FINANCE

 

Mission Statement

 

Within UNF's Department of Accounting and Finance, the Finance program is committed to providing high-quality undergraduate finance education that serves the needs of Northeast Florida.  The faculty is committed to teaching excellence enhanced by research and interaction with finance professionals in the broader business community.  Specifically, the Finance program seeks to:

  • Provide Bachelor of Business Administration degrees which prepare graduates for entry into
    professional and managerial positions in finance.

  • Provide quality undergraduate instruction in finance, which prepares students for lifelong learning and success.

  • Provide intellectual contributions that enhance the delivery of instruction to students, improve the application of existing knowledge, and provide solutions primarily to regional issues.  The primary emphasis for intellectual contributions is applied research, followed by instructional research, and pure research.

  • Provide service which contributes to meeting the personal, professional, and life-long learning needs of our students, the University community, the business community, and alumni.

  • Provide internship and field experience opportunities to finance students.

  • Attract and retain quality faculty dedicated to teaching, research and service activities consistent with the goals of the Department, College and University.

  • Pursue continuous improvement in teaching, research and service, the Department and its stakeholders will regularly evaluate its mission, objectives and outcomes

 

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

 

Pursuant to this mission, the Finance program shares seven core learning objectives common to all majors within the Bachelor of Business Administration degree in the Coggin College of Business. These are listed below, with modifications specific to Finance majors shown in bold.

  1. Coggin College of Business students majoring in Finance will communicate effectively in written, oral and electronic formats.

  2. Coggin College of Business students majoring in Finance will identify and propose alternatives to reconciling ethical issues in decision-making.

  3. Coggin College of Business students majoring in Finance will understand the global economy and recognize the impact of diverse socio-economic and cultural factors on business operations.

  4. Coggin College of Business students majoring in Finance will utilize technology to enhance decision-making skills and improve productivity.

  5. Coggin College of Business students majoring in Finance will demonstrate the ability to think critically to identify problems, and propose alternatives to these problems.

  6. Coggin College of Business students majoring in Finance will acquire knowledge in the major functional areas of business and understand the interrelationships among them.

  7. Coggin College of Business students majoring in Finance successfully completing their program of study will demonstrate the following content knowledge and skills specific to their major.

 

Content/Discipline Knowledge & Skills

Students successfully completing all tracks will be able to:

  • Categorize and calculate various time value of money problems.
    • Compute present values, futures values, payments, interest rates for single sums, annuities, and uneven cash flows.
    • Formulate all types of time value problems.
    • Calculate retirement problems and internal rate of return problems.
    • Chart timelines.

  • Synthesize the various forms of market efficiency.
  • Synthesize the factors underlying the term structure of interest rates.
    • Identify movements in interest rates based on loanable funds theory.
    • Indicate possible future interest rates in the economy.
    • Isolate the impact of monetary policy decisions on interest rates and the economy using Keynesian and Monetarist techniques.

  • Identify bond characteristics, such as bond indentures, sinking funds, serial bonds, and sequence bonds.
  • Derive bond values and returns.
    • Compute bond prices based on yields to maturity, time to maturity, par value, and coupon payments.
    • Compute the yield to call on a callable bond.
    • Compute actual bond returns for bonds sold prior to maturity.
  • Calculate the hypothetical value of a stock based on various models, such as constant growth, zero growth, and variables rate growth.
  • Identify the current systems used by various countries.
  • Compute future currency movements based on models such as interest rate parity, purchasing power parity, and the international Fisher effect.
  • Analyze the interrelationships existing between international markets.


Students successfully completing the Corporate Track will be able to:

  • Compute the value of bonds using discounted cash flow models.

  • Analyze capital budgeting problems, using various evaluation techniques such as NPV and IRR.

  • Identify the incremental cash flows for a capital budgeting decision.
  • Recognize mutual dependence between capital budgeting projects.

  • Calculate financial strength ratios to evaluate the financial status of a firm.

  • Calculate managerial effectiveness ratios to evaluate a firm’s management.

  • Compute valuation ratios to determine relative equity price performance.

  • Explain the use of financial derivatives in managing financial price risk.

  • Identify the optimal capital structure for a firm.

  • Construct cash flow and cash need statements from pro forma income statements.

