The Kelce Undergraduate School of Business offers a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in Finance. A major in Finance prepares students for careers in banking, investment houses, savings and loan institutions, credit unions, credit management, and for managerial positions in governmental and corporate organizations. The study of Finance requires a blend of analytical, evaluative and descriptive skills and can be very rewarding. The purpose of the Finance major is to enable graduates to enhance their ability to analyze financial data and make decisions in today’s complex and global financial environment. Finance is a decision-making discipline that focuses on analyzing and managing risk, projecting future cash flows, allocating capital, and applying valuation analysis. The focus can vary from the individual level to the firm level.
Finance majors get a chance to apply their knowledge through trading simulations as part of their upper-level coursework, where they compete against their classmates and professor in managing a simulated portfolio. Each year a team of students participates in the CFA Institute Research Challenge in which students act as investment analysts to prepare a professional quality investment report on a company selected by the CFA Society of Kansas City. Students compete against teams from other regional universities with the winner moving on to compete across the country and, potentially, globally. The competition includes a chance to interact with executives from the corporation being analyzed and is judged by investment professionals.