Master of Science in Strategic Finance

Discussion of the development and use of accounting information for managerial control and decision making. Accounting methods for cost accumulation and allocation, standard costing, budgeting, inventory valuations, performance measurement, cost-volume profit relationships, special decisions, current developments in managerial accounting, and other topics will be discussed.

To increase decision-making effectiveness by learning more about quantitative methodology and by better understanding its contribution to the decision making process. Includes analysis and solution of realistic problems using microcomputer software.

A study of the theory and practice of corporate finance. Areas studied include organizing capital expenditure, planning dividend policy and capital structure strategies, making short-term financial decisions, mergers, pension plans, and the international aspect of corporate finance.

The purpose of the course is to develop the conceptual and practical skills needed for in-depth company analysis and honing of critical thinking skills useful in understanding financial reporting concepts and analyzing financial statements. The course combines a text that develops financial statement analysis concepts with a text covering cases (using well-known companies) specific to particular aspects of financial reporting and analysis.

Use of financial statement data to: analyze business strategy, assess accounting policies and estimates for analysis and valuation purposes, evaluate financial performance utilizing financial ratio and cash flow measures, and forecast a firm’s future to estimate its value. Resulting information is used in a variety of decision-making contexts.

Practical analysis of financial problems in case-oriented format. Financial models will be used to place data in analytical form to aid the analysis. Areas covered include allocating capital for real investment, financing a firm, knowing whether and how to hedge various risks, and allocating funds for financial investments.

*Director permission: typically taken in last year of program completion.

This course provides a framework for managers to understand, prevent, and detect fraud. Topics include fraud law; who commits fraud and why; fraud symptoms, prevention, and detection; common fraud schemes; fraudster profiles; auditor responsibilities and study of current and historical cases of real-life frauds.