In a personal finance course, students learn how to counsel individuals on money-saving techniques and budgeting. Students learn how to analyze personal finances and identify places where they're spending too much or where they're making poor financial decisions. Students can take this course outside of a degree program. Personal finance topics covered include auto loans, mortgage loans, and budgets. Taxation, including saving money to pay taxes and getting the most out of deductions, is also covered.
Students develop the ability to critically examine the three most common financial statements: the income statement, balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows. Classes illustrate the connection between accounting information and interrelating economic events.
The course acquaints students with the tools used to value companies; and focuses on making investments, analyzing long-term investments and deciding how different investments affect the value of the company. Students learn about possible financial problems, such as the cost of capital and the risk of investing in a certain product or company. The course often requires prerequisites such as accounting and statistics.
Typically, courses about investments familiarize students with the different options available, including advantages, disadvantages and characteristics of each. Students learn how investment planning affects companies on a long- and short-term basis.
Students become familiar with the basics of a company's financial strategy, including risk analysis, budgeting and short -and long-term investments. Ethical issues related to financial decisions are also discussed. The course requires students to apply financial theories by working with financial assets, financial structures, and insurance underwriting.
International financial courses introduce students to concepts in global banking, exchange rates, currency exchange and risk management. Students invest fake money in companies to learn how to manage portfolios with international funds and address issues in investing money internationally. The course usually requires an introductory course in finance as a prerequisite.