721: Corporate Finance                                                                                                                                            This course covers the effects of projects and financial policy on stockholder wealth; capital budgeting, project cost of capital, dividend policy, debt policy, leasing policy, and option pricing.

810: Financial Management I                                                                                                                                    The goal of this course is to present the analytical tools and financial theories necessary to make good decisions in the area of financial management.  The fundamental issues explored in this course are the relation between risk and return and what determines the value of future cash flows.

811: Financial Management II                                                                                                                                  This course continues the development of the principles of finance begun in Financial Management I. Students learn the fundamentals of valuing derivative securities, the issues involved in corporate financing decisions and advanced topics in corporate investment decisions.

821:  Advanced Corporate Finance                                                                                                                       This course examines advanced topics in corporate finance with an emphasis on valuation, the central concept in finance. In corporate finance we are concerned with making decisions that enhance firm value. In investments we seek to value securities and maximize the worth of our portfolios. In Business Finance 821 we will examine theory and evidence on techniques of valuation and the corporate decisions that affect value. These decisions include the areas of financial analysis, ownership structure, acquisitions, dividends, compensation, agency theory, and other related issues.  The course format consists of assigned readings, cases, and additional exercises. Students will be asked to present selected articles and cases, participate heavily in class discussions, and complete several assigned projects. The implications of empirical evidence for analytical decision making will be emphasized.

822: Security Markets and Investments                                                                                                            Students taking this course should expect to learn about the fundamental principles of investments. The goal of this course is to equip students with the tools necessary to make good investment decisions. As a consequence of this goal, the course is organized around two broad themes.  The first theme is the return pattern of different securities. The majority of the course concentrates on this theme. Topics from the first theme include risk and return, portfolio theory, mean variance analysis, the efficient market hypothesis, asset-pricing models, and market frictions. The second theme is the money management industry. Topics for the second theme include performance evaluation, style analysis, and the behavior of money management professionals.

823: Derivatives                                                                                                                                                          This course explores the valuation of forwards, options, forward-based and option-based financial instruments.  Students will examine the valuation techniques in detail, applications of the valuation techniques for various types of securities, and the use of these securities for trading purposes, financial engineering, and investment applications. Course objectives are: (1) to provide an understanding of the basic concepts and principles of derivatives, (2) to provide opportunities to learn skills used in derivative analysis and valuation, (3) to evaluate trading and speculation opportunities available in the current financial markets, and (4) assess the influence of economic events upon pricing.  The course is divided into four parts, covering separately (1) Derivative basics, strategies and payoffs; (2) Valuation of forward and forward-based derivatives; (3) Valuation of option and option-based derivatives; and (4) financial engineering. When possible, concepts are explained through hands-on applications and examples, rather than through advanced mathematics, to make the course accessible for students.

824: The Stock Market                                                                                                                                                    This course Combines traditional academic objectives with the practical demands of hands-on investment management (with a focus on the institutional investor). The course is designed for students pursuing careers in the investment field. The students manage approximately $16 million for OSU's endowment fund. The students' operate a large-cap growth portfolio. The goal of the course is for the students learn the real-world issues facing the modern portfolio manager and the methodologies for analyzing equity securities. The course discussions are organized along the lines of top-down analysis: economics, capital markets, investment styles, sector/industry analysis, company analysis (business, financial, and valuation), trading, and performance evaluation. Other topics include ethics and developments in the profession. One should have a solid understanding of corporate finance, accounting, economics, and modern portfolio theory before entering the class.

826: Financial Institutions                                                                                                                                          Financial management of commercial banks and savings institutions; review, analysis and evaluation of pertinent literature and research/readings and cases.                                                                          

827: Treasury Management (Fixed Income Securities)                                                                                          This course is designed for students seeking an understanding of major fixed income markets and instruments and fixed income valuation and hedging methods. Topics include forward rates, duration, convexity, yield curve models, basic fixed income option pricing models which are used to understand pricing and hedging of forwards, futures and swaps, and other fixed income derivatives. The course also surveys some of the institutional features of these markets. This course is useful for students planning a career in financial services, banking or financial consulting, portfolio management, and fixed income sales and trading.

