Fall Registration 

The objective of this course is to provide you with an overview of the financial accounting and reporting process. After completing the course, you should be able to understand the difference between cash-based and accrual-based accounting systems, appreciate the interrelation between the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows, prepare basic financial statements, and complete simple financial statement analyses. This course is designed to facilitate understanding of the financial reporting process and the importance of financial reporting for a functioning capital market.

Analysis and Reporting of Corporate Financial Information teaches future business leaders how to understand and communicate their firms’ financial performance to outside stakeholders (e.g., current and prospective capital providers, business partners, employees, etc.). This course builds upon the content in ACCT 5500, integrates with the content in FINC 6500, and serves as a prerequisite for ACCT 6505.

U.S. firms operate in a highly regulated environment, and financial reporting provides managers with a forum to communicate their operational achievements with external parties. In this course, we will (1) learn how to account for the most common and significant types of corporate transactions, and (2) become proficient in using financial statements and footnote disclosures to understand and evaluate corporate performance.

This course will help MBAs develop analytical capabilities that form the basis for making financial decisions in corporations. The course focuses on the following topics:

• time value of money

• stock and bond valuation

• the relationship between risk and return

• choosing investment projects that support firm strategy

• financing decisions

• corporate valuation

• derivatives

In FINC 6500, we shall focus extensively on a specific scarce resource, which economists call CAPITAL and which you and we call cash or money. We know cash is scarce – after all, we would all like to have more cash/capital. Since there is not enough capital to go around – how is it (and how should it) be allocated is the central issue underlying this course. This capital allocation takes place at two levels: First, capital is allocated by capital markets across the wider economy (e.g. corporations such as Starbucks, IBM, Gap, etc., as well as federal, state, and local governments). At the second level, capital is allocated to different projects within a corporation (e.g. Ford’s decision to invest in a Chinese plant). Thus as a business manager, you would be faced with two types of decisions where knowledge of finance is critical: 1) How to gain access to capital? and 2) How to invest available capital?

This course draws from behavioral science research and professional practice to provide a focused experience in leadership development. The course is designed to address four broad objectives for course participants. The first is a self-assessment of critical traits, skills, and behaviors typical of successful leaders. Second, the assessments, simulations, and coaching experiences are the foundation for participants to articulate an effective strategic plan for individual leadership development. Third, we examine the critical role of leaders in developing the talents of subordinates and managing their performance through readings, case studies, and guest speakers. Fourth, we use interactive class exercises to practice skills and reflect on ourselves, our leadership style, and how we might adjust or develop in the future.

This course will study the managerial processes involved in the marketing of products and services in an international setting. Marketing is the business function that gives companies the opportunity for organic growth in a sustainable manner. As a business discipline, marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individuals and organizational objectives. This course views marketing as both a general management responsibility and an orientation of an organization.

Fundamental to marketing programs is the managerial process of creating and delivering value to customers as well as the company and other stakeholders. Within this social context, marketing management is both the art and science of choosing target markets, developing compelling value propositions, and acquiring, retaining, and growing customers by creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value.

This course will use a mix of cases, lecture/discussion, and assignments. This material will be integrated throughout the course with four overriding themes. First, that successful marketing strategies deliver superior customer value profitably; second, that successful implementation of these strategies requires a high level of market orientation (a market-driven firm has superior skills in understanding, attracting, and keeping customers); third, that through careful implementation of marketing actions long-term sustainable growth can be achieved; and fourth, that the market arena in which strategies are implemented is increasingly global.

Statistics is the science and art of extracting useful information from data. It is both descriptive and inferential. While the former deals with methods of organizing, summarizing, and presenting numerical data, the latter is concerned with methods for making inferences and drawing conclusions about the characteristics of a population on the basis of sample information. Business statistics introduces MBAs to concepts, methods, and techniques that are used extensively in business decision-making activities, both in the public and private sectors. The techniques introduced in this course are used in all functional areas of business, including accounting, finance, marketing, production, and personnel management. These techniques and methods are tools for analysis, communication, and decision-making in the international business environment. Because the business environment is characterized by uncertainty, statistics also provides business managers with the tools necessary to arrive at conclusions and to make decisions in uncertain situations.