Every successful organization has a team of experts to help guide its financial decision-making. With this concentration, you will gain the industry perspective and practical knowledge base to play a prominent role on this team.
Every successful organization has a team of experts to help guide its financial decision-making. With this concentration, you will gain the industry perspective and practical knowledge base to play a prominent role on this team.
Every successful organization has a team of experts to help guide its financial decision-making. With this concentration, you will gain the industry perspective and practical knowledge base to play a prominent role on this team.
With courses that reflect real-world business challenges,
our concentration will prepare you to:
Apply critical thinking and advanced theory to conduct financial analysis and to make sound financial decisions.
Use financial data, models and software to support your analysis and decisions.
Communicate effectively in the financial environment and with your broader organization.
Recognize ethical dilemmas and respond appropriately.
To pursue our finance concentration, you will complete four 4-credit finance courses (chosen from five) toward the end of the MBA program for a total of 60 credits. All courses are offered through the Reiman School of Finance.
Courses are:
Gain advanced understanding of financial decision-making tools critical for managing capital structure, cost of capital, working capital management, long- and short-term financial planning, and business valuation.
Receive an introduction to basic issues related to corporate events, such as mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings.
Identify how financial market participants evaluate investment and hedging opportunities. Receive an overview of the key institutions in financial markets and how securities come into existence and subsequently trade.
Then, study how to measure the risk and return of financial assets, identify techniques to improve and measure the performance of investment portfolios, and build a foundation in derivatives.
Learn to implement objective, unbiased valuations through an understanding of the valuation process in theory and practice. Understand the key value drivers for a company and how investors use these drivers to calculate the intrinsic equity value.
Prepare to maximize the value of your organization by improving these key value drivers and effectively benchmarking to competitors. Learn to apply valuation approaches that include discounted cash flow and price multiples.
Explore newer approaches that are more useful in a knowledge-based economy.
Develop the theoretical foundation, analytical toolkit and practical skill set to effectively analyze and tackle business valuation issues.
Study the financial theories and models essential to value businesses. Receive opportunities to apply the valuation principles and techniques to assess business value in a real-world context.
Explore one of the world’s most powerful financial centers during a weeklong, 4-credit finance elective in New York City. Prepare for the journey with a series of lectures designed to provide insight into many aspects of asset management and investment banking.
Once on location, visit financial powerhouses like Oppenheimer, Bank of Montreal, Bloomberg and the New York Stock Exchange. Learn from leading industry professionals—investment bankers, leveraged lenders, private equity managers, portfolio managers, equity analysts and others—while you experience Wall Street in action.
Take the next step in developing innovative solutions to traditional business issues.
The finance concentration is led by professors dedicated to furthering students’ personal and professional development. Our faculty brings a wide range of expertise to the classroom—including doctorates in finance and Chartered Financial Analyst and GARP Financial Risk Manager designations. Meet your professors:
Associate Professor of Finance
Financial Planning and Analysis
Chichernea joined the Reiman School of Finance in fall 2017.
Her research interests focus on empirical asset pricing—specifically, the connection between idiosyncratic (firm-specific) risk and returns—and she has taught classes on investments, corporate finance and financial modeling at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Associate Professor of Finance
Equity Analysis
Hughen serves as the co-director of the Marsico Investment Center, a student investment lab at the University of Denver.
He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, a Certificate of Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) and the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting credential. He has won awards from the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board of Examiners, Academy of Financial Services and the Daniels College of Business.
Assistant Professor of Finance
Financial Markets and Investments
Detzel teaches courses on investments and fixed income. His research examines how to evaluate the performance of investments and the economics that determine the rates of return on financial assets.
He earned a Global Association of Risk Professionals Financial Risk Manager designation in 2016.
Associate Professor of Finance
Advanced Business Valuation
Xu teaches corporate finance, including financial management, financial modeling and business valuation. She has also taught professional development courses in the executive education program and customized training programs for companies.
Her research interests are in the areas of corporate governance, real estate finance and international finance. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
The finance industry is broad and comprises a range of career paths you can pursue.
Structure an organization’s overall financial strategy, forecast financial statements and budgets, and make decisions regarding the organization’s sources and uses of capital.
Provide advice and lead the process of raising debt or equity capital in the private or public markets. Facilitate mergers and acquisitions and provide advice and assistance in an organization’s corporate finance decisions and activities.
Work with individuals to develop financial plans to increase their wealth and to ensure their present and future financial stability (including saving, investing, and estate and tax planning).
Help organizations and individuals evaluate potential financial risks and protect themselves from losses.
Manage a portfolio of assets and do the research to determine what assets should be added or deleted from the portfolio.
Raise capital from limited partners, purchase companies with the goal of increasing their values and then exit the investments in a way that provides value for the limited partners.
Work within an institution that is the intermediary between borrowers and lenders, providing loans for borrowers and creating wealth for lenders.
Finance Manager
Corporate Financial Analyst
Investment Banker
Commercial Banker
Portfolio Manager
Securities Research Analyst
Personal Financial Advisor
Management Consultant
1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2021arrow_upwardReturn to footnote reference
2 EMSI, June 2017arrow_upwardReturn to footnote reference
The Reiman School of Finance prides itself on its intimate class sizes, accomplished faculty and a forward-thinking curriculum that prepares you for success in the finance industry today. You will graduate with a rich network of connections inside and outside of the city of Denver.
The finance industry needs your unique perspective and expertise. Request information about University of Denver’s online MBA program today.
