The document provides course descriptions for courses taken at the Fordham Graduate School of Business across several disciplines, including finance, accounting, business law, business economics, information systems, management, system design, and marketing. Some key courses described are Financial Environment, Principles of Modern Finance, Corporate Finance, Fundamentals of Accounting, Business Law I, Managerial Economics, Management Information Systems, Fundamentals of Management, Operations Management, Business Policy, Mathematical Methods for Business, Statistics, and Marketing Management.

1. COURSES TAKEN AT FORDHAM GRADUATE SCHOOL OF
BUSINESS
FINANCE
Financial Environment (MBA required course) – Introduces the key concepts in
finance and the environment in which they are applied. Students learn how to gauge the
financial health of companies and measure and understand financial return in relation to
risk. The course also surveys the uses and characteristics of different financial
instruments and the function and operation of global financial markets.
Principals of Modern Finance (Finance program required course) – Provides a
conceptual framework that allows both corporate finance and portfolio investment
decisions to be viewed and understood in a unified context of risk and return. Examines
concepts of valuation, risk and return, diversification, asset pricing, and efficient markets.
Options & Futures Markets – Examines the institutional aspects of options and futures
markets and discusses the strategies of hedgers, arbitrageurs, and speculators. Provides
and introductory analytical foundation for pricing futures and option contracts.
Investment Analysis – Provides the foundation for choosing sound investment vehicles
that meet investors’ objectives. Identifies the wide variety of available investment
instruments and examines their risks and benefits. Studies philosophies and techniques
of investing, such as fundamental analysis, technical analysis, and uncovering market
inefficiencies.
Corporate Finance – Studies corporate finance and its specific decisions. Topics
include evaluating capital expenditure proposals, forecasting financing requirements, and
selecting sources of financing. The course also discusses working capital management,
dividend policy, and contingency planning, and addresses the additional challenges of
multinational firms
Global Finance – Surveys the structure of the international financial environment.
Topics studied are world trade and the balance of payments, foreign exchange markets;
the long- and short-term determinates of exchange rates, and the major international
financial institution. Explores how the international community adjusts to financial
shocks and the role of the Eurocurrency markets. A background in macroeconomics is
recommended.

2. Technical Analysis – This course is designed to inform students about how the markets
and individual stocks behave (i.e., technical analysis), and how they differ from the
economy and individual companies (i.e., fundamental analysis). The goal is to
demonstrate how technical analysis augments fundamental analysis. Four kinds of
technical indicators are discussed; they include trend and momentum, psychology,
supply/demand, and intermarket analysis. Mr. Philip Roth, current director and past
president of the Market Technicians Association, and chief technical market analyst at
Miller Tabak & Company, will conduct the class wit the help of other Wall Street
professionals, including Ralph Acampora, John Murphy, Allan Shaw, and Ken Tower.
ACCOUNTING
Fundamentals of Accounting (MBA required course) – this core course in accounting
is required of all Business students in every concentration. Provides insights into how
accounting information can be used by investors and creditors to measure the results of
business operations.
Financial Accounting – Gives students an ability to analyze and interpret financial
statements. This course focuses on studying the effects of alternative accounting
standards and practices on income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash
flows.
Financial Statement Analysis - Gives students in the general MBA program a better
understanding of financial statements and the information they communicate on the
operating, investing, and financing activities of corporations. Focuses on the impact of
financial accounting principles, disclosure standards, and alternative accounting practices
on financial reports. Examines and evaluates traditional and non-traditional methods of
financial statement analysis.
BUSINESS LAW
Business Law I (MBA required course) – Introduces the fundamental concepts and
legal principals that are applicable to the American legal system, its development, and
inherent ethical considerations. Discusses the basis and structure of business contracts;
the creation and characteristics of agencies, partnerships, limited liability companies, and
corporations; and the rights and liabilities of agents, partners, directors, and shareholders.
Students analyze cases and discuss and solve problems.
Business Law II – Examines the legal aspects of business and focuses on personal
property, sales, product liability, secured transactions, insurance, negotiable instruments,
banking, and bankruptcy. Students analyze applicable provisions of the Uniform
Commercial Code and cases and problems on the above topics.

