MSA 635 Financial Management

All MSA students under the 10-11 Bulletin are required to take six core courses: MSA 600, MSA 601, MSA 602 , MSA 603, MSA 604, and MSA 699.


MSA 635 has been replaced by MSA 602.

Course Objectives:

After completing this course, the student should:

Understand the role of the financial accounting information system in providing data requisite to analyzing organizational efficiency and profitability.

Describe the financial objectives of the modern corporation and the basic differences between the financial objective of private and public organizations.

Apply analytical models that are used to evaluate financial performance and potential investments.

Discuss the role of budgeting in long-term and short-term financial planning.

Apply analytic models designed to measure the financial requirements implicit in forecasting sales growth.

Understand the concepts of operating and financial leverage and show how leverage impacts financial planning and risk.

Use models for, and measures of, working capital management, particularly as regards accounts receivable and inventory turnovers.

Analyze the implications of the sources of short, intermediate, and long-term funds for the organization and how each is used in planning and control.

Evaluate the profitability of long-term investments through an understanding of the cost of capital.

Incorporate an understanding of the subject of decentralized operations with the need for responsibility accounting.

Analyze the behavioral incentives and ethical considerations of financial objectives and budgets.

Typical MSA 635 topics:

Interpreting Financial Statement
Financial Ratio Analysis
Divisional Performance
Cost Behavior
Time Value of Money
Capital Budgeting and Discounted Cash Flows
Sources of Funding and Capital Structure
Risk and Return
Market Risk
Portfolio Diversification​