I. The Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate offers the Master of Science degree with a major in Business Administration and concentrations in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate or in Real Estate Development as well as the PhD in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.

II. MS in Business Administration Program

See the beginning of this College section for admission requirements and College Core requirements.

A. Program Requirements

1. Prerequisites of MATH 1830 and ACCT 7000 and FIR 7050 or their equivalents.
2. Each candidate must complete a minimum of 33 semester hours of approved graduate courses. The 33 graduate credits include a minimum of 21 hours in the concentration (24 if a thesis is written; students electing to write a thesis should familiarize themselves with the Thesis/Dissertation Preparation Guide before starting to write). At least 24 of the 33 credit hours required must be in courses designated primarily for graduate students (7000 level or above).
3. Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Concentration: The required core of courses includes:
   FIR 7150, Corporate Finance
   FIR 7410, Investment Theory and Portfolio Management, and
   FIR 7840, Quantitative Applications for Finance.
4. Real Estate Development Concentration: The required courses are:
   FIR 6310, Real Estate Law
   FIR 6340, Real Estate Appraisal
   FIR 7301, Contemporary Real Estate Theory and Practice
   FIR 7302, Decision Process in Development of Commercial and Industrial Real Estate
   FIR 7320, Financing Real Estate Transactions
   FIR 7350, Real Estate Investment Analysis
   FIR 7910, Problems in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate
5. Three semester hours must be completed in a collateral area approved by the program coordinator.
6. Candidates must pass a written or oral comprehensive examination.

For admission, prerequisites, and program information, see the college website at: http://fcbe.memphis.edu/modules/general/Pg_docprograms.php?.

6011. Estate Planning and Law of Taxation. (3). A survey course of the law of taxation as applied to the transmission of property by gift or death and its impact upon accumulations of wealth; estate planning from an individual viewpoint designed to create, maintain, and distribute the maximum estate possible. PREREQUISITE: FIR 3011 or permission of the instructor.

6310. Real Estate Law. (3). This course covers law and legal instruments as applied to real estate and is designed to serve the needs of property owners and those engaged in the real estate business.

6340. Real Estate Appraisal. (3). Basic terminology, principles, procedures, and issues; nature of value, principles of value, appraisal process, market approach, cost approach, capitalization of income approach, gross rent multiplier approach, and appraisal reports.

6610. Cases in Managerial Finance. (3). Application of tools and principles introduced in previous courses to develop up-to-date problem-solving techniques; cases approached from standpoint of top-level management, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative analysis. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7070 or equivalent.

6720. Management of Financial Institutions. (3). Financial policies and decision-making peculiar to financial institutions in the United States; management of institutions consistent with adequate standards of liquidity and solvency. PREREQUISITES: FIR 3410 and FIR 3720.

6810. Property and Liability Insurance (3). Forms and functions of fire, marine, automobile, general liability, and other types of property and liability insurance; emphasis on business and industrial applications.

6820. Life and Health Insurance. (3). Functions of life and health insurance; emphasis on economic security needs, human behavior, and problems related to death and dying; individual life, health, and annuity contracts and social insurance; concepts in risk selection and regulation.

7070. Financial Concepts for Business. (3). (7010). Discounting, risk measurement, valuation, capital budgeting, cost of capital, capital structure, dividend policy, working capital, financial instruments, and markets. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7000 or equivalent.

7150. Corporate Finance. (3). (7610). Analytical tools, concepts, and decision rules for acquisition and allocation of funds by the business firm; topics include capital budgeting under risk, capital rationing, cost of capital, capital structure, dividend policy, and working capital management; cases and readings may be required. NOTE: This course is open only to degree-seeking students. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7050 or 7070 or equivalent.

7170-8170. International Financial Management. (3). (7620). Selected problems in international finance, foreign investment, and the international payments system; gold movements; foreign central banking, and international aspects of money markets; the impact of international financial cooperation. PREREQUISITES: FIR 3410; ECON 3610; or permission of instructor.

7171. International Financial Markets. (3). Analysis of operation and regulation of international financial markets for derivatives (options, futures, and swaps), equities, debt, and currencies.

