Full Course Description List:

FNCE, FPLB Courses

(5 credits)

All organizations must collect and analyze financial information to make important decisions regarding operations, such as payments, budgeting, and investing in new business. Students in this course learn to use financial and managerial finance theory, concepts, and tools to make better financial management decisions as well as to conduct sound financial analysis. They examine the principles of finance from an applied perspective through the examination of difficult strategic and operational decisions that exist in the business environment. Students gain hands-on financial management experience as they compile financial statements, analyze and report financial results, and calculate elements of time value of money for single or multiple cash flows.

BS in Accounting

Pre-requisites

• ACCT 1001 or ACCT 1003 or ACCT 1004S

BS in Business Administration

Pre-requisites

• ACCT 1001 or ACCT 1003 or ACCT 1004S

All Other Programs

Pre-requisites

• ACCT 1003 or 1004S

(5 credits)

Managers in all types of corporations must make vital financial decisions on a daily basis, such as choosing between competing investment opportunities, valuing assets, measuring risk and return, financing a firm's operations, making dividend policy and capital structure decisions, and valuing financial instruments. Students in this course learn the basics of finance and can gain the tools needed to create long- and short-term planning decisions. They collaborate with their peers through a group case study project to gain real-world insight into the corporate finance arena. Students add to their portfolio by completing a project assignment in which they demonstrate concepts learned in the course through a specific contextual application.

Pre-requisites

• FNCE 3001

(5 credits)

One of the main causes of economic failure in the United States is the assumption of too much financial risk, including overspending and bad investments. The best way to mitigate risk factors is for financial managers to understand the impact of spending on financial markets. In this course, students investigate the implications of these risk factors and examine various aspects of financial markets, including money, bond, mortgage, stock, foreign exchange, and derivative security. Students learn about the operation and regulation of commercial banks, thrift institutions, insurance companies, securities firms, investment banks, finance companies, mutual funds, and pension funds. Through this course, students have the opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge that financial managers use to predict and manage risk and future trends.

Pre-requisites

• FNCE 4101

(5 credits)

To maintain a competitive advantage, organizations must engage in business and financial investing on a global scale and financial managers must understand the challenges, risks, and methods of dealing with firms in the global economy. In this course, students learn about the nuances, concepts, and principles in the field of international finance. Primarily, students engage in assignments focused on international financial markets and the macroeconomics of international financial flows. They examine specific topics, including foreign exchange, international securities markets, and international banking. Through this course, students have the opportunity to acquire the tools needed to make important international financial decisions based on existing financial principles and current factors in the market.

Pre-requisites

• FNCE 3001

(0 semester credits)

A background in the basics of business is often a key to making the most of a graduate business or management program. In this foundational course, students can build their business acumen in major functional areas that are essential to business success including business leadership and management, business ethics, the legal environment of business, accounting, finance, economics, quantitative methods and statistics, information systems management, global business, marketing, and strategic management.

(3 semester credits)

Today's effective finance professionals use a variety of financial management tools as they seek to evaluate alternatives and make sound financial recommendations. Students will gain practical experience of a financial professional's role by using financial modeling tools such as breakeven and cost-volume-profit analysis for model pricing and cost sensitivity; forecasting and cost prediction; variance cost analysis; relevant cost analysis; project valuation; and prioritization using payback, rates of return, and discounted cash flow methods. Students' increased diagnostic critical-thinking skills will help them to construct effective, ethical, fact-based arguments, which are among the fundamental capabilities required for financial decision-making. Using relevant management articles, case studies, and topic analyses, students also examine how to align business needs with fact-based solutions, how to identify new opportunities, and how to manage and enhance an organization's competitive position.

(3 semester credits)

An essential skill for nearly all financial professionals is the ability to effectively communicate with the organization to manage internal and external relationships. The importance of communication in finance is emphasized, and students are presented with the opportunity to practice using the tools required for effectual and efficient presentation of information while gaining critical-thinking, reading, and scholarly writing skills. Students explore various written and presentational forms of communication that financial professionals use within organizational and managerial settings. Students examine techniques for developing and presenting white papers, memoranda used to communicate issues and recommendations to management, and financial and nonfinancial information. They learn about concepts in balanced communication coverage and how to adapt to constantly changing modes of communication, including social networking, blogging, and using professional organizations and training programs to their advantage. Through these activities, students gain a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the financial professional as well as the ethical methodologies required to maintain a professional obligation to the community and their clients.

