Adam C. Sinn '00 Department of Finance

The Adam C. Sinn '00 Department of Finance at Mays Business School is one of the country's top finance departments. The department's goal is to provide students with the theoretical and empirical tools necessary to achieve high levels of expertise in all areas of finance. The business enterprise must raise capital, use it to maximum advantage, and reward investors. Finance is the set of management challenges (and career opportunities) concerned with succeeding at these tasks.

The department offers a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Finance. The finance (FINC) major involves both required and elective courses in three areas.

Corporate Finance encompasses the tools and techniques for valuing productive assets, choosing ways of funding them, and gauging financial success. This area focuses on how corporations determine funding sources, capital structure, and investment decisions.
Investments encompasses the theoretical and practical models that help assess risks and rewards of stocks, bonds, derivatives, and other “financial assets” (individually and in portfolios), as well as the financial health of firms and institutions offering them to the investing public.
Markets and Institutions explores the ways in which bankers, brokers, and other financial institutions convert savings into productive capital.

Mays Business School BBA-FINC graduates with good academic records place well in all the above career areas, as well as in graduate and professional schools. Firms in a variety of industries, along with major financial firms such as commercial and investment banking, brokerage, wealth management and consulting, seek finance graduates. Accordingly, the Adam C. Sinn '00 Department of Finance emphasizes scholarship in its faculty, professionalism in its programs, and innovation in its relationships with employers and mentors.

For more information visit the Adam C. Sinn '00 Department of Finance website.

Finance (FINC)

FINC 210 Opportunities in Finance I

Credit 1. 1 Lecture Hour. Introduction to major career paths in finance and assessment of students’ aptitudes and interests with respect to these career paths. Prerequisite: Freshman or sophomore classification in Mays Business School.

FINC 211 Opportunities in Finance II

Credit 1. 1 Lecture Hour. Exploration of specific career competencies in various financial workplaces via lectures, practioner presentations, and field experiences. Prerequisites: FINC 210 and approval of instructor.

FINC 267 Introduction to Securities and Commodities Trading

Credit 1. 1 Lecture Hour. Introduction to financial markets and the instruments that trade in them; describes how financial markets operate; compare and contrast a wide variety of common financial instruments, including debt, equity, derivatives and commodities; basic functions of real-world data sources (especially Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal); and career paths in the field of finance. Prerequisite: Freshman or sophomore classification in business.

FINC 285 Directed Studies

Credits 0 to 6. 0 to 6 Other Hours. Directed study of selected problems in the area of finance not covered in other courses. May be taken five times. Prerequisites: FINC 341 or concurrent enrollment and approval of department head.

FINC 341 Business Finance

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Financial practices and financial management of modern business corporations; cash flow, planning, procurement of funds, management of long-term funds and working capital. Only one of the following will satisfy the requirements for a degree: FINC 341 or FINC 342. Prerequisites: ACCT 229 and enrollment in upper division in Mays Business School, Agribusiness, or Maritime Business Administration; also taught at Galveston campus.

FINC 342 Introductory Finance for the Petroleum Ventures Program

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Basic principles of corporate finance, investments, financial institutions, and international finance; the Federal Reserve System; interest rates; time value of money; characteristics and valuation of stocks and bonds; securities markets; business organization; capital budgeting analysis. Only one of the following will satisfy the requirements for a degree: FINC 341 or FINC 342. Prerequisites: Admission to Petroleum Ventures Program and approval of instructor.

FINC 345 Success Factors in Corporate Finance

Credit 1. 1 Lecture Hour. Overview of tools and analytical techniques used in corporate finance functions, including analysis and presentation of financial information; one-week immersive experience. Prerequisites: Grade of C or better in FINC 341; admission to corporate finance certificate program or approval of instructor.

FINC 350 Ethics in Financial Decision-Making

Credit 1. 1 Lecture Hour. Recognition and avoidance of breaches of fiduciary duty in the financial workplace; integration of classical ethical codes of conduct into professional decision-making; analysis and application of practitioner standards of conduct. Prerequisites: Admission to upper division in Mays Business School; FINC majors only.

FINC 351 Investment Analysis

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Operation and functions of the organized security exchanges, fundamental security analysis and technical market analysis. Prerequisites: ACCT 327 or concurrent enrollment; FINC 210 or concurrent enrollment; FINC 341 with a grade of C or better; BUSN 203 or concurrent enrollment, or AP STAT 301 or AP STAT 302 or AP STAT 303.

