A solid foundation in finance is required for many business careers and for admission into certain graduate schools of business administration. The Finance certificate consists of courses that provide core knowledge, ranging from basic concepts and models to corporate finance to investment theory.
Apply financial management principles to investment strategies, capital budgeting, bond and stock valuation, estimating the cost of capital and risk assessment
Construct an investment portfolio, based upon an understanding of financial management principles and risk management
Illustrate how derivative instruments can be used to manage risk for both financial and non-financial institutions
Explain the role of financial institutions in the national and global economy and financial markets
Students who have no previous finance course work must begin with Finance 202. The prerequisites for this course—College Algebra, Statistics, Financial Accounting, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics, or equivalents—will ensure that all students are prepared for the complexity and challenge of the subject, which is typically taught to undergraduate students only after they have completed extensive prior course work.
Finance Tuition
Post-baccalaureate students at Northwestern's School of Professional Studies pay per course. For more information about financial obligations and tuition, please visit the Tuition page.
Admission for the Finance Certificate Program
In addition to completing an online application, you'll also need to submit a few supplemental materials. A list of requirements for admission including application deadlines and tips on how to apply can be found on the Admission page.
Finance Registration Information
Whether you're a first-time registrant or current and returning student, all students register using our online student registration and records systems. Important information about registering for courses at SPS, including registration timelines and adding or dropping courses in which you are already enrolled, can be found on the Registration Information page.
Find out more about the Finance Certificate Program
Program Courses:
Course Detail
Public Finance <> ECON 309-CN
Market failures mean that an unregulated economy can bring a bad
social outcome. To try to correct that, people in government make
rules, collect taxes, and spend that tax revenue to try to bring a
better outcome. In this course, we examine the way that governments
tax and spend their budgets for purposes including handling
problems of externalities, public goods, and income transfers.
Prerequisites: ECON 281, 310-A,-B.
This course will cover many of the basic concepts and facts
needed to understand the functioning of international financial
markets, including determination of exchange rates, balance of
payments, and international asset flows and prices; international
transmission of macroeconomic disturbances. Prerequisite: ECON 281,
310-A,-B, or equivalent.
There is no available section.
Introduction to Finance <> FINANCE 202-CN
An introductory course covering the basic concepts and models
used in finance. Explores the mathematics and spreadsheet modeling
techniques used in evaluating various financial assets, including
stocks and bonds. Also surveys the risk-return tradeoff in
financial markets and how investors gauge risk, as well as the
basic concepts of Markowitz's mean-variance portfolio theory. The
nature and impact of interest-rate risk on financial institutions
is considered, and the duration of a financial asset is introduced
in this context. Introduces the efficient market hypothesis and its
implications for personal investing and corporate finance.
Prerequisite: While there is not a formal prerequisite for this
course, it is helpful for students to have a basic understanding of
algebra and statistics, especially concepts such as standard
deviation, correlation, covariance and regression. Also, some
knowledge of accounting is helpful, such as familiarity with
balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements.
There is no available section.
Introduction to Finance <> FINANCE 202-DL
The focus of this course will be on quantitative tools that are
primarily used in the field of finance. In particular, we will put
heavy emphasis on the mathematics of interest rates, including the
tools used to value common stock and fixed rate bonds. We will
discuss how rates of return for these instruments are measured. We
will then look at the capital budgeting process and learn how
managers determine in which projects to invest a firm’s limited
resources. We will also study the probabilistic and statistical
tools necessary to understand how investors and financial
economists evaluate risk. Primary emphasis will be on an intuitive
understanding of portfolio theory and its impact on estimating the
expected return on an asset given its systematic risk through use
of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. Prerequisite: While there is
not a formal prerequisite for this course, it is helpful for
students to have a basic understanding of algebra and statistics,
especially concepts such as standard deviation, correlation,
covariance and regression. Also, some knowledge of accounting is
helpful, such as familiarity with balance sheets, cash flow
statements, and income statements. The course is conducted
completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.