(3 semester credits)

In the news, it is too often that we hear about cases of financial fraud and misconduct involving major corporations. It is a social and professional obligation of financial professionals to be concerned and knowledgeable on topics involving legal and ethical issues in accounting and financial reporting. In this course, students learn to appreciate this role and explore the various legal and professional responsibilities of which financial professionals must be aware when developing financial statements and reports. They examine a variety of issues, such as the differences between statute and regulation and between common and statutory law. Students also assess the role of bankruptcy and its impact on business relationships. Through the extensive use of current and seminal case studies, students take a practical approach to examining the best practices of doing business in today's sociopolitical climate from a legal and ethical perspective.

(3 semester credits)

Today's companies are challenged to constantly do more with less. Effective managers know how to deploy scarce financial resources in ways to achieve optimum returns on these resources. Students will discover the latest financial tools and analytic methods to strengthen the capital investment decision-making process. Students will use critical-thinking skills to apply and, at times, challenge traditional financial theory, while balancing various stakeholder interests in the financial decision-making process. Students will examine a range of contemporary issues and techniques relevant to sound and ethical financial decision making.

(3 semester credits)

Accountants and business managers must be astute and proactive in managing a business to combat the inevitable threat of operational and financial risks, including those involving credit, market, liquidity, reputation, technology, and legality. In this course, students assess the tools used by accountants and managers in managing these risks. They explore the various processes used to identify, analyze, and assess risks, and they learn the appropriate use of financial and operational controls to mitigate such risks. Additionally, students examine ways to implement techniques, such as developing a risk control matrix and using the concepts of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) framework to improve an organization's enterprise risk management.

(3 semester credits)

Regulatory compliance involves the policies and processes that organizations use to ensure that they follow the rules and regulations in place by the firms that control financial activity in a given jurisdiction. In this course, students explore the facets of regulatory compliance, focusing on the role of accounting with respect to corporate governance within an organizational setting. They also focus on how organizations build transparency into their governance and compliance systems. Students review and explore the responsibilities of management in terms of compliance and auditing and explore the complex processes of checks and balances that comprise compliance systems. Students further develop their understanding of regulatory compliance through a review of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in addition to an evaluation of decisions made by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Corporation Accounting Oversight Board.

(3 semester credits)

Students in this course are provided with an overview of current topics in taxation strategies for individuals and corporations. They learn about the Internal Revenue Service Code on tax differences, including book and tax accounting, inclusions, exclusions, deductions, credits, and tax aspects of property transactions. Students employ a "walk-through" technique through which they gain first-hand experience in the use of tax research services. Students also explore how economic, social, and cultural forces influence tax policy.

(3 semester credits)

Managers are continually faced with the complexities of budgeting and forecasting their business operations. Complexities include many factors, such as one-time and ongoing expenses; investments; and risk related to investment proposals, time periods, and other financial considerations. Students will explore budgeting and forecasting along with related processes within the organizational context. Students will also review the implications of budgeting and forecasting as well as methods to plan for and prioritize the use of scarce resources, while considering ethical issues related to sustainability.

(3 semester credits)

The focus of this course is on how students use financial information for internal decision-making purposes. It is designed for the leader who will be using, rather than producing, financial information. Decision making is an art. Good decision makers need to be able to anticipate the alternatives, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each, and recognize the tradeoffs inherent in each alternative. Students in this course will approach financial decision making using this framework that also overtly includes rigorous stakeholder analysis and implications. Stakeholder analysis sometimes leads to controversial decision alternatives, but it is this exercise that will develop the students' talents for challenging the traditional and finding the balance between stakeholder expectations and creating opportunity for the organization. The objective of this course is for students to apply finance theory and principles to the analysis of important business problems. Specific topics will include capital budgeting, cost of capital, real options, capital structure, payout policy, and enterprise valuation.

(3 semester credits)

Corporate finance managers use a variety of financial management tools when identifying possible alternatives for recommendations on financial management decision-making. Students in this course use the tools of finance to help managers maximize their firm's value. Topics include the time value of money, net present value, internal rate of return, capital budgeting, capital structure, working capital management, multinational concepts, and dividend policy.

(3 semester credits)

Students in this course build on what they learned in Corporate Finance I and focus more deeply on contemporary issues and optimal financial decision-making. Students participate with hands-on demonstrations of how to become more skillful in various financial management environments. Topics include valuation, advanced capital budgeting, cost of capital, risk, standard deviation, variance, covariance, capital asset pricing model, and beta. Additional topics include multinational concepts, leasing, option pricing, derivatives, hedging, and other advanced financial applications.