FINC 361 Managerial Finance I

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Managerial problems of financial managers; financial analysis, current asset management, capital budgeting and capital structure. Prerequisites: ACCT 327 or concurrent enrollment; FINC 210 or concurrent enrollment; FINC 341 with a grade of C or better; BUSN 203 or concurrent enrollment, or AP STAT 301 or AP STAT 302 or AP STAT 303.

FINC 368 Trade Floor Dynamics

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Analysis of trade floor activities and behaviors; organizational and process structure of trade floors; characteristics of trade floors that vary by type of asset traded, trading objectives and contract structure; analysis of operational issues including credit constraints, trade strategies, and regulatory compliance. Prerequisites: FINC 341 or concurrent enrollment; admission to Trading, Risk and Investment Program (TRIP).

FINC 371 Real Estate Decision-Making

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Legal, physical and economic characteristics of real estate; overview of real estate market analysis, real estate valuation procedures and real estate production, marketing and financing methods. Prerequisite: FINC 341 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 381 Money and Capital Markets

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Role of finance and financial institutions in the money and capital markets in the U.S. including supply of and demand for funds, interest rates and flow of funds analysis. Prerequisite: FINC 341 with a grade of C or better.

FINC 409 Survey of Finance Principles

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Finance survey for non-business majors; financial markets, the investment banking process, interest rates, financial intermediaries and the banking system, financial instruments, time value of money concepts, security valuation and selection, and international finance. May not be used to satisfy degree requirements for majors in business or agribusiness. Prerequisites: Junior or senior classification; for students other than business and agribusiness.

FINC 422 Applied Investment Analysis

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Theoretical and analytical developments in security selection and portfolio management; includes macroeconomic analysis, portfolio theory, and portfolio performance evaluation; concepts applied to the allocation of investments in a student-managed equity portfolio. Prerequisites: Approval of instructor; FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 423 Options and Financial Futures

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Valuation of options and financial futures; risk management and hedging applications using options and financial futures; primary focus on stock options, index options, stock index futures, interest rate futures, foreign exchange futures and futures options. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 424 Trading Risk Management

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Mid-office risk management strategies using the energy markets as a focus; develops understanding of commodity market behavior, use of forwards and options for risk management, risk management reporting, Greeks and simulation-based VaR analysis. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 425 Active Portfolio Management

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Analysis of investment tactics designed to earn abnormal returns; identification and evaluation of active strategies that exploit capital market anomalies and market inefficiencies; portfolio structuring, stock and sector selection, performance measurement, attribution analysis and benchmarks in inefficient markets. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 426 Trading Markets

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Issues related to securities trading and securities markets; why and how people trade; the operation, structure and regulation of securities markets; focus on equity markets; comparisons to the markets for derivatives and other securities. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 427 Titans of Investing

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Readings from the most influential theorists and practitioners of 20th and 21st century investing; case studies and portfolio sector exercises in an institutional context, based on detailed assessment of global investment risks. Prerequisites: FINC 341 or FINC 409, or concurrent enrollment in either course; approval of instructor.

FINC 428 Fixed Income Analysis

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Characteristics of fixed income securities including Treasury issues, federal agency issues, corporate and municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities; institutional features fixed income markets; risks of bond investing; fixed income valuation; term structure; trade strategies; modeling and assessing credit risks; hedging with fixed income derivatives. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 430 Venture Capital Investing

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Identification of a venture fund; development of an investment portfolio; development and analysis of venture investments; presentation of investment findings; negotiation and closing of investment deals. Prerequisites: Admission to upper division in Mays Business School and approval of instructor.

FINC 435 Managerial Finance II

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Case studies in the administration of the financial affairs of business enterprises; working capital management, capital budgeting, capital structure, and mergers and acquisitions. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 436 Corporate Finance Capstone

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Application of interdisciplinary techniques to identify and solve multi-faceted corporate finance problems through use of case studies. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment; admission to corporate finance certificate program or approval of instructor.

