Finance
Create and Manage Wealth
Gain the tools you need to lead an organization in achieving its financial goals. In the Finance Diploma Program you engage in an in-depth exploration of fundamental financial concepts, such as the time value of money, capital budgeting, and measurements of business performance. In addition, you examine working-capital management, dividend policy, hedging principles, options, and risk management, as well as mergers and acquisitions and financial restructuring. Study of trade finance, the unique challenges of international financial management, and the international monetary system provide you with insights into financial techniques and decision making that are applicable worldwide.
Finance courses
Your program begins with Management Accounting. After an overview of financial accounting, you learn about cost-volume-profit relationships, cost allocation, and income measurement through reading assignments and case studies. By the end of the course, you will be able to
- understand how costs are gathered and assigned
- predict cost behavior and plan for break-even
- develop an operating budget for short-term planning
Basic Corporate Finance provides you with a foundation for understanding how value is created and measured in corporations. Reading assignments and small-group work allow you to
- understand the tools used by financial managers to make effective investing and financing decisions
- define various cost terms, concepts, and classifications
- apply time value of money, risk and return, cost of capital, and other key concepts to class projects
Intermediate Corporate Finance provides a review of security valuation and the cost of capital components, leading to an in-depth analysis of the cost of capital. You also focus on issues related to raising long-term capital. By the end of this course, you will be able to
- determine the costs of different types of capital
- interpret and analyze the role of risk in corporate finance decisions
- use, interpret, and analyze the various models of a firm's optimal capital structure
Investment Portfolio Management provides you with hands-on experience in applying the latest techniques in portfolio analysis and management. You learn to apply money management theory to solve real-world problems. When you complete this course, you will be able to
- analyze bonds and bond portfolios
- evaluate investment managers using current portfolio theory
- build a portfolio that reflects appropriate client risk
International Finance provides you with the tools to address two key issues: the risks and opportunities created by changes in exchange rates, and the use of international markets as sources of financing. Upon completion of the course, you will be able to
- understand the operation of international capital markets and the characteristics of alternative sources of medium- and long-term financing
- forecast exchange rates based on the relationships between spot rates, forward rates, inflation rates, and interest rates
- construct an integrated exchange risk program
Business Valuation incorporates economic, accounting, and relative value models to price projects, private firms, and public companies. You learn about strengths, weaknesses, and applications of these tools through conceptual analysis and examples. By the end of this course, you will be able to
- derive valuation of projects or stand-alone companies using a variety of techniques
- analyze and judge valuation-based recommendations
- understand cash-flow-based forecasts and their implications in business
Advanced Corporate Finance applies essential financial tools and techniques in a series of case studies selected to illustrate the analysis of critical corporate financial decisions. By the end of the course, you will be able to analyze
- all models and studies of corporate financial policies and strategies
- the effects of a firm's capital structure on its value and on its costs of capital
- dividends and stock repurchases, mergers and acquisitions, and risk management
Workshops and seminars play a large role in the Finance Diploma Program. Topics such as economics, financial modeling with Excel, and risk analysis provide you with an opportunity to further develop your analytical skills. You gain knowledge in one of the most complex and important areas of business management. The rigorous nature of this program makes it an ideal preparation for an M.B.A. program. It also provides you with a solid foundation for managing your own company.
Prerequisites
Prior study of accounting, statistics, or economics