Finance

The finance major provides integrated coverage of financial markets, cost of capital, capital budgeting, security and project valuation, security analysis and design, portfolio management, financial statement analysis, risk analysis, and mergers and acquisitions in the required course work.   Finance majors can choose from a wide range of electives in specialized subjects such as energy trading, buy side equity analysis, sell side equity analysis, venture capital & private equity, insurance, and risk management to complete the finance major.  Courses in commercial banking and real estate are occasionally offered and can be used to supplement the finance major requirements. 

Freeman's excellence in finance has been recognized by Financial Times and the Princeton Review.  In 2008 Financial Times named the Freeman School of Business one of the 10 best schools in the world in finance.   In 2009, the Princeton Review ranked the Freeman finance MBA program in the top 15 nationally. 

Finance majors may serve in various capacities for Freeman School student organizations such as the Freeman Investment Management Association (FIMA) and join Alpha Kappa Psi, the world's oldest and largest professional business fraternity.  For more information on student groups visit:  http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/students/organizations.php. 

Finance majors have the opportunity to participate in many experiential learning activities at the Freeman School, including the nationally recognized Burkenroad Reports program, the Darwin Fenner Student Managed Fund program, and the Energy Trading program.  Other related activities include lectures featuring guest speakers from the financial industry and employer information sessions where students meet representatives from leading employers in the field. Additionally, internships in the financial industry offer students valuable real-world experience. Some of these unique learning opportunities are described below: 

Trading Center - A centerpiece of the Freeman School is the Trading Center, a simulated trading floor that enables students to gain practical experience in trading energy.   The center facilitates experiential learning and features state-of-the-art hardware and software equipped with industry-leading simulation, trading and financial software from Thomson-Reuters, Trading Technologies, and Logical Information Machines (LIM).  The Trading Center acts as a hands-on laboratory for the teaching of energy trading and risk management.  

Burkenroad Reports - In this valuable hands-on course, teams of three or four students meet with top management, visit company sites, develop financial models and publish in-depth investment research reports on public companies. The reports become available at www.burkenroad.org and are distributed to more than 20,000 institutional and individual investors. Students are also responsible for introducing company management at the Burkenroad Reports Investment Conference each spring. The companies are located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Students must apply for this course and enrollment is by invitation only.

Darwin Fenner Student Managed Fund Honors Seminar - This course combines academic study with actual investing. As part of the course, students manage a portfolio of stocks called the Darwin Fenner Student Managed Fund. Students study academic research papers and classic writings that have influenced equity investing. Through reading and discussing academic research papers, students develop a critical thinking process and proprietary investment models. Working in groups, students analyze all stock in their assigned sector of the stock market and make buy, sell, and hold recommendations to the class. In addition, the class evaluates the historic performance of the fund. Enrollment in the course is by invitation only.  Invitations are based on finance faculty vote and cumulative GPA.   

Energy Specialization:
Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Management program can receive an Energy Specialization by completing at least nine semester credit hours of energy-related coursework. Finance majors who would like to work in the area of energy risk management are strongly encouraged to pursue the energy specialization.  Students seeking the Energy Specialization need to have their nine semester credit hours of energy-related coursework approved by the Tulane Energy Institute.    For more information on the energy institute and the energy specialization go to http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/energy/.

CFA Institute Program Partner: The BSM program at the A. B. Freeman School of Business is proud to be a program partner with the CFA Institute (www.cfainstitute.org). Courses within the finance curriculum and the BSM program incorporate a large amount of the Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK) material in the CFA Program.  Upon graduation, students who want a career in money management may want to take Level I of the CFA examination.