829: Risk Management                                                                                                                                                This course is designed to train the participants in evaluating and managing risks using an enterprise-wide approach. The course starts with an analysis of how risk management contributes to firm value. A general framework for how to use risk management to create value is presented next. After making sure that the participants know how to measure risk, in particular how to compute value-at-risk (VaR) and cash-flow-at-risk (CaR), the course focuses on using derivatives to change a firm’s risks. The course shows how forwards and futures, equity, interest rate, exchange rate and commodity options, plain vanilla and exotic swaps, and exotic options can be used to manage financial risks and how the risks of these derivatives can be evaluated. After a discussion of credit risks and operational risks, the course turns to the implementation issues of enterprise-wide risk management, showing how to aggregate risks across the firm and how to use a firm-wide risk measure to make various corporate decisions and to evaluate performance within the firm. The emphasis of the course is on creating value with risk management rather than on the technical details of pricing derivatives. Risk management problems for financial intermediaries as well as for firms outside the financial sector are examined. Students will learn how to manage financial risks through lectures, exercises, cases, and guest lectures from practitioners.

830: Trading and Markets                                                                                                                                              This course provides an overview of today’s fragmented market for financial securities and describe how today’s financial markets work; how governments and exchanges regulate them; and how traders create liquidity, volatility, informative prices, trading profits, and transaction costs.

831: Insurance                                                                                                                                                             This course will introduce a conceptual framework for risk management that stresses the relation between effective risk management and enterprise value. It will also examine both traditional and alternative risk management methods. Insurance contracts, markets and institutions, and discussion how insurance instruments can be used to manage risk will be reviewed. 

894.1: Enterprise Risk Management                                                                                                                        This course introduces a conceptual framework for risk management that stresses the relation between effective risk management and enterprise value.  The course examines both traditional and alternative risk management methods, the contractual foundations of risk transfer, and key public policy issues surrounding insurance and the allocation of risk among individuals and organizations.  Several practicing executives, e.g. Chief Risk Officers, make presentat6ions in this applied course.  (New course, syllabus not yet available)                                 

846: Venture Capital and Private Equity                                                                                                               This course provides an introduction into the inner workings of Venture Capital/Private Equity and the various skill sets required of first year associates or firm managers seeking or currently financed by venture capital. The class will include case studies and class discussions augmented by lectures from industry experts. (Likely course to be offered with a special section for KAIST students alone)

871: Real Estate Development                                                                                                                        Components of real estate development: residential, shopping centers, offices, apartments, and pure land. Market analysis, financing, feasibility and taxation.

872: Real Estate Finance                                                                                                                                       Examines real estate as investments. Analysis of the American mortgage market, mortgage derivatives, and bond portfolio management when mortgage-backed securities and derivatives are used.

894.4K: Business Finance and Excel Modeling (For KAIST Students Only)                                           Business is full of formal and informal nuances.  From entrepreneurs to the leaders of fortune 500 companies, managements’ talent to identify, develop and execute strategic business models within a dynamic business environment are key macro drivers to firm success.  At a micro level, the ability to identify and frame a business problem; model the problem and plot a course through a sea of biased and unbiased management are key attributes of successful managers.  Through case-studies, students will be challenged to identify key business problems, analyze potential solutions, construct financial models in excel, and prepare strategies of how to present their positions to management given the profiles of the case protagonists.  Lectures will also include commentary regarding various nuances unique to American business; specific jargon and business etiquette. (Depending on student demand, this course may be replaced with a different specialized course for KAIST students)

894.2: Financial Engineering                                                                                                                           Financial engineering uses sophisticated mathematical modeling techniques to price securities.  Traditionally, it was not concerned with the pricing of fundamental assets, such as a share of stock, but rather the relations between prices of related assets.  Increasingly, though, financial engineering techniques have been used outside of their traditional domain, to model, for example, credit contagion.  Applications of financial engineering include development of derivative pricing techniques, use of derivative securities to reduce or eliminate risk, and creation of new financial instruments to meet the changing needs of investors. (New course, syllabus not yet available)

921: Empirical Methods in Finance                                                                                                                         This course represents an advanced study of empirical research methods in financial economics. We focus on the empirical techniques used most often in the analysis of financial markets and how they are applied to actual market data. The tentative list of topics includes (a) statistical properties of asset returns, (b) tests of asset pricing models (CAPM, APT, Intertemporal CAPM, Consumption CAPM), (c) efficient markets hypothesis, (d) event study methodology; and (e) miscellaneous topics (e.g. chaos and nonlinear dynamics, portfolio performance evaluation, term structure of interest rates, valuation of corporate debt, pricing derivative assets, market microstructure, international finance). The relative emphasis that each topic receives within category (e) will depend on the interests of the students.

922: Advanced Theory in Corporate Finance                                                                                                   Course topics vary form one year to the next so a course description in not available.  See syllabus on file with KGSF administration for example of past topics.