Finance
Concentration in Corporate Finance,
Investments, and Financial Services
This concentration covers the largest areas in finance: corporate finance, investment management, and financial services/institutions. MBA students graduating with this concentration typically work as financial, investment, or credit analysts in corporations, investment firms, or financial institutions.
Curriculum Requirements
Finance
Foundation Block
FIN 394.1 Advanced Topics in
Corporate Finance
FIN 397.1 Investment Theory and
Practice
Finance Elective Block (Three
courses from the following):
FIN 390.1 Financial Markets and
Institutions
FIN 394.2 Financial Strategies
FIN 394.3 Global Finance
FIN 397.2 Portfolio Management and
Security Analysis
FIN 397.4 Financial Risk Management
FIN 397.5 Fixed Income Analysis
Accounting Block (One course from
the following):
ACC 380D Intermediate and Advanced
Accounting
ACC 380K.7 Financial Statement
Analysis
ACC 387.3 Cost Management
Corporate Finance
MBA graduates commonly start either as financial analysts for
corporations or as associates of corporate treasury departments.
Students in this area are also often sought by management consulting
firms. As financial analysts, they are often responsible for:
conducting analysis and providing recommendations on capital
investments and financing alternatives; analysis of new marketing and
product programs; generation and analysis of division and corporate
performance measures; preparation and coordination of annual budgets
and financial forecasts; analyzing and reporting on product and
customer profitability; and, the analysis of acquisition candidates.
In a treasury department, common duties include: financial planning
for the corporation; structuring and arranging medium and long-term
financing including bank loans and public securities issues; arranging
funding for company capital projects; and, assistance with the
acquisition and disposition of corporate assets.
Students interested in this area are especially encouraged to
participate in the annual Finance Tournament. In this competition,
teams of students analyze a financial case and present their solutions
to faculty and industry judges. Winners of the competition receive
scholarships provided by the sponsoring corporations. For additional
information on the Finance Tournament, contact Professor Beverly
Hadaway in CBA 6.274 at 471-6628.
Investment Management
The field of investment management involves the analysis of various
types of financial securities and the management of investment
portfolios. Students graduating with this background commonly start
their careers as financial analysts for investment funds, investment
bankers, or other financial institutions. In these positions they are
responsible for analyzing complex financial instruments including
common stocks, fixed-income securities, futures, options, and
different forms of derivative securities. As investment bankers, they
may become involved in the trading of financial instruments, in the
analysis of mergers and acquisition decisions, and in helping
corporations with their equity and debt financing.
The MBA Investment Fund, L.L.C. is a student-managed, private
investment company created to enable MBA students at the University of
Texas to obtain a real-world experience in the construction and
on-going management of an investment portfolio. Students in the
Finance Concentration are selected to participate in a course of study
that includes the management of the Fund as part of its curriculum.
The student portfolio managers are assigned to separate asset-class
portfolios within the Fund and manage their positions under the
guidance of a professional investment counselor. The students also
report to an Advisory Committee made up of faculty from the Department
of Finance and leading professionals from the investment industry. The
Fund has its research home in the EDS Financial Trading and Technology
Center.
The Fund is a registered limited liability company organized under the
laws of the State of Texas. It is governed by its Board of Directors
who are: Keith Brown, Professor, Department of Finance; Scott Caven,
Vice President of Goldman, Sachs & Company, retired; Gary Crum, AIM
Capital Management; George Gau, Dean, McCombs School of Business; and
Ralph Thomas, Senior Vice President of Fayez Sarofim & Company. The
assets of the Fund consist of money invested in the Fund by alumni and
business supporters who are recognized as accredited investors under
the securities laws.
The student portfolio managers of the Fund are selected by the Finance
faculty from the applications of MBA students enrolled in the Finance
Concentration. Student managers are selected at the start of the
second semester of their first year in the MBA program. When the
managers enter the second-year of the MBA program, they are then
responsible for portfolio management and for making specific purchase
and sale recommendations. Students interested in more information
about the Fund should contact the Fund's academic coordinator,
Professor Keith Brown in CBA 6.248 at 471-6520 and applications for
student manager positions can be submitted through the Finance
Department web site.
Financial Services
This field is intended for students interested in positions with
financial institutions such as commercial banks, thrifts, finance
companies, or investment banks. Following the deregulation of the
commercial banking and thrift industry, these financial institutions
are reorganizing and broadening the scope of their products and
services. Students graduating in this area often start as credit
officers analyzing loan proposals and as corporate account managers
responsible for managing relationships between their institutions and
corporate customers.
Career Opportunities
Representative Corporate Finance Recruiters 1997-2002
American Airlines; Dallas
Accenture; Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami, San Francisco, Tokyo
Agilent Technologies, San Francisco, San Jose
Applied Materials; Santa Clara
A.T. Kearney; Dallas, Tokyo
Cemex; Monterrey
Cisco; San Jose
Continental Airlines; Houston
Dell Computer; Austin
Deloitte Consulting; Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Washington
Delta Airlines; Atlanta
Ford Motor Company; Dearborn, Kansas City
Frito-Lay; Dallas
Hallmark; Kansas City
HP (formerly Compaq and Hewlett Packard); Houston, California,
Colorado, Idaho
Hines; Houston, Dallas
IBM; Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Rochester, San Jose, New York, Tokyo
Intel; Phoenix, Santa Clara
McKinsey; Houston, Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Stamford
Mercer Management Consulting; Mexico City, Munich
Motorola; Austin, Phoenix
Northwest Airlines; St. Paul
J.C. Penney; Plano
Proctor & Gamble; Cincinnati
PricewaterhouseCoopers; Dallas, San Jose, Los Angeles, Houston,
Chicago, Washington, D.C.
SABRE; Dallas
SBC Communications; San Antonio
Texas Instruments; Austin, Dallas
Representative Investment Management and Financial Services
Recruiters, 1997-2002
AIM; Houston
American Century; Kansas City
AMVESCAP; Atlanta
Banc of America Securities; Chicago, New York, San Francisco,
Charlotte
Bank of America; San Francisco, Dallas, Houston
Barclays Capital; New York, London
Bear Stearns; Dallas, New York
Chase; New York, Houston, Dallas
Chase Securities; New York
Citibank; New York, Puerto Rico
CS First Boston; Chicago, Houston, New York
Goldman Sachs; Chicago, Germany, London, New York, Miami, Houston,
Dallas
Lehman Brothers; New York, Dallas, Atlanta
J. P. Morgan; London, New York, Houston
Kidder Peabody; Houston, New York
Lehman Brothers; New York, Dallas
Merrill Lynch; Dallas, New York
Morgan Stanley; New York, Houston, Dallas
Prudential Capital; New York
Raymond James; St. Petersburg
Salomon Brothers; Los Angeles, New York
Teachers Retirement System; Austin
UBS Warburg; New York, Tokyo
Wells Fargo Securities; Palo Alto
Link to Finance Specializations
Energy Finance
Real Estate Finance
Private Equity Finance