FINC 437 Systematic Trading Strategies

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Overview of quantitative investing using algorithmic trading for investment management; topics include exploration of collecting and preparing financial trading data, time series analysis, trend systems, momentum and mean reversal, arbitrage, backtesting, order execution, and reporting of risk and performance measures; tools, methods, and trading techniques are taught using the R programming language and using R Studio. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 440 Macro Finance

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Recent developments in the nature and causes of financial crises; the role of money; financial liquidity; financial leverage; financial stability regulation; unconventional monetary policy and macroprudential policy. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; FINC 381 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 441 Private Equity - Insights, Industry Dynamics and Deal Making

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Roles of and interactions between private equity’s main participants, the limited partners (LPs) and the general partners (GPs); history and growth of the private equity (PE) industry; business models of PE firms; performance metrics used by PE professionals; investment strategies of PE firms; study of deal-making, with special focus on leveraged buyout and venture capital funds. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 443 Valuation

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Theory and application of various approaches to corporate valuation; measuring and managing the value of companies; principles of value creation; fundamental valuation methodology; application of value creation principles to managerial problems; special cases and complex valuation issues. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 445/IBUS 446 International Finance

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. International business transactions, balance of payments and exchange rate systems, exchange rate risk and hedging techniques, sources of funding, relation to international financial institutions and capital instruments; foreign direct investment; international asset and liability management. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment. Cross Listing: IBUS 446/FINC 445.

FINC 446 Technical Analysis of Financial Markets

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Use of price, volume and other non-fundamental, market and behavioral data to analyze and predict security prices; emphasis on pattern recognition and correlation analysis over theory and casual analysis; application of technical analysis as an investment discipline for institutional portfolio management; principles, terminology, techniques and emerging theories of technical analysis. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361.

FINC 447/ACCT 447 Financial Statement Analysis

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Development of an analytical approach to financial statements, integrating relevant finance and accounting concepts and principles; current topics in financial analysis. Prerequisites: Grade of C or better in ACCT 327 and FINC 341. Cross Listing: ACCT 447/FINC 447.

FINC 448 Advanced Investments

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Application of finance theory to complex investment problems; implementation of asset pricing models, portfolio theory and arbitrage strategies; implication of principles of market efficiency and behavioral finance for selection of individual securities and portfolios. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361.

FINC 449 Financial Modeling

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Application of fundamental finance concepts to practical valuation problems and investment decisions; construction of Excel-based financial models in the context of specific situations such as company valuations, leveraged buyout (LBO) investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Prerequisite: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 462 Commercial Bank Management

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Problems confronting commercial banks such as development and application of credit standards, decisions on loan applications, liquidity management and profit sensitivity to varying levels of interest rates. Prerequisite: FINC 381 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 463 Seminar in Commercial Banking

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Cases and problems on contemporary management challenges and problem-solving techniques in commercial banks. Prerequisite: Junior or senior classification and approval of instructor.

FINC 464 Commercial Credit Analysis

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Recognized techniques for assessing the ability and willingness of business firms to service debts as originally agreed; regulatory and ethical requirements for structuring and documenting commercial bank loans to protect interests of shareholders, depositors, and deposit insurers. Prerequisites: Junior or senior classification and approval of instructor.

FINC 465 Seminar in Investment Banking

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Cases and problems on fundamentals of valuing publicly and privately held firms, underwriting public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, managing capital market risks, complying with SEC and NASD regulations and managing other financial services commonly offered by investment banks. Prerequisite: Junior or senior classification and approval of instructor.

FINC 466 Wall Street, Investment Banking and the Financial Markets

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Experience, first-hand, the major financial markets of the United States; visits to major Wall Street firms, security and commodity exchanges, and other financial institutions. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361 and approval of instructor.

FINC 468 Entrepreneurial Finance

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Analysis of financing for start-up or high-growth businesses; funding sources for early operations, including angel capital, private venture capital, corporate venture capital, strategic alliances and crowdfunding; exit strategies, including initial public offerings (IPO) and mergers and acquisition (M&A). Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 472 Real Estate Finance

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Real estate financing instruments, institutions and techniques; trust deed financing, mortgage underwriting and risk analysis, primary and secondary mortgage markets and institutions. Prerequisites: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 475 Real Estate Investment Analysis

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. Real estate market analysis, equity investor decision criteria, institutional investment constraints and investment valuation; case analysis of specific real estate investment decisions. Prerequisite: FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 484 Professional Internship

Credits 1 to 6. 1 to 6 Other Hours. Professional internship with practicing professionals under the direction of a faculty member. Available for free elective only and must be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Prerequisites: Finance major and approval of instructor and department head.

