Achieve on your terms. Earn a graduate degree in corporate finance—while continuing your career.
Domestic Applicants:
- Fall matriculation only. Application deadline July 1, 2013. Apply now.
International Applicants:
- Fall matriculation only. Application deadline June 3, 2013. Apply now.
View our academic calendar.
As a finance professional, you can earn a Master of Science in Finance from the top-ranked Kelley School of Business without disrupting your professional or personal life. Through the ultimate flexibility of Kelley Direct, you can complete your degree in as little as one year or as long as five years.
The 30 credit-hour MS in Finance program's interactive online curriculum prepares graduates to further their finance careers by providing technical expertise for measuring and managing the risks and returns of an organization’s financial policies, as well as an understanding of how these policies can be used to achieve an organization's strategic goals.
The program starts with a Kelley Connect Week on the Bloomington campus—an intense introduction to the program, faculty, and fellow students. Upon graduation, you’ll receive a Master of Science from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business—the same degree students studying on the IU campus receive.
As a graduate of the MS in Finance program, you will:
- View the finance function as an integral part of and way to implement the strategic objectives of an organization
- Focus on value creation as the outcome of strategic decisions
- Understand how to measure and achieve the efficient use of financial resources
- Provide the necessary concepts, tools, and techniques to be able to evaluate value-creation opportunities available to an organization
- Gain a practical understanding of how risk and uncertainty can be managed through the use of financial instruments
- Gain an increased knowledge of how financial securities or other transactions are valued in capital markets
- Understand how economic profit management incentives can foster a value-creation focus
While in the MS in Finance Program, you can opt to add an MBA for a dual degree—adding general management to your skill portfolio in less time than it would take to pursue both degrees alone.
For more information about the MS in Finance Program, please contact kdirect@indiana.edu or (877) 785-4713.
C520 Quantitative Analysis (3.00)
Video Introduction
In this course, we enhance the student’s statistical and mathematical modeling skills covering the following topics: (1) probabilistic decision making, (2) regression analysis, (3)forecasting (4) simulation with @RISK (5) optimization modeling with the EXCEL Solver, (6) making decisions when multiple objectives are involved, and (7) using neutral networks to improve forecasting. Applications from all major functional areas will be discussed.
C521 Managing Accounting Information for Decision-Making (3.00)
Video Introduction
Provides a user-oriented understanding of how accounting information should be managed to ensure its availability on a timely and relevant basis for decision making. The first part of the course reviews financial accounting and reporting while the second part of the course focuses on cost-benefit analysis for evaluating the potential value-added results from planning, organizing and controlling a firm’s accounting information. The use of cases, forum discussions and computer support is used extensively.
C530 Economics for Managers (3.00)
Video Introduction
Economic decision making in the business firm, the strategic interaction of business firms in industries, the purchasing and behavior of individual consumers and consumers as a group, and the influence of public policy on market outcomes. Development of a fluency with the language of economics and a strong 'economic intuition,' understanding of selected economics-based decision-making tools and the impact and interaction of the structure of an industry on competition, analysis of intra-industry rivalry, and improved understanding of public policy issues. Emphasis on the logical foundations of economic analysis and managerial decision making. Will promote understanding and application of various quantitative measures.
This course is a required course for MBA, MSF
C540 Financial Management (3.00)
Video Introduction
Provides a working knowledge of the tools and analytical conventions used in the practice of corporate finance; establishes an understanding of the basic elements of financial theory to be used in application of analytical reasoning to business problems; and explores the interrelationship among corporate policies and decisions. Course work will include problem sets, study group preparation of executive summary memos and critiques, and use of PC spreadsheets to develop a planning model for a case focusing on funds requirement.
C543 Financial Analysis and Firm Valuation (3.00)
This course blends accounting and finance topics dealing with the analysis and forecasting of financial information and the linkage of free cash flows to firm value. Among the topics included is ratio analysis, quality of earnings, off-balance-sheet financing, inter-corporate entities, evaluating intangibles, capital structure, and DCF valuation.
*Note a change: This course will be offered in Fall 2013 instead of Spring 2013.
D734 Working Capital Management (3.00)
Video Introduction
This course is an in-depth review of working capital, treasury and cash management topics, especially with respect to how these areas are actually implemented in business organizations. The primary topic areas include: 1) analysis of the liquidity of the firm, 2) management of working capital 3) function and operation of money markets, 4) short-term investment/borrowing decisions, 5) payment systems and cash management tools, 6) identification and measurement of financial risk factors 7) dealing with financial service and electronic commerce providers and 8) global treasury management. The course includes several Excel projects, discussion forums and a short research project in the working capital area.
