Graduate Course Descriptions
The Graduate and Professional Programs office maintains a list of graduate courses, including a tentative schedule listing when during the year courses are offered as well as syllabi from various instructors.
Please visit their webpage: https://www.bauer.uh.edu/graduate-studies/academic-information
General Information About Finance Courses and Course Plans
Curriculum Highlights
- Courses in the two traditional “Finance” tracks:
- Corporate Finance (financial management, controlling, budgeting, etc.; mergers and acquisitions; private equity; investment banking; commercial banking)
- Investments and Capital Markets (pricing of securities: equity, fixed-income, derivatives, commodities, etc.; design and valuation of securities innovations; construction, management and performance evaluation of investment portfolios)
- Experiential learning: Cougar Investment Fund
- Real Estate Finance curriculum, offering hands-on education by industry practitioners and excellent networking opportunities.
- Large (and growing) Energy Finance curriculum
- Combines high level finance and accounting training with industry focus
- Students take courses with top-level finance faculty and senior executives from the energy industry
- Specialized skills:
- Energy project evaluation and management
- Valuation of energy firms and assets
- Trading and risk-management
- Oil & Gas accounting
Finance Course Structure
The finance courses that give you a solid foundation in finance are half-semester courses. The sequence in which those courses can be taken is illustrated below, focusing on which courses are prerequisites for other courses. Most of the other electives have only FINA 6A35 as a prerequisite.
Course Planning: General + Specialties
We recommend that you build a solid foundation, by first focusing on the half-semester finance courses (FINA 7Axx) in the diagram above. Building on that foundation, you can then broaden and deepen your curriculum, by taking more specialized courses focusing on specific functions, roles, or industries:
- Corporate Finance (financial management, controlling, budgeting, etc.; mergers and acquisitions; private equity; investment banking; commercial banking)
- Investments and Capital Markets (pricing of securities: equity, fixed-income, derivatives, commodities, etc.; design and valuation of securities innovations; construction, management and performance evaluation of investment portfolios)
- Energy Finance
- Real Estate Finance
To build a curriculum that will help you prepare for your targeted career and industry, start by looking at the recommended courses for different career tracks (below) as well as the courses listed in the certificates.
There are currently nine Finance Certificates, including four certificates for traditional finance roles:
- Financial Services Management Certificate (Cougar Investment Fund)
- Corporate Finance Certificate
- Investment Analysis Certificate
- Investment Banking and Private Equity Certificate
We offer four Energy Finance Certificates:
- Economics of the Energy Value Chain Certificate
- Energy Finance Certificate
- Energy Investment Analysis Certificate
- Energy Risk Management Certificate
We also offer a Real Estate Finance Certificate.
Experiential Learning
The main opportunity for experiential learning is becoming a member of the Cougar Investment Fund, a student-managed investment fund that manages real money (over $12 million in 2019) for real outside investors. Overseen by faculty and industry professionals, students analyze companies, make investment recommendations, and maintain the fund's portfolio, during a 12-month period. Cougar Investment Fund students develop strong analytical and communication skills, valuable for any finance career, both on the investments side and in corporate finance roles. Cougar Investment Fund students comprise Full-time MBA students, Professional MBA students, and MS Finance students.
An alternative opportunity to develop and deepen anaytical and portfolio-management skills is to participate in the Investment and Portfolio Management Project (FINA 7324,7325/7397). This is a one-semester 6-credit course taught by an industry expert that uses a virtual fund to simulate the fund management experience.
Finance Career Tracks
Here are some recommended course lists for specific careers you may be targeting.
- Corporate Financial Managers
- FINA 7A10 Intermediate Corporate Finance: Valuation
- FINA 7A30 Advanced Corporate Finance
- FINA 7A33/7A97 Mergers & Acquisitions I
- FINA 7A34/7A97 Mergers & Acquisitions II
- Cougar Investment Fund
- Investment Banking and Private Equity
- FINA 7A10 Intermediate Corporate Finance: Valuation
- FINA 7A20 Capital Markets
- FINA 7A30 Advanced Corporate Finance
- FINA 7A33/7A97 Mergers & AcquisitionsI
- FINA 7A34/7A97 Mergers & Acquisitions II
- FINA 7326 Private Equity and Investment Banking
- Cougar Investment Fund
- Portfolio & Money Management
- FINA 7A10 Intermediate Corporate Finance: Valuation
- FINA 7A20 Capital Markets
- FINA 7A23 Portfolio Theory and Practice
- FINA 7A40/7A97 Fixed Income I
- FINA 7A41/7A97 Fixed Income II
- FINA 7A97 Personal Financial Planning
- Cougar Investment Fund or FINA 7397/7324,7325 Investment & Portfolio Management Project I and II
- Commercial Banking
- FINA 7A10 Intermediate Corporate Finance: Valuation
- FINA 7A20 Capital Markets
- FINA 7A30 Advanced Corporate Finance
- FINA 7341 Commercial Banking
- Trading & Risk Management
- FINA 7A10 Intermediate Corporate Finance: Valuation
- FINA 7A20 Capital Markets
- FINA 7A23 Portfolio Theory and Practice
- FINA 7340/7A97 Fixed Income I
- FINA 7341/7A97 Fixed Income II
- FINA 7350 Derivatives I
- FINA 7351/7A97 Derivatives II
- FINA 7361 Risk Management
Full-time MBA Student Course Schedule (Finance Summer Internships)
Full-time MBA students are expected to arrange summer internships, to practice what they have learned, to explore industries in which they may seek employment, and potentially to initiate a later full-time employment offer. If you plan to apply for a finance summer internship after your first year, we recommend that you take one of the following sequences of courses (depending on your interests and objectives):
Corporate Finance/Investment Banking Internship Schedule
| COURSE | SEMESTER | |
|---|---|---|
| FINA 6A35 | Managerial Finance | Fall-1 |
| FINA 7A10 | Intermediate Corporate Finance: Valuation | Fall-2 |
| FINA 7A30 | Advanced Corporate Finance | Spring-1 |
| FINA 7A33/7A97 | Mergers & Acquisitions I | Spring-1 |
| FINA 7A34/7A97 | Mergers & Acquisitions II | Spring-2 |
Investments/Risk Management Schedule
| COURSE | SEMESTER | |
|---|---|---|
| FINA 6A35 | Managerial Finance | Fall-1 |
| FINA 7A10 | Intermediate Corporate Finance: Valuation | Fall-2 |
| FINA 7A20 | Capital Markets | Spring-1 |
| FINA 7A23 | Portfolio Theory and Practice | Spring-2 |