Before embarking into the world of finance, professionals should to have a sound education. Earning an online Bachelor of Science in Finance degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Collat School of Business is an excellent starting point for students interested in the field of finance.
Through this curriculum, which has been ranked among the best in the country according to U.S. News & World Report, students will learn a plethora of valuable information that will apply to their careers as financial professionals.
Here are some of the things students will learn through the Bachelor of Science in Finance Online program:
Business
To excel in the world of finance, professionals should understand how companies start, run, and grow. Students begin studying the environment of business in their foundation courses, Business Foundations and Essentials of Financial Literacy:
BUS 102: Business Foundations
This course gives students a first look at essential business concepts, like the job market, international business culture, and the roles businesses play around the world. The course provides a good overview and look ahead into the business studies the rest of the curriculum will cover.
BUS 110: Essentials of Financial Literacy
Students will dive further into the BS in Finance online curriculum through the Essentials of Financial Literacy course. The materials will cover topics like interest, taxes, retirement plans, insurance, risk management, consumer finance, inventory, payroll, and cash flows. Each of these subjects are critical for a healthy business structure.
LS 246: Legal Environment of Business
Understanding the legal implications of a business’s decisions is crucial. This course ensures students know the laws, rules, and regulations surrounding business activities. It will review basics like the principles of contracts, business organization, ethical reasoning and decision-making, bankruptcy, employment, and property. Specific laws that apply to the workplace, like equal employment opportunity, will also get a close look.
Accounting
The fields of accounting and finance are closely related. Students on both tracks will share several courses throughout their online business degree programs, including:
AC 200: Principles of Accounting I and AC 201: Principles of Accounting II
These courses, both a part of the lower-level core curriculum, cover the basic concepts of accounting. The first class discusses how to prepare, use, and analyze financial statements, assets and liabilities, stockholders’ equity, and recording procedures, as well as the difference between accrual and cash.
The second course dives a bit deeper into these concepts, with focuses on cost behavior and allocation; budgeting and capital budgeting; product costing; and planning, control, and decision-making.
AC 300: Financial Accounting
Finance majors’ accounting education continues in the Finance Core with Financial Accounting. In this course, students learn about the environment of financial accounting and the conceptual framework surrounding it. This includes lessons on the time value of money, inventory, and receivables, as well as a further understanding of financial statements.
Finance majors will also have access to two accounting electives:
AC 320: Financial Accounting Survey
In this course reserved for non-accounting majors, students will get a closer look at accounting cycles and financial accounting theory. The course will discuss recurring but highly critical information like financial statements, cash and receivables, stockholders’ equity, inventories, debt, and assets in depth. It will also cover concepts, like error correction, leases, pension benefits, accounting changes and how to report them, and earnings per share.
AC 401: Cost Accounting
Junior-level students can take Cost Accounting, which focuses on cost determination, analysis, and control, as well as cost allocations and budgets, standard costs and job orders, overhead application, quantitative techniques, process, and byproduct costing and spoilage.
Economics
To understand the world of finance, it’s important to learn economic theory. Bachelor of Science in Finance students will take two economic courses in their lower-level core classes:
EC 210: Principles of Microeconomics
Microeconomics pertains to individual consumers and businesses and how the decisions they make affect the overall economic environment. This course will discuss the problems that monopolies and oligopolies can pose, as well as the concepts and theories of distribution of income.
EC 211: Principles of Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics is more focused on the broader picture: How different industries and economies interact with and affect each other, including large-scale concepts like gross domestic product, national income and unemployment levels, and growth rates. In this course, students will learn how economic analysis is used when working with businesses and governments. The class will also cover governmental fiscal policies, international economics, national income, price level, and employment.
Investments and financial management
Financial professionals should know the ins and outs of investing. There are many different types of investments, from stocks and bonds to real estate. Students will get information from the accounting elective, Financial Accounting Survey, but other courses in their finance core classes will discuss these topics in depth.
FN 310: Fundamentals of Financial Management and FN 412: International Financial Management
Students will learn the basics of stock and bond valuation, risk-return analysis, cash flow analysis, capital structure, and cost of capital in their upper-level core course, Fundamentals of Financial Management. This class will also explore quantitative and qualitative analysis of the time value of money.
In International Financial Management, students will take the lessons they learned in their fundamentals class and apply it to an international landscape. Both of these subjects are critical for traditional corporate finance, financial analysis, and decision-making.
FN 350: Equity Portfolio Management
Managing equity portfolios is complex but important work. It’s critical to have a sound understanding of investment theories, risk-return tradeoffs, and portfolio theory. This course will cover these topics, as well as concepts like interpretation of investment information, sources of investment information, market indices, international investing, and options and futures.
FN 370: Principles of Real Estate
When making real estate decisions in the business world, it’s important to understand how to evaluate the property, how much it’s worth, and what it needs to become more valuable or maintain its value. This course will give students information about how to make smart real estate decisions.
Finance degrees online at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Students who hope to one day break into the business world with a sound understanding of finance, investments, management, economics, and international business should find the right curriculum to suit their needs. The online Bachelor of Science in Finance program from the Collat School of Business at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is an excellent program from which students can confidently begin their careers. To learn more about getting started with your online finance degree, reach out to an enrollment advisor today.
Recommended Readings:
Financial statement audits: A boost for businesses, and where accounting experts fit
See How Mobile Devices Have Changed Our Lives
Sources:
1. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/difference-between-microeconomics-and-macroeconomics/
2. https://businessdegrees.uab.edu/course-descriptions-bsf/