This course covers capital budgeting, or how corporate managers
determine where to invest a company's funds; how companies
determine what an appropriate discount rate would be for a given
capital investment; the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the
Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) models used to estimate a firm's
cost of equity, along with a detailed consideration of how beta is
estimated for the CAPM; how a company derives its weighted average
cost of capital (WACC); the dividend policy decision; and capital
structure theory. Financial planning models will also be considered
in depth. This course also covers the adjustments typically made to
financial statement data to accommodate the needs and viewpoints of
financial analysts and investors. Finally, we examine the topic of
corporate risk management (hedging techniques). Prerequisite:
FINANCE 202 or equivalent.
Financial Markets and Institutions <> FINANCE 363-CN
The main objective of this course is for students to gain an
understanding of the role of financial institutions and markets
from a financial manager's perspective. Within this context, we
focus on the process of financial intermediation within the
economy. In particular, we consider how financial intermediaries
facilitate the efficient flow of funds from savers to borrowers in
such a way as to benefit the economy as a whole and the historical
and regulatory development of financial institutions within the
United States, comparing U.S. institutions with those in other
countries. In so doing, we discover how problems facing managers of
financial institutions have changed over time, thereby gaining a
clearer understanding of how these institutions and markets have
evolved and why. Financial managers of non-financial institutions
also find this course of relevance, since they must deal with
managers of financial markets and institutions on a daily basis.
Since financial institutions are becoming more and more alike, the
emphasis in this course is on basic principles that apply to all
such institutions. Prerequisite: FINANCE 202.
There is no available section.
Investment Theory <> FINANCE 364-CN
This course examines the theory underlying the construction of a
financial assets portfolio with the objective of maximizing
expected return for a specified tolerable level of risk. Topics
covered include, among others, risk aversion and utility functions;
diversification; capital allocation to risky assets (the separation
property); optimal risky portfolios; index models; the Capital
Asset Pricing Model and multifactor models of risk and return; and
the efficient market hypothesis. Although some of these topics are
covered briefly in FINANCE 202, the focus in this course is on how
these issues affect an investor's optimal portfolio choices.
Prerequisite: FINANCE 202 or equivalent.
This course has been cancelled.
There is no available section.
Portfolio Management <> FINANCE 365-CN
This course can be considered applied investment management. It
will focus on academic studies and practice-based readings, how the
two intersect in practice, and on an examination of investment
styles of various famed investment managers. It will also cover
popular investment vehicles—such as equities, fixed income, and
options—and related strategies. Prerequisite: FINANCE 202 or
equivalent.
There is no available section.
Options and Futures <> FINANCE 368-CN
In the last 35 years, exchange-traded options and futures
contracts on financial assets and commodities have grown
exponentially. A "future" is a binding, legal agreement to buy or
sell a given asset or commodity. An "option" is a right--but not an
obligation--to buy or sell an asset at a certain price in a given
period. These derivative securities are used by individuals and
companies for speculative gain and as a means to manage risk while
reducing the cost of doing business. The growth in options and
futures has been accompanied by innovative products, such as
bundled portfolios of options, futures, and their underlying
securities. This course provides students with the skills needed to
value and use options, futures, and related financial contracts.
Topics include arbitrage, hedging, spreading, pricing relations,
models such as Black Scholes and cost of carry, and currency and
interest-rate swaps. Prerequisites: FINANCE 202 or
equivalent.
There is no available section.
Special Topics: Entrepreneurial Finance FINANCE 390-CN
The focus of this class will be the financing of new companies.
How do entrepreneurs formulate and formalize their ideas to get on
their feet financially? Once on their feet how do they continue to
sustain themselves? What are the metrics of new companies
internally and for investors? What types of capital are available
to entrepreneurs?
While some finance theory is presented, this course focuses on
practical application of concepts and theory to starting a new
business. Students will be challenged to conceptualize and develop
a new business idea. Once conceptualized, the next step is a
business plan. With this in place, the entrepreneur will be ready
to identify and reach out to investors. Once funded, the
entrepreneur will have the tools for managing the company from
day-to-day and to guide the company through further rounds of
financing. This course is also listed in CAESAR as ORG BEH 391
Topics in Management: Entrepreneurial Finance.