Finance, MSF

Overview

Graduate Program

Clark University’s School of Management Master’s in Finance program is a rigorous curriculum focusing on the skills and knowledge required to apply advanced financial theories to complex financial management problems. To be successful in this program, students need to have strong mathematical skills, along with required prerequisite course work in the following areas:

• Calculus
• Economic Theory
• Statistics

Students are required to complete three prerequisite courses prior to the start of their MSF program. Undergraduate economic theory, calculus and statistics courses with a grade of ‘B’ or higher will meet the prerequisites. If students are missing any prerequisites, they will be required to enroll in the missing prerequisite course(s) through Clark University prior to officially starting in the MSF program: STAT 4008 , ECON 4004   and/or STAT 4009 .

The Master’s in Finance program as well as the analytics concentration are both STEM-designated programs.

Graduate Program Requirements

The curriculum for the MSF program consists of eight required core courses, plus one unit of an Experiential Learning Requirement (ELR), and one unit of general elective coursework, for a total of 10 units.  All courses are worth one unit, unless otherwise specified.  The ELR course is typically taken in the student’s final semester.  Students can choose from the ELR and elective list shown below.

Students must achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.0 to be in good academic standing in SOM at the end of each semester (a ‘B’ in each of their classes).  The lowest grade a student can earn in a course is a ‘C.’

Completion of a graduate internship is also required for all full-time students in the program.  However, it may be possible to waive this requirement if students have 3+ years of professional business work experience related to their field of study.  Contact a member of the Stevenish Career Management Center for more information.

Students can begin this program at the start of the fall or spring semester.

Required Core Courses:

•  

  Semester 1

• ACCT 4101 - Foundations of Financial Accounting
• FIN 5309 - Financial Econometrics
• FIN 5401 - Investments

•  

• Semester 2

• FIN 5208 - Fixed-Income Securities
• FIN 5200 - Corporate Finance
• FIN 5216 - Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives

•  

• Semester 3

• FIN 5201 - Case Studies in Corporate Finance
• FIN 5310 - Case Studies in Derivatives

•  

Financial Analytics Concentration

Students may choose to add a Financial Analytics concentration to their MSF program of study if they would like to specialize in this area. The curriculum for this concentration consists of eight required core courses, plus one unit of an Experiential Learning Requirement (ELR), and one unit of general elective coursework, for a total of 10 units.  All courses are worth one unit, unless otherwise specified.  The ELR course is typically taken in the student’s final semester.  Students can choose from the ELR and elective list shown below.

Students must also complete an internship while completing their program.  The internship is an additional requirement and is not for course credit.

Students applying to this concentration must satisfy 1 Python or SQL Server Programming prerequisite course prior to beginning their first semester at Clark University. Please read below for prerequisite guidelines:

Python or SQL Server Programming

The common topics that the programming courses must cover is the syntax, algorithm, and programming skills of a popular programming language, such as Python, Java, C++, C, SQL, Visual Basic, Perl, PHP, or MATLAB.

The prerequisite is automatically satisfied if the student took one (1) course at an accredited college or university. Students can also satisfy this programming prerequisite if they successfully complete the following Online Certificate programs from either LinkedIn Learning or Udemy:

LinkedIn Learning

• Click here for the “Python Essential Training” course
• Click here for directions on how to download/print your certification

Udemy

• Click here for the “Programming with Python: HandsOn Introduction for Beginners” course
• Click here for directions on how to download/print your certification

•  

  Semester 1

• ACCT 4101 - Foundations of Financial Accounting
• FIN 5401 - Investments
• BAN 4550 - Analytics Programming

•  

• Semester 2

• FIN 5309 - Financial Econometrics
• FIN 5200 - Corporate Finance
• BAN 5501 - Database Management and SQL for Analytics

•  

• Semester 3

• FIN 5216 - Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives
• STAT 4650 - Machine Learning

Experiential Learning Requirement

Students choose one of the following courses to fulfill the Experiential Learning Requirement for the program. This course is typically taken in the student’s final semester. The courses are designed to allow students to use the skills that they have acquired from other core courses to gain hands-on experience solving real world challenges.

• BAN 5650 - Applied Business Analytics
• BAN 5700 - Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
• FIN 5404 - Investment Fund
• FIN 5409 - Wealth Management
• FIN 5417 - Financial Consulting Project
• MGMT 5235 - Corporate Climate Action and Social Innovation
• MGMT 5510 - Community Development, Social Change & Sustainability Consulting Projects
• MGMT 5615 - Corporate Social Responsibility
• MGMT 5792 - Management Consulting Projects
• MGMT 5543 - Project Management

Elective Course

Students choose one unit of elective courses from a list of preselected courses. Approved Management and Marketing courses with prerequisites require permission and a registration override from the professor if students have not completed the prerequisites.

• ACCT 5100 - Accounting Analytics
• ACCT 5101 - Financial Analysis and Reporting I
• ACCT 5102 - Financial Analysis and Reporting II
• ACCT 5103 - Management Accounting with Data Analytics
• ACCT 5104 - Accounting Information Systems
• ACCT 5105 - Financial Auditing with Data Analytics
• ACCT 5107 - Analysis of Financial Statements
• ACCT 5109 - Government and Nonprofit Accounting
• ACCT 5114 - Principles of Internal Auditing
• ACCT 5200 - Advanced Accounting Analytics
• ACCT 5206 - Federal Taxation
• BAN 4500 - Information Systems for Analytics
• BAN 4550 - Analytics Programming
• BAN 5532 - Introduction to AI for Data Scientists and Business Analysts
• BAN 5573 - Visual Analytics and Business Intelligence
• BAN 5600 - Advanced Big Data Computing and Programming
• BAN 5700 - Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
• FIN 5203 - Investment Strategies
• FIN 5404 - Investment Fund
• FIN 5405 - Mergers and Acquisitions
• FIN 5409 - Wealth Management
• FIN 5417 - Financial Consulting Project
• FIN 5433 - Financing for International Development
• FIN 5900 - Special Topics in Finance
• MGMT 4302 - Organizational Leadership
• MGMT 4708 - Business Law I (1/2 unit)
• MGMT 4713 - Business Law II (1/2 unit)
• MGMT 5510 - Community Development, Social Change & Sustainability Consulting Projects
• MGMT 5543 - Project Management
• MGMT 5792 - Management Consulting Projects
• MKT 4400 - Marketing Management
• MKT 5486 - Branding Strategies
• MKT 5487 - Sustainability Marketing

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Program Faculty

Fei Fang, Ph.D.

Steve Ng, M.B.A.

Sitikantha Parida, Ph.D.

Richard Spurgin, Ph.D.

Zhenyang Tang, Ph.D.

Adjunct Faculty

Claudia Chilundo, Ph.D

William Davis, M.B.A.

Yue Gao, Ph.D.

Thomas Herald, M.B.A

Frank Jenkins, M.B.A.

Hong Zou, Ph.D.

Emeriti Faculty

Margarete Arndt, D.B.A.

Robert Bradbury, Ph.D.

Gary Chaison, Ph.D.

Harold T. Moody, Ph.D.

Edward J. Ottensmeyer, Ph.D.

Maurry Tamarkin, Ph.D.