F711 Information Technology (1.50)
Video Introduction
Study of information systems management, including computer and communications concepts, IT investment decisions, business applications, systems acquisition and implementation, end-user support structures, e-commerce applications, and strategic capabilities. Readings and case analysis are used to address practical issues in the application of information technology.
* This is a core course for the MSF Program
F722 Managerial Accounting (3.00)
Concepts and issues associated with the accounting of and management of business; particular emphasis is given to understanding the role of accounting in product costing, costing for quality, cost-justifying investment decisions, and performance evaluation and control of human behavior. Enables the student to prepare, use, and critically evaluate management accounting information for purposes of planning and control, product costing, and performance measurement and evaluation. Analyzes the role of accounting information in making effective managerial decisions, both at the level of a particular department and of the enterprise as a whole.
Prerequisite: C521
* This is a required course for the MSF program
F741 Asset Pricing and Security Valuation (3.00)
A key focus of managers in public corporations is the creation of enterprise value and the way that value is shared between various suppliers of capital. This course provides an understanding of how financial markets function and how investors value financial securities. This knowledge will assist the manager to understand how various decisions may impact firm and shareholder value. Topics covered include the demand for and pricing of debt and equity securities, portfolio theory, and the pricing and expanding role of derivative securities.
Prerequisite: C540 Financial Management
F742 International Financial Management (3.00)
Video Introduction
This course provides an extension of the major finance topics a manger faces into a global setting. Investing across national boundaries presents unique opportunities and unique risks, thus domestic financial theory must be extended to incorporate these additional factors. Topics include measurement and management of exchange rate, international parity relationships, translation and transaction exposure, international investment diversification, international capital budgeting and multinational cash management.
Prerequisite: C540
F743 Financial Risk Management (3.00)
Video Introduction
This course provides a detailed analysis of derivative contracts and their use in risk management strategies. As technology improves and corporations become more innovative, they will be able to isolate and break out more and different kinds of risk that then can be controlled and managed. At this time, risk management is a new area in financial management but is developing very rapidly. This course will consist of two main parts. The first part of the course focuses on the building blocks of derivatives (namely futures, forwards, swaps, and options) and the factors that determine the value of these securities. The second part focuses on the importance and implementation of risk management strategies. We will spend considerable time understanding the dimensions of risk management issues. We will also use cutting-edge software for analyzing risk management problems, such as Riskmetrics and Creditmetrics, and examine actual company cases.
Prerequisite: F741
F744 Financial Strategy and Corporate Restructuring (3.00)
Video Introduction
This course provides an examination of how corporate and financial strategies can lead to the creation, maintenance, transfer, and destruction of shareholder value. Topics covered include valuing alternative strategies, effectively communicating strategies to the financial markets and aligning the incentives of managers with those of shareholders. A framework for valuing mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures and other joint financing arrangements is developed and applied.
Prerequisite: F745 Valuation and Capital Investments
F745 Valuation and Capital Investments (3.00)
A key focus of most publicly owned companies is enhancement of shareholder value. The value of a firm is determined through investors’ assessment of the efficacy of managerial actions. Three key finance decisions that affect investors’ assessments are the form in which capital is raised, how the capital is employed, and how returns are distributed to providers of capital. Managers and investor have differential access to information on the actions and impact of decisions. Investors try to compensate for this differential information by establishing governance structures to monitor and control management actions and by trying to read intent from management decisions. In turn management attempts to create a structure for analyzing decisions that is consistent with investors valuation if management action could be freely observed. This course investigates how agency relationships and financial contracting affect financial decisions such as capital structure, dividends, share repurchases, and managerial incentives. A capital investment process will be developed that includes the application of analytical tools to assess the economic value created by capital investments, adjustments for project risk using external market information and simulations techniques, and the use of real options analysis to value management flexibility and strategic investments.
Prerequisite: C540 Financial Management
F746 Finance Valuation - In-residence (1.50)
This course is a 1.5 credit hour, in-residence course that is the initial course in the Master of Science in Finance program. It is the only in-residence component in the program, with the remainder of the program being conducted online. The course is designed to give the new students in the program an introduction to the program, an overview of the various finance topics that will be covered in the program, and some learning tools that can be used throughout the course work.
