Senate Bill No.: 0708-14
UNIVERSITY SENATE
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
Introduced by: Undergraduate Academic Council
Date: March 10, 2008
FINANCIAL ANALYST HONORS PROGRAM
IT IS HEREBY PROPOSED THAT THE FOLLOWING BE ADOPTED:
1.
That the attached proposal to create a Financial Analyst Honors Program be
approved by the University Senate effective for the Fall 2008 term.
2.
That this proposed honors program be forwarded to the Interim President
George M. Philip for approval.
Financial Analyst Honors Program
This program is designed to provide serious students of finance with the opportunity
for a special educational experience in small seminars where they can develop their
analytical and communication skills.
School of Business students may apply for admission to the Honors program at the
end of the 1st semester junior year so long as they have achieved a cumulative grade
point average (GPA) of at least 3.5 for:
(1) all courses taken through the 1st semester junior year,
and
(2) the following four courses: ACC 211, ACC 222, FIN 300, and ACC 313.
Interested students must submit an application by December 1st. Applications may be
obtained from the Office of Student Services, BA 361A. Students will be notified of
admission or non-admission by mid-January.
NOTE: Students will be allowed to advance register for second semester junior year
courses with the understanding that if they do not meet the minimum qualification
for admission to the honors program, they will receive a letter informing them of their
non-admission to the honors program and will be deregistered for courses in the
program.
Maintenance of a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 overall and a 3.5
in all courses required in the Honors sequence is required to remain in the program.
The Honors program has a mandatory mentoring program and all students in the
program will be matched with a mentor as assigned by Finance department faculty in
consultation with the Office of Student Services. Students will retain the mentor
relationship so long as they are registered in the program.
Required Honors Program courses for the concentration are:
BACC 313
BFIN 380
BFIN 400
BFIN 410
BFIN 436
BFIN 470
BFIN 490Z
FINANCIAL ANALYST HONORS PROGRAM SEQUENCE:
Fall semester junior year:
BACC 313
(Financial Statement Analysis)
BFIN 300
(Financial Management) *Required of all School of Business students
Spring semester junior year:
BFIN 380
(Investment Valuation and Analysis)
BFIN 400
(Financial Case Problems)
BFIN 410
(Fixed Income)
Fall semester senior year:
BFIN 490Z
(Financial Analysis Seminar and Thesis)
BFIN 470
Spring semester senior year:
BFIN 436
During the Financial Analysis Seminar and Thesis course, students will be required to
present oral and/or written progress reports on their ongoing research and critique
each other’s work. Each student must submit his or her senior honors thesis to the
Finance faculty for review and eventual acceptance.
NOTE: Students who drop or are dropped from the Financial Honors Program at the
end of their junior year will be allowed to use any completed courses in Finance
toward a combined concentration in Finance/ITM, Finance/Management or
Finance/Marketing after consultation with the School of Business undergraduate
advisement personnel. Table 1 on the following page shows each Financial Analyst
program course along with the combined concentration course that could be waived
if the Financial Analyst Program course is completed successfully. For example,
successful completion of BFIN 380 will allow for waiver of BFIN 333. Table 2 shows the
additional courses in departments other than Finance that would be necessary for
completion of a combined concentration in Finance/ITM, Finance/Management, and
Finance/Marketing.
Students who successfully complete the courses in the Financial Analyst Honors
Program and have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 will be awarded the Bachelors of
Science degree with Honors in Financial Analysis, and will be recognized formerly at
the School of Business graduation ceremony in May. Students whose cumulative GPA
is below 3.5 will be awarded the Bachelors of Science degree in Financial Analysis
(without honors).
Table 1
Financial Analyst program course taken in
Spring of Junior year
Course in combined concentration tha
Financial Analyst course is completed
BFIN 380 -- Investment Valuation and Analysis
↔
BFIN 333 -- Investment Management
BFIN 400 -- Financial Case Problems
↔
BFIN 301 -- Corporate Financial Policy and
BFIN 410 -- Fixed Income Analysis
↔
BFIN 375 -- Money and Capital Markets
Table 2
The following additional courses must be taken in Senior year to complete a joint Finance/Inf
Management concentration
BITM 322 -- Quantitative Analysis for Business Decisions (Fall Senior Year)
BITM 331 -- Business Application Development (Summer between Junior & Senior Year)
BITM 415Z – Management Information Systems (Fall Senior Year)
The following additional courses must be taken in Senior year to complete a joint Finance/Ma
concentration
BMGT 430 -- Management of Human Resources (Fall Senior Year)
BMGT 470Z -- Motivation, Productivity, and Change Management (Fall Senior Year)
BMGT 471 -- Human Resource Information System (Spring Senior Year)
The following additional courses must be taken in Senior year to complete a joint Finance/Ma
concentration
BMKT 351 -- Consumer Behavior (Fall Senior Year)
BMKT 376 -- Global/International Marketing or BMKT 432 – Integrated Marketing (Fall Senior Year)
One BMKT Z course (Spring Senior Year)
These sequences listed above would only represent 3 courses that would need to be
taken after spring, junior year. At the most, by switching to a combined
concentration, there would only be 4 – 6 School of Business courses necessary in the
senior year to complete the Business core and a combined concentration. This is a
normal course of events for Business majors to have 4 – 6 courses required in the
School of Business in their senior year. Consequently, students who would have to
leave the Financial Analyst Honors program at the end of their junior year would not
be at a disadvantage in completing a combined concentration and graduating on
time.
