Develop Advanced Skills in Financial Analysis and Valuation
Prepare for a career in financial management, capital markets, banking, corporate treasury, or investment management with Duquesne University's Master of Science in Finance (MSF). This hands-on program will help you develop advanced skills in financial analysis and valuation for decision making in all aspects of business investment, financing, and operating activities.
The MSF is 36-credit program with up to 6 credits of accounting and finance prerequisites potentially waivable. After completing or waiving prerequisites, the MSF comprises a 15-credit core curriculum plus 15 elective credits, all of which can be completed in six semesters or less.
Flexible Program
Earn your MSF where and when you choose. The program can be completed with a mix of hybrid and online classes or fully online. Note: fully online students will have to Zoom-in occasionally.
Program Information
This hands-on program will help you develop advanced skills in financial analysis and valuation for decision making in all aspects of business investment, financing, and operating activities.
Program Type
Major
Degree
Master's
Academic Department
Economics and Finance
More in this Program
"Finance is an intellectually rich, challenging discipline offering a wide range
of rewarding career possibilities. Duquesne's MSF program will help you develop comprehensive
skill in financial analysis and valuation for decision making. Graduates will be prepared
to contribute to the long-run growth and success of any business organization.”
Corporate Finance covers advanced topics in financial analysis and decision making,
including advanced valuation, short-term finance, long-term finance (debt and equity),
capital structure, payout policy, leasing, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate
governance. *Up to 6 credits may be waived based on previous accounting, finance, and statistics
coursework. To be eligible for a course waiver, a grade of B- or higher is required and the course
must have been taken in the past 5 years. Pass/fail courses will not be eligible for a course waiver. **Course is included in the Finance Certificate ProgramHear from Our Professors
Course Descriptions
This course provides graduate business students with a deeper understanding of the
accounting cycle used in companies to produce both internal and external financial
information. Special emphasis is placed throughout the course on understanding, analyzing,
and interpreting financial statements and related information. Additionally, students
will be introduced to decision-making tools such as ratio analysis and challenged
to utilize them to critically evaluate financial information and make effective decisions.
The basics of corporate sustainability reporting will also be covered.
Prerequisite: ACCT 501
This course provides the necessary foundation in probability and statistics necessary
for students looking to go on to study the application of statistics to business.
In this course, students will learn the rules of probability, how to identify and
use common probability distributions, and how to conduct basic hypothesis tests.
Financial Management is about decisions firms make in two broad areas: the investments
it makes and how it pays for them. The first involves expenditures for physical capital,
human capital, technological capability, brand capital, and so forth. The second involves
raising money in financial markets. In business decision making, the objective is
to maximize shareholder wealth. Why the emphasis on shareholders? Among stakeholders
generally (i.e., customers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, etc.),
shareholders alone possess a uniquely comprehensive and long-term view of the firm’s
viability as an ongoing enterprise. This perspective arises from the residual nature
of shareholders’ claim to earnings and assets. Wealth is created when the return from
investing business resources exceeds their opportunity cost.
Co/Prerequisite: ACCT 501 for level GR with minimum grade of C
This course is intended to help students become more informed consumers of financial
statement information. It is aimed at developing their understanding of the Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) that underlie external financial reporting and
solidify their grasp of key general purpose financial statements (income statement,
balance sheet, statement of cash flows). Students will then learn how to analyze and
interpret the financial statements to assess the business entity’s profitability,
liquidity and solvency and use earnings and cash flow information to value the business
entity.
Financial Management is about the decisions firms make in two broad areas: the investment
it makes and how it pays for them. The first involves expenditures for physical capital,
human capital, technology capability, brand capital, and so forth. The second involves
raising money in financial markets. In business decision-making, the objective is
to maximize shareholder wealth. Why the emphasis on shareholders? Among stakeholders
generally (i.e, customers, employees, suppliers, government, communities, etc.), shareholders
alone possess a uniquely comprehensive and long-term view of the firm's viability
as an ongoing enterprise. This perspective arises from the residual nature of shareholders'
claim to earnings and assets. Wealth is created when the return from investing business
resources exceeds its opportunity cost.
Prerequisite: FINC 501, STAT 501, and ACCT 515—all with a minimum grade of C
Prerequisite: FINC 530
This course provides students with a thorough understanding of the operation of the
financial system and the role of financial markets and financial institutions in the
process of flow of funds. Topics to be covered include the determination and structure
of interest rates, the Federal Reserve System and the effects of monetary policies,
interest rates, security valuation, the structure of financial markets and financial
institutions and their role in their economy, and risk management in financial institutions.
Prerequisite: FINC 530
Offers students the opportunity to work in teams with a real company to develop an
analysis and recommendation in credit analysis, structured finance, project finance,
merger, acquisition and/or related topics. Students will utilize methods, skills and
techniques acquired in the MSF to solve a real-world business challenge. In doing
so, students make high-stakes and impactful recommendations to top management under
time-pressure and with high expectations for quality and analysis.
Prerequisites: FINC 530, FINC 613, FINC 617, and ACCT 615
Course Waivers