  • Construct the firm’s financial statements, including income statements and balance sheets.

  • Infer a firm’s strengths and weaknesses from financial statements.


Students successfully completing the Investments Track will be able to:

  • Compute risk and return associated with bonds and equity.

  • Explain the market process through which securities are bought and sold.
  • Identify various security types, such as common stock, preferred stock, and bonds.
  • Describe, evaluate, and categorize various types of mutual funds.
  • Identify the salient features of a stock market.
  • Calculate financial strength ratios to evaluate the financial status of a firm.
  • Calculate managerial effectiveness ratios to evaluate a firm’s management.
  • Compute valuation ratios to determine relative equity price performance.
  • Comprehend and apply to concepts of diversification and asset allocation.
  • Formulate and define asset pricing models such as the capital asset pricing model and arbitrage pricing theory.
  • Evaluate the performance of portfolios.
  • Identify and compute the value of financial derivatives, such as stock options, futures contracts, swaps, and real options.
  • Identify and provide examples of financial engineering and risk management.
  • Isolate the concept of behavioral finance and contrast it to existing pricing models.

 

Students successfully completing the Real Estate Track will be able to:

  • Generate a residential form appraisal and explain the inputs.
  • Derive a complete after-tax pro forma for an income property including inputs from the market, required rate of return, loan amount, and after-tax sales proceeds.
  • Isolate the flow of funds for residential mortgage lending from origination to the sale of securitized mortgages in the secondary market.
  • Identify the key documents and describe the process of a commercial and residential property transaction.

Critical Thinking Skills





Communication Skills


Corporate Track

Upon completion of the Finance - Corporate Track Curriculum, the student will be able to:

 

Critical Thinking Skills



Communication Skills

          

 

Investments

Upon completion of the Finance - Investments Track Curriculum, the student will be able to:

Critical Thinking Skills

         Explain the market process through which securities are bought and sold.

         Synthesize the various forms of market efficiency and identify market anomalies.

         Synthesize the factors underlying the term structure of interest rates.

         Derive bond values and returns.

         Comprehend and apply to concepts of diversification and asset allocation.

         Evaluate the performance of portfolios.

Communication Skills

          

 

Real Estate Track

 



Assessment Approaches


Oral communication (objective 1) will be assessed by the average student performance while delivering an individual speech during SPC 4064 (Public Speaking for Professionals), using a standardized, anchored grading rubric for all students.

International business knowledge (objective 3) will be assessed by the average student score on the international business assessment indicator (sub-score) of the Major Field Test in Business from the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which will be administered in each student’s last term in their program of study.

Use of technology (objective 4) will be assessed by the average student score on questions developed by Coggin College Information Systems Management (ISM) faculty, and administered at the beginning and end of the term as each student completes ISM 4011 (Introduction to Management Information Systems). 

Critical thinking (objective 5) will be assessed by the average student score on a standardized critical thinking instrument (e.g., the Watson-Glazer Critical Thinking Appraisal), which will be administered as part of an upper division course required of all majors (e.g., MAN 3504 – Production / Operations & Logistics Management). 

Content knowledge in the functional areas of business (objective 6) will be assessed through the Major Field Test in Business from ETS, and administered in each student’s last term.  Content knowledge will be measured by the average overall student score, as well as the average student score on each of eight assessment indicators (or sub-scores), including accounting, economics, management, quantitative analysis, finance, marketing, legal / social environment, and information systems.

Knowledge specific to the major (objective 7) will be assessed by the average score of all Finance majors graduating each term on the Finance assessment indicator (sub-score) of the Major Field Test in Business from ETS.  In addition, advanced Finance questions developed by the Coggin College Finance faculty will be administered via course-embedded instruments in the required courses within the major, or appended to the Major Field Test in Business taken in the student’s last term.  The average score on these questions will be used for assessment of knowledge specific to the major.

Additional assessment approaches are in development, and those noted above are subject to revision as deemed appropriate.

 

 

Career Opportunities

 

For information on the many career options available to Finance majors, go to What Can You Do with a Finance Major at: http://www.unf.edu/dept/cdc/majors/finance.html

 

For More Information

 

To learn more about the UNF Accounting & Finance Department and majoring in Finance, go to http://www.unf.edu/coggin/actfin/finance.htm

 

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