(3 semester credits)

Insurance coverage is an important element on ensuring financial security. Students in this course will examine risk management and insurance decisions for financial planning. Topics for this course include insurance for life, health, disability, property, and liability risks, as well as annuities, group insurance, and long-term care.

(3 semester credits)

Investments and portfolio management is a combination of different investment assets for the purpose of achieving investor goals while minimizing overall investment risk. Students in this course examine capital markets with an emphasis on securities valuation. Topics covered in this course include fixed-income markets, measuring risk with alphas and betas, asset pricing, portfolio management strategies, equity markets, and derivatives markets.

(3 semester credits)

Derivatives are financial contracts with values that are derived from the behavior of something else, such as interest rates, stock indexes, mortgages, commodities, or even the weather. Students in this course examine the types of market risk managers face in their day-to-day operations and the use of financial derivatives. The students focus on the theory and practice of the valuation of derivative securities such as forward contracts, futures contracts, swaps, and options and how they are used to mitigate risk. They also examine the risks faced by the market's underlying properties of each of these instruments and their use in managing the various risks faced by market participants.

(3 semester credits)

Retirement and estate planning allows not only for individuals to have a successful retirement, but also contribute to the lives of one's children or grandchildren. Students in this course focus on estate planning and the efficient conservation and transfer of wealth. They explore legal, tax, financial, and nonfinancial aspects of estate planning. Topics also include trusts, wills, probate, advanced directives, charitable giving, wealth transfers, and related taxes.

(3 semester credits)

Students in this course explore systems thinking as a process whereby problems are viewed as individual components within a larger system. Students are provided a framework for analyzing relationships within a system and for avoiding the risks associated with viewing problems in isolation. Students will use systems-thinking tools to model single-, double-, and multiple-loop feedback systems, both at the micro and macro levels of analysis. In addition, students will be introduced to scenario building and will examine how the practice of systems thinking lays the foundation for creating sustainable outcomes for organizations and society.

(3 semester credits)

Students in this course cover information security issues in an organizational context, recognizing the increasing stakes in keeping systems safe from tampering and disclosure. Topics include management structures and processes for enterprise information security; information security in the supply chain; legal, regulatory, audit, and policy issues; risk management; and the business case for information security.

(3 semester credits)

In this course, students review content from prior Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams on a variety of topics, including ethics and professional standards, corporate finance, financial reporting and analysis, quantitative methods, alternative investments, derivatives, equity investment, and fixed income. Students conduct research, discuss with peers, and analyze the answers to actual CFA exam items to gain a thorough understanding of the format, concepts, and principles on which exam questions are based, gaining confidence and preparedness for taking the CFA exam.

(3 semester credits)

In this course, students review content based on prior Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP^®)* Certification exams on a variety of topics, including financial and insurance planning, investment planning and strategies, income taxes, and retirement planning. Students conduct research, discuss with peers, and analyze the answers to actual CFP^® Certification exam items to gain a thorough understanding of the format, concepts, and principles on which exam questions are based, gaining confidence and preparedness for taking the CFP^® Certification exam.

* CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and CFP^® are certification marks owned by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board).

(0 credits)

By participating in a Walden Pre-Practicum, students gain skills in their development as scholar-practitioners. Through their Pre-Practicum experiences, students expand their network of peers and faculty members while developing their professional skills and identity. In Pre-Practicum 1, students begin to apply the core skills and techniques introduced in their Techniques course. Students begin to develop the multicultural competencies needed for counseling. Per program requirements, there is a synchronous experience in this course. Students will continue to expand their knowledge of counselor credentialing.

(0 credits)

In Pre-Practicum 2, students continue to develop core skills from Pre-Practicum 1 and integrate advanced skills in their development as scholar-practitioners. Through their Pre-Practicum experiences, students expand their network of peers and faculty members while continuing to develop their professional skills and identity. In Pre-Practicum 2, students begin to develop group leadership skills, integrate counseling theory, and continue to demonstrate cultural competency skills. Students engage in developing their upcoming field experience plan and continue credentialing skills activities.

For Those in Addiction Counseling; Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling; and Clinical Mental Health Counseling Programs

Pre-requisites

• GRPL 6100
• COUN 6250

For Those in School Counseling Program

Pre-requisites

• GRPL 6100
• COUN 6320