Finance Major

In addition to the Drake Curriculum requirements and business core requirements (required of all business majors), there are 21 hours of core courses required of all finance majors, 9 hours of which are related to the student’s chosen track.

Students spend two years building core business skills (accounting, law, economics, mathematics, statistics). The core Finance curriculum includes introductory and advanced corporate finance; money and banking; financial institutions, instruments, and markets; portfolio analysis; and a capstone seminar in finance. Additional courses depend on the track selected and the student’s interests. 

Finance Core Requirements

• FIN 102 - Advanced Corporate Finance
• FIN 119 - Financial Institutions, Instruments, and Markets
• FIN 121 - Introduction to Derivatives
• FIN 170 - International Finance
• FIN 193 - Portfolio Analysis
• FIN 197 - Seminar in Finance
• ECON 10 - Principles of Macroeconomics

These courses provide the student with a thorough grounding in each of the functional areas of the finance discipline. It is recommended that students take ECON 10 in the first year; FIN 101 in the sophomore year; FIN 102, FIN 119 and FIN 121 in the junior year; FIN 170, FIN 193 and FIN 197 in the senior year. Students should complete IS 44 in the first year and STAT 71 & STAT 72 by the end of the sophomore year.

In addition, all candidates must also choose at least 9 hours from the courses listed below. The course groups below are provided to align the electives with typical career interests; however, the final selection may be from any of the courses listed.

1. Capital Budgeting Analyst

• ACCT 110 - Managerial Accounting  
• ACCT 115 - Advanced Managerial Accounting
• ACCT 125 - Cost Management Systems
• ACCT 175 - Auditing Principles
• ECON 173 - Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis

2. Investment Analyst/Portfolio Manager

• ACCT 165 - Financial Accounting I  
• ACCT 166 - Financial Accounting II 
• ACCT 167 - Financial Accounting III
• ECON 130 - International Economics
• ECON 174 - Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis
• FIN 190 - Equity Valuation and Analysis

3. Personal Financial Planner

• ACCT 185 - Individual Taxation
• BLAW 120 - Business Law II
• INS 051 - Personal Risk Management

4. Financial Institutions Management

• FIN 129 - Financial Institutions Management
• INS 141 - Business Risk Management
• INS 161 - Insurance Company Operations

5. All finance related occupations

• ECON 170 - Introduction to Econometrics
• IS 074 - Advanced IT Applications for Business
• IS 080 - Visual Basic