture material presented in the classroom. Prerequisites: FIN:3100 and FIN:3300. (3 s.h.)
Commercial Banking (FIN:4320)
Management of commercial banks and financial service firms; asset and liability management, credit policy, capital risk, liquidity planning, use of swaps and derivatives to hedge interest rate risk, global banking, investment strategies. Prerequisites: FIN:3100 and FIN:3000. (3 s.h.)
Investment Banking (FIN:4330)
How investment banks fill critical roles in maintaining well-functioning financial markets and provide access to capital and strategic advice to companies and governments; recent global financial crisis; how banker's role as intermediary between companies and markets adds value and creates conflicts and risk. Prerequisites: FIN:3100 and FIN:3300 and FIN:3000. (3 s.h.)
Wealth Management (FIN:4340)
Financial services for client wealth management; how to make personal investment decisions and build diversified, comprehensive investment portfolios; investment theory; common behavioral biases that lead to investment pitfalls, mistakes; wealth management objectives, portfolio risk and reward, asset allocation, portfolio diversification, tax shield structures, retirement plans, wealth protection, risk management, behavioral finance, psychology of investing. Prerequisites: FIN:3000 and FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
Applied Wealth Management (FIN:4350)
How wealth management relates to managing the financial well-being of individuals; process of determining goals and objectives for someone and assessing their risk tolerances; development of a strong financial plan involving a variety of steps and process including insurance needs, savings requirements, estate planning, budgeting, asset allocation, and portfolio development; experiential component where students make recommendations for real clients or a pool of funds. Prerequisites: FIN:3000 and FIN:3100. (3 s.h.)
Corporate and Financial Risk Management (FIN:4410)
Analysis and treatment of pure and financial risks faced by business organizations; development and implementation of the risk management process, application of varied risk management techniques to identified exposures; how businesses manage risk and how insurance is used to manage the cost of risk; case studies. Prerequisite: FIN:3400. (3 s.h.)
Property and Liability Insurance (FIN:4420)
Fundamentals of commercial property and liability insurance; commercial property and liability contracts, functions of property and liability insurers; regulation and financial analysis of property and liability insurers; marketing, underwriting, rate making, claim settlements. Prerequisite: FIN:3400. (3 s.h.)
Life and Health Insurance (FIN:4430)
Types of life insurance and annuity contracts and their uses; regulation of life and health insurers; development of financial plans using life insurance products; Social Security, group, and individual health insurance products, including major medical, disability income, long-term care policies; marketplace analysis; contractual provisions, determination of human life values, mathematics of life contingencies and pricing. Prerequisite: FIN:3400. (3 s.h.)
Employee Benefit Plans (FIN:4440)
Management of employee benefit plans (e.g., group life and health insurance, retirement programs); design, administration, and financing of employee benefits; federal administration of employee benefit plans; funding requirements, financial alternatives; funding and vesting of retirement annuities; design and management of health care plans, including "cafeteria" approach and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements; economic effects and financing employee benefits and retirement plans in private and public sectors. Prerequisite: FIN:3400. (3 s.h.)
Risk Modeling (FIN:4450)
Theory used to solve real-life problems taken from a diverse set of risk management applications; varied areas where risk analysis has become important (i.e., finance, insurance, corporate risk management, personal financial planning); principles of probability theory, mathematical finance, and actuarial science developed for use in quantitative analysis of important risk management problems; spreadsheet-based course. Prerequisite: FIN:3000. (3 s.h.)
Insurer Operations and Captive Management (FIN:4460)
Fundamentals of insurer and captive operations; regulation, accounting, finance, marketing, underwriting, reinsurance, ratemaking, and claims management; students set up and manage a captive insurance company covering risk exposures of the University. Prerequisite: FIN:3400. (3 s.h.)