Finance Minor

Introduction to the double-entry system of debits and credits, journal entries and general ledger accounts, steps leading up to financial statement preparation and format of financial statements. Also included are studies of merchandising companies and determination of inventory balances and cost of goods sold, and an introduction to the accounting treatment of various assets and liabilities.

An introductory study of the basic principles, instruments, and institutions in the financial marketplace. Topics include the concept of money; the Federal Reserve and the banking system; the provision and management of funds for both the short and long terms; the basic financial instruments; financial characteristics of the firm, including basic balance sheet analysis; the role of the stock and bond markets; interest rates and present value analysis; personal finance issues.

Characteristics and investment strategies related to stocks, bonds, and options. Sources of return and risk are explored. The foundations of financial research are developed with regard to information sources, valuation techniques, computation of return and risk and their relationship. SEC regulations; methods of performance evaluation.

Methods of capital budgeting and corporate financial decision-making; valuation techniques, market efficiency, capital structure, dividend policy, Betas, cost of capital, portfolio analysis and the Miller Modiglian principle are incorporated into the analysis; financial analysis under conditions of certainty and uncertainty.

An introductory course covering issues relating to the economy as a whole. Topics covered include, but are not limited to, the study of national income and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), national income determination, investment, consumption and consumption theories; classical economic theories, Keynesianism, monetarism, rational expectations, supply-side economics; the business cycle, inflation, unemployment; money and the money supply, the banking system, the federal reserve system, monetary and fiscal policy, budget deficits and the national debt.

An introductory course covering issues relating to individual economic units: namely, the individual consumer, the individual firm, the individual factors of production-land, labor, and capital. Topics covered include, but are not limited to, price theory, price determination through equilibrium, supply and demand, analysis of consumer demand, utility theory and marginal utility, consumer equilibrium, indifference curve analysis, analysis of supply, theory of production, pricing in perfectly and imperfectly competitive markets, types of imperfect competition, anti-trust laws in the U.S., and distribution of income.