7172. Global Financial Management. (3). Overview of corporate finance with emphasis on the international environment; present value and the opportunity cost of capital; valuation of future cash flows; capital budgeting; risk and return; long-term financing; dividend policy and capital structure; mergers and acquisitions. Elementary knowledge of accounting, statistics, PC, and microeconomics helpful.

7301. Contemporary Real Estate Theory and Practices. (3). Overview of significant topics in real estate finance, investments, and valuation; lecture and group discussion of key issues in real estate theory and practice.

7302. The Decision Process in the Development of Commercial and Industrial Real Estate. (3). Analysis of methodologies and market strategies in the evaluation of investments in commercial and industrial land development; identification, conceptualization, and execution of action programs associated with developing successful real estate projects, industrial parks, warehouse-distribution centers, and related land uses.

7320. Financing Real Estate Transactions. (3). Economic, institutional, and legal issues associated with real estate finance; emphasis on investor and developer financing, and secondary mortgage market.

7350. Real Estate Investment Analysis. (3). Analytical tools, concepts, and decision rules for real estate asset acquisition and disposition; ownership forms, tax structuring, cash flow forecasting, risk analysis, and decision making.

7410-8410. Investment Theory and Portfolio Management. (3). Introductory graduate level course in the area of investments and portfolio management; considers qualitative and quantitative risk and return characteristics of various investment opportunities, fundamental valuation models, timing techniques, efficient markets, speculation and hedging, and portfolio theory and practice. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7070 or equivalent.

7710-8710. Seminar in Investment Theory. (3). Current literature in investment theory and portfolio analysis; topics include statistical techniques of analysis, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, investor perceptions, efficient markets, investigation of risk measurements, portfolio theory and applications, and speculative markets. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7410 or permission of instructor.

7721-8721. Financial Derivatives. (3). Understanding futures, options, forwards, and swaps (widely used by investment firms and corporations to manage financial risk), with primary emphasis on their practical application in financial and commodity markets. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7410 or 3710 or equivalent.

7724-8724. Micro-Structure Theory. (3). Market microstructure theory; empirical underpinnings, empirical research, and critical contemporary issues.

7725-8725. Equity Markets: Trading and Structure. (3). Trading technologies, measuring and controlling trading costs, competition between exchanges and alternative trading systems, global market developments, trading strategies, impact of networks and regulation; simulation software provides hands-on experience making tactical trading decisions in different market structures. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7050 or equivalent.

7726-35–8726-35. Current Topics in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate. (3). Consult the online class listings for topics.

7736. Financial Management. (1.5-3.0).

7737. Business Legal Environment. (1.5-3.0). General overview of several legal subjects that executives are likely to confront; presentation and discussion of relevant statutory, regulatory, and judicial pronouncements.

7810-8810. Advanced Financial Management. (3). The most significant contributions to the advanced literature on managerial finance. Topics include capital budgeting under risk, capital rationing, cost of capital, capital structure, dividend policy, firm valuation, and working capital management. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7150 or equivalent.

7840-8840. Quantitative Applications for Finance. (3). Develops an understanding of fixed income markets and interest rate derivatives. Topics include bond mathematics, interest rate models, fixed income securities, corporate debt, and interest rate derivatives; also applies statistical and quantitative methods to solve problems in derivative securities. PREREQUISITE: FIR 7150.

‡7910-8910. Problems in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate. (2-4). Directed independent reading and research projects in the finance, insurance, or real estate areas selected by the student with approval of supervising faculty member and Faculty Director. Program of study must be approved prior to enrollment.

†7996. Thesis. (1-6). Candidates desiring to write a thesis must fill out an application on the approved form after consulting with the major professor.

8820. Theory and Practice of Financial Management. (3). Study of the more recent advanced literature of managerial finance and its applications; intensive pursuit of approved individual topics; oral presentations of research papers and cases. PREREQUISITE: FIR 8810.

8850. Seminar in Finance. (3). Emphasis on current issues in private sector finance; designed to encourage students in finance to develop a firm understanding of the important theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature; course will draw on readings and the research projects of individual students.

†Grades of S, U, or IP will be given.
‡Grades of A-F, or IP will be given.