FINC 485 Directed Studies

Credits 0 to 6. 0 to 6 Other Hours. Directed study on selected problems in the area of finance not covered in other courses. Prerequisites: Approval of department head; FINC 351 and FINC 361; ACCT 328 or concurrent enrollment.

FINC 489 Special Topics in...

Credits 1 to 4. 1 to 4 Lecture Hours. Selected area in finance. May include attention to aspects of real estate finance, corporate financial management, investments, or financial institutions and markets. Prerequisites: Admission to upper division in Mays Business School and approval of instructor.

Abdi, Farshid, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, University of St. Gallen, 2018

Adams, Brent Ray, Professor of the Practice
Finance
BBA, Texas A&M University, 1990

Amos, Nicky, Associate Professor of the Practice
Finance
MER, Texas A&M University, 2005

Banks, Bulkeley, Associate Professor of the Practice
Finance
MPS, Georgetown University, 2010

Bouwman, Christa, Professor
Finance
PHD, University of Michigan, 2005

Bowles, Boone, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Universit of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 2019

Brown, Jamie, Professor
Finance
PHD, Washington University in St. Louis, 2004

Cetina, Jill, Professor of the Practice
Finance
MPA, Princeton University, 1998

Chen, Yong, Professor
Finance
PHD, Boston College, 2007

Cziraki, Peter, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Tilburg University, 2012

Dye, Richard T, Clinical Professor
Finance
PHD, Texas A&M University, 1993

Fieldhouse, Andrew, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Cornell University, 2019

Fitzgerald, Tristan, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, University of California at Berkeley, 2018

Garey, William D, Professor of the Practice
Finance
MBA, University of Houston at Clear Lake, 1980

Guyton, Sally C, Principal Lecturer
Finance
MBA, The University of Texas at Austin, 1982

Hallermann, Detlef, Clinical Professor
Finance
PHD, Colorado School of Mines, 1999

Hercot, Philippe, Professor of the Practice
Finance
MBA, Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, 1993

Huang, Jing, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Duke University, 2020

Illeditsch, Philipp Karl, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Texas A&M University, 2007

Johnson, Shane A, Professor
Finance
PHD, Louisiana State University, 1991

Keller, Lorena, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Northwestern University, 2020

Kelly, Robert, Professor of the Practice
Finance
PHD, Harvard University, 1981

Kim, Hwagyun, Associate Professor
Finance
PHD, University of Chicago, 2003

Kolari, James, Professor
Finance
PHD, Arizona State University, 1980

Kolasinski, Adam C, Professor
Finance
PHD, Massachusetss Institute of Technology, 2006

Li, Fulin, Assistant Professor
Finance
MS, Columbia University, 2017

Liu, Xiaoding, Associate Professor
Finance
PHD, University of Florida, 2012

Mahajan, Arvind, Professor
Finance
PHD, Georgia State University, 1980

Paine, Fiona, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Massachusetss Institute of Technology, 2025

Peterson, John R, Clinical Associate Professor
Finance
PHD, Texas A&M University, 2002

Pique, Ricardo, Visiting Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Northwestern University, 2016

Pleus, Scott, Visiting Professor of the Practice
Finance
BS, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1988

Ramseur, Stephen, Professor of the Practice
Finance
MTH, Dallas Theological Seminary, 2017

Rossi, Marco, Associate Professor
Finance
PHD, Pennsylvania State University, 2010

Sorescu, Sorin M, Professor
Finance
PHD, University of Florida, 1996

Tomio, Davide, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Copenhagen Business School, 2017

Weldon, Charlie Charles, Visiting Professor of the Practice
Finance
MBA, The University of Texas at Austin, 2000

White, Edward C, Professor of the Practice
Finance
MBA, University of Hawaii, 1972

Wilson, Christopher A, Professor of the Practice
Finance
MBA, Texas A&M University, 1990

Wu, Wei, Associate Professor
Finance
PHD, University of Chicago, 2015
PHD, Duke University, 2009

Zhou, Kangying, Assistant Professor
Finance
PHD, Yale University, 2025