Master of Finance Pre-Skills

Students join the Smith School with a variety of technical skills and educational and professional backgrounds. The resources below have been compiled to assist incoming students with preparing for their fall coursework during the summer months.

UMD students have unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning, an online library of instructional videos covering the latest software, creative, and business skills.  

  

Recommended Summer Pre-Skills Assignment for BUFN 610: Financial Management 

BUFN 610: Financial Management offers an introduction to corporate financial management and is one of the core courses all Master of Finance students complete in their first semester. The objective of the course is to learn how to model the monetary implications of a firm’s strategic initiatives by outlining the financial concepts and techniques used to evaluate those corporate decisions. Topics include the time value of money, valuation of common securities, construction of discounted cash flow models, capital structure, and the weighted average cost of capital.

Finance is a topic that most people master through repetition. There is a limited amount of time together in the classroom during the semester and the course covers a significant amount of material. For incoming students new to the topic of corporate finance, it will be especially important to be exposed to some of the material prior to the start of the course. “Finance Online Course: Introductory Section” offered by Harvard Business School Publishing (product number 6000-HTM-ENG) is recommended to all students to prepare for BUFN 610. This online course introduces some of the material that will be covered in BUFN 610, including time value of money, financial ratios, financial forecasting. This online course is estimated to take from 8 to 10 hours depending upon prior familiarity with the material. For students who have never been exposed to finance coursework, the course could take as long as 20 to 30 hours.

To prepare for the pace and quantity of information in the Master of Finance program, students are strongly encouraged to make financial press part of their daily routine. This could include reading the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, or watching networks such as CNBC or Bloomberg. Students who are familiar with the financial issues reported upon in the press will have an enhanced understanding of the course materials. BUFN 610 be taught by Michael Faulkender, PhD, Dean's Professor of Finance, who will devote a significant amount of time each week towards discussing what is taking place in financial markets and the broader economy. Students are expected to come prepared to participate in classroom discussions.

Please direct questions about BUFN 610 pre-skills assignment to Professor Michael Faulkender via email at mfaulken@umd.edu. 

 

Harvard Business School Publishing Online Course Registration Information 

Course Number and Name: Finance Online Course: Introductory Section

Cost: $35.00, to be paid individually by the student directly to HBSP 

Login Information:

Technical Requirements: HBSP courses are internet-based and cannot be accessed off-line; different computers can be used for access, as long as each computer satisfies certain requirements. See the technical specifications for Online Courses on the Harvard Business Publishing Education website.

Technical Difficulty? Contact the Harvard Business School Publishing Technical Support at custserv@hbsp.harvard.edu or 800-810-8858 or see https://hbsp.harvard.edu/contact-us/

  

Recommended Summer Work and Reading

In the Master of Finance program, students should be prepared to use Python and Excel in their first semester.

 

Optional Summer Work and Reading

  

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business recently published its Summer Reading List 2023, as recommended by faculty.