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Finance/Accounting
Concentration Information

Sep 20, 2012 Apply Online Grace Yang blogs about her internship at Brocade Jeff Pitel blogs about his internship at Hewlett-Packard Learn about suggested coursework and career paths UC Davis MBA Curriculum

Finance is the study of how financial assets are created, traded and valued. Within the Finance/Accounting concentration, you can focus your studies on corporate finance or investment management.

The corporate finance track is designed to teach you the role of accounting in business management, financial planning and decision-making. As a student in corporate finance, you develop your knowledge in areas such as reporting to shareholders, managing costs, creating shareholder value, measuring performance and making strategic accounting and financing choices. Your coursework includes Financial Management, Business Taxation, Corporate Financial Reporting and Incentives and Controls.

If you pursue the investment management track, you learn how to price stocks, bonds, options, futures and other derivative securities.  You learn how to sensibly manage an investment portfolio through courses such as Investment Analysis, Derivative Securities and Financial Management. You develop an understanding of the different approaches used by asset managers.

Possible Career Paths

  • Corporate Finance (Accounting, Auditing, Budget Analysis)
  • Banking (Lending, Securitization)
  • Investment Banking (Underwriting, Mergers and Acquisitions)
  • Financial Advising, Wealth Management
  • Insurance
  • Private Equity, Venture Capital
  • Portfolio Management
  • Security Analysis

Suggested Finance, Accounting and Related Courses

Elective

202B Business, Government and the International Economy

Jun 24, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List

Examines the influence of government and international factors on the business environment. Topics include business cycles, inflation and interest rates, the federal debt, monetary policy and international trade and finance.

Elective

203B Forecasting and Managerial Research Methods

Jun 24, 2011 Chih-Ling Tsai

Introduces modern and practical statistical methods for managerial decision-making. Topics include regression analysis, time series analysis and forecasting, design and analysis of experiments in managerial research and contingency table analysis. Applications of these methods include marketing, finance, accounting, production, operations, and public policy. Case studies and examples of computer-aided analysis are provided to illustrate various applications.

Elective

260 Corporate Finance

Sep 20, 2012 UC Davis MBA Course List Anna Scherbina

The course explores how managers make financial decisions through the analysis of Harvard Business School cases. Should a firm undertake a new investment opportunity, raise equity, acquire another firm or conduct an IPO? How should small firms manage their working capital? How fast can a firm grow? These questions can be answered through incremental cash flow analysis technique, and students will learn how to properly apply the technique to real-life situations.

Elective

261 Investment Analysis

Jun 24, 2011 Joseph Chen

Examines models of asset pricing and the actual performance of U.S. and foreign investments, with an emphasis on equity investments. The course considers the factors affecting stock and bond returns, the success of different investment strategies, and the ability of individual investors and institutional players to “beat the market.” Other topics include diversification, market crashes, fixed-income analysis, the organization and performance of mutual funds.

Elective

263 Derivative Securities

Jun 24, 2011 Joseph Chen

The behavior of options, futures and other derivative securities markets and how public agencies, business and others use those markets. Trading strategies involving options, swaps, and financial futures contracts. Pricing of derivative securities, primarily by arbitrage methods.

Elective

264 Business Taxation

Jun 24, 2011 Robert Yetman

Develops and applies a framework for analyzing how income taxes affect business decisions and company strategy. Applications include the role of taxes in management compensation, multinational decision making, corporate restructuring transactions and succession planning. Emphasizes tax planning concepts and their application rather than the detail of the federal code.

Elective

265 Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation

Jun 24, 2011 Ayako Yasuda

This course examines VC finance and the related practice of R&D finance. The goal of the course is to apply finance tools and framework to the world of venture capital and financing of projects in high-growth industries.

Elective

270 Corporate Financial Reporting

Jun 24, 2011 Paul A. Griffin

Critically analyzes and evaluates contemporary issues in corporate accounting and financial reporting, and develops implications of those issues for managers, investors, independent accountants, and policy makers. Focuses on the underlying accounting concepts and the motivations for and consequences of accounting and disclosure alternatives. Discusses research findings and legal implications where relevant. Covers generally accepted accounting principles for industrials, banks, and other organizations.

Elective

271 Strategic Cost Management

Jun 24, 2011 Shannon W. Anderson

This course examines how firms use organizational design and cost management to achieve a sustainable cost structure as a basis for superior profit performance. A value chain framework is used to explore how firms design and structure business processes for strategic advantage. We start with an overview of how modern product costing systems work and their limitations as a basis for strategic cost management. We then study how firms manage costs during product design and development, production and/or service delivery, and after the sale.

Elective

272 Evaluation of Financial Information

Sep 20, 2012 Paul A. Griffin Anna Scherbina

Evaluates the information in financial reports of business enterprises, with an emphasis on the uses of financial statements by business managers and persons outside the firm, such as investors, creditors and financial analysts. Studies U.S. and U.K. enterprises. Covers techniques of financial analysis, evaluation of the quality of financial data, prediction of financial variables, cash flow and accounting valuation models, analysis of significant transactions, stock market effects of accounting information. 270 recommended.

Elective

274 Corporate Governance

Jun 24, 2011 Michael W. Maher

Concentrates on the role of the independent public accountant as auditor, consultant and manager. Auditing standards, auditing procedures, professional ethics and internal control techniques are discussed. Emphasizes current issues confronting the accounting profession.

Elective

276 Real Estate Finance and Development

Sep 20, 2012 UC Davis MBA Course List

Focuses on single-family, attached, detached, multi-family, and light commercial development. Studies factors that make up successful real estate developments. Considers the financial aspects of land acquisition, land development, construction, project lending and management. The course will have special lectures on Wetlands and the political process, forces, moratoriums and controls. Focuses on single-family, attached, detached, multi-family, and light commercial development. Studies factors that make up successful real estate developments.

Elective

285 Time Series Analysis and Forecasting

Sep 20, 2012 Chih-Ling Tsai

Helps managers face problems of forecasting the future value of external and internal factors such as product demand, input prices, inventory levels, interest rates, advertising budgets, etc. Covers techniques to aid in this task, including time series analysis, which is the statistical analysis of past data series to produce forecasts for future values of the series. Covers methods such as exponential smoothing, Box-Jenkins modeling, seasonal adjustment, decomposition, curve fitting and multiple regression.

Elective

297 International Study Trip

Dec 20, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List L. Wilton Agatstein

This course is led by students under a faculty’s supervision. Participating students select a country to study, identify industry sectors to explore, and establish contacts with business executives in various companies to meet during the field trip. The field trip takes place between the winter and spring quarters for Day MBA and September for Working Professional MBA. The class meets every other week to facilitate the learning about international trade, country profiles, industry sectors, and business practices based on student-driven secondary research and presentations.

Elective

292 Banking and the Financial System

Sep 20, 2012

This course will analyze the role of financial markets and financial institutions in allocating debt capital. The major focus will be on bank lending, debt securities and on innovations in the financial markets. The functions of commercial banks, investment banks, and other financial intermediaries will be covered, and aspects of the regulation of these institutions will be examined. Real world case studies and guest speakers representing various elements of the financial system will be integral components of this course and help evaluate the gaps between theory and reality.

Elective

200B Managerial Accounting

Jun 24, 2011 Ram N.V. Ramanan

Focuses on the use of accounting information for better managerial decision making and creating value for organizations. Topics include product costing, cost allocation, incremental analysis, budgeting, variance analysis, and performance evaluation. Methods for learning include lectures, problem solving, case presentations and discussion.

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