3. BUSINESS ECONOMICS
Managerial Economics (MBA program prerequisite) – Examines the microeconomic
theory and concepts that strive to explain economic decisions of business in the
marketplace. The dominant issues addressed in this course are the factors of supply and
demand and the relationship of production costs, output, and market structures to pricing.
Designed to provide the economic foundation for management decisions.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Management Information Systems (MBA required course) – Helps students
participate meaningfully in business dialogues and decisions that involve, or could profit
from, information technologies. Because information technologies continually change
basic ways of doing business, the course emphasizes the organizational impact of
information resource decisions and the challenges in managing information resources.
Topics include strategic use of information systems, hardware, software, data resources,
networks, systems development methodologies, knowledge management, ethics, and IT
in transnational firms.
MANAGEMENT
Fundamentals of Management (MBA required course) – Presents theories of
designing the structure and processes of organizations, as well as the elements of the
global competitive environment within which such organizations operate and ways of
relating to this environment. Explores critical issues related to the individual and the
firm. Focuses on defining management’s role and responsibilities in the continual
improvement of quality, productivity, and the competitive position of the enterprise.
Operations Management (MBA required course) – Studies the operation of both
manufacturing and service organizations with the objective of simultaneously optimizing
the quality and productivity of the operations systems. Develops techniques for strategic
planning and system design, such as quality control, aggregate and capacity planning,
project planning, scheduling and control, material and inventory management, and just-
in-time production.
Leadership and Change – Prepares students to meet the requirements of today’s
economy, where leadership demands a combination of personal capabilities and insights,
as well as in-depth knowledge of organizational change processes and practices.
Through readings, cases, class discussions, self-assessment exercises, and leader-directed
learning projects, participants gain important insights into their own management style
and develop essential knowledge and skills for successful implementation of major
change initiatives.

4. Business Policy (MBA required course) – Focuses on defining an organizations
mission, establishing its objectives, developing strategies for achieving those objectives,
and assuring implementation and continual updating of long-term plans. As the
capstones of the MBA program, this course integrates the knowledge and skills
developed in the core courses.
SYSTEM DESIGN
Mathematical Methods for Business (MBA program prerequisite) – Studies the
fundamental methods of mathematics applied in business statistics and operations
research. The course concentrates on linear algebra and differential and integral calculus.
Statistics (MBA program prerequisite) – Introduces the basic concepts essential for
business research and decision-making. These include descriptive statistics, probability
distributions, statistical inference, and simple and multiple regression.
MARKETING
Marketing Management (MBA required course) – Introduces the fundamental
concepts and processes essential for marketing goods and services in today’s competitive
environment. These include researching, segmenting and targeting markets, and
developing a marketing mix: the combination of product, pricing, distribution, and
promotion strategies needed to sell a product efficiently and successfully. Issues and
variables covered include consumer behavior, government regulation, marketing
research, product planning, personal selling, and international marketing.
Marketing of Financial Services – Analyzes marketing systems for selling and
distributing financial products and services to consumers and businesses. Emphasizes the
adaptation of marketing to customers that have regulatory and fiduciary relationships.
Discusses marketing strategies for such financial services firms as commercial banks,
saving and loan associations, life and casualty insurance companies, mutual funds,
pension fund managers, and investment banks.
Marketing Research – Demonstrates how marketing research enables the organization
to represent the customer in the firm’s decision making structure. Prepares managers to
work with professional marketing researchers and obtain customer input for new
products, advertising, pricing, and distribution systems. Topics covered include the use
of secondary information sources, preparation and evaluation of surveys, basics of data
analysis, the marketing research process, and the selection and evaluation of research
vendors. Applications discussed include demand estimation and sales forecasting,
product concept testing, customer satisfaction analysis, and overall evaluation of a firm’s
marketing strategies.