Corporate Finance

Corporate finance introduces you to issues and careers that focus on gaining and using financial resources. The major will help you obtain the Charter Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. You’ll acquire the tools and techniques required to interpret financial statements and evaluate capital investment opportunities. You’ll also understand how capital investment, financing, and capital structure relate to firm value, and you’ll learn to identify risk factors and integrate them into your analysis. The skills and knowledge you acquire will help build confidence in your own ability to evaluate financial information critically.

Preparing You For Success

Finance courses strengthen your analytical skills as you learn how financial systems use money and resources. You explore business, investments and markets. You also learn the tools professionals use to make sound short and long-term business decisions. You’ll finish the degree with a capstone project for a local business, giving you plenty of marketable experience. The major gives you flexibility to specialize in corporate finance, securities, markets and institutions. It’s a valuable foundation if you pursue a career that requires a certification or qualification exam.

By the time you graduate, your experiences may include:

  • Preparing for the Charter Financial Analyst (CFA) exam
  • Networking and professional development through the Financial Management Association
  • Using Refinitiv/Eikon Datastream©, the world’s most comprehensive financial time series database
  • Having an opportunity to participate in a student-managed investment fund
  • Building mentoring relationships with faculty who are financial professionals and active researchers

Making Your Mark

The corporate finance major will provide you with the foundation you need to pursue a career in corporate finance. This career track includes commercial banking, financial analysis investments, markets, insurance, securities, and treasury management. In recent years, many Bradley students successfully passed the Charter Financial Analyst (CFA) exam and the Commissioned Bank Examiner. As a result, 96% of recent Bradley graduates found jobs or entered graduate school within six months of graduation. They work for companies like Capital One, TD Ameritrade, Caterpillar, the Federal Reserve Bank, RLI Corp., British Petroleum and Ernst and Young.

Major Requirements

Finance Core - 19 hrs.

  • FIN 200: Introduction to Finance - 3 hrs.
  • ATG 201: Accounting Processes (1 hour)
  • ATG 301: Intermediate Accounting - 3 hrs.
  • FIN 322: Business Finance - 3 hrs.
  • FIN 325: Investment Analysis - 3 hrs.
  • FIN 328: Financial Institutions and Markets - 3 hrs.
  • FIN 422: Financial Analysis - 3 hrs. 

Corporate Finance Courses - 15 hrs.

  • FIN 329: Commercial Bank Management - 3 hrs.
  • FIN 425: Portfolio Theory and Management - 3 hrs.
  • FIN 426: Financial Research & Modeling - 3 hrs.
  • FIN 494: Financial Strategy - 3 hrs.
  • ECO 319: Introduction to Econometrics - 3 hrs.
    or Q M 326: Business Forecasting - 3 hrs.
    or Q M 364: Decision Support Systems - 3 hrs.

Additional requirements - 7 hrs.

  • MTH 115: Brief Calculus with Applications I (4 hours)
  • Q M 263: Quantitative Analysis II - 3 hrs.

This table sets out the teaching schedule for Finance classes. Students must also complete Foster College's business core.