This major offers the following option(s):

• Dean's Academy
• International Business

Also available via Ecampus.

The goal of the finance program at OSU is to prepare students for careers in institutional finance, which includes careers in banking, brokerage, insurance and other fields.

Individuals entering a career with a financial institution have many opportunities open to them. Many who go into banking select career paths in either operations or lending. Within the lending area, finance majors can specialize in installment credit lending to consumers of durable goods, mortgage lending to home builders and buyers, or commercial lending to help finance the growth of businesses.

People entering the securities industry find careers as stock and bond brokers, security analysts or portfolio managers. Individuals choosing the area of insurance typically enter company operations through either claims or underwriting positions. Those with sales positions can choose to work either with corporations or individuals as a client base. In addition, many decide to work for the government as finance personnel in charge of revenue and expenditure programs.

Financial managers engage in many activities designed to ensure the efficient use of an individual's or organization's capital resources. The finance field involves the management of funds in our economic system. Because financial managers deal with other people's money, finance is a career choice for individuals who enjoy working with people and who desire challenging assignments.

The BS/BA in finance has been accepted into the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) Institute University Recognition Program. This status is granted to institutions whose degree program or programs incorporate at least 70 percent of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK), which provides students with a solid grounding in the CBOK and positions them well for the CFA exams.

Major Code: 182

• Recognize entrepreneurial opportunities for new business ventures and evaluate their potential for business success.
• Understand the implementation issues including financial, legal, operational and administrative procedures involved in starting new business ventures.
• Communicate effectively and professionally in business situations through physical or virtual presence, writing, speaking, listening, and electronic media.
• Demonstrate the ability to lead by using team building skills and facilitating collaborative behaviors in the accomplishment of group goals and objectives.
• Recognize basic concepts and theories related to business ethics and social responsibility.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the ethical behavior appropriate to specific business situations.
• Identify and analyze business problems and opportunities and formulate recommendations for courses of action.
• Use quantitative and qualitative tools and methodologies to support organizational decision making.
• Assess how organizations create value in their global supply chains through the integrated production and distribution of goods, services and information.
• Describe the concept of competitive advantage and how it may be achieved through strategic and tactical methods.
• Analyze the information content of organizational processes.
• Define markets and apply marketing concepts and principles using a customer focus to effectively sell products and services.
• Recognize and appropriately respond to ethical, legal and strategic concerns relating to human resource and organizational management.
• Make basic investment and financing decisions for a business using financial management concepts, and methods.

Finance major requirements are divided into two parts – lower-division and upper-division. The lower-division business core program involves completion of courses within the first and second year (see core curriculum below) that build a solid foundation for the upper-division finance and business curricula. The lower-division business core course work may be completed at OSU or any accredited college or university that offers equivalent courses transferable to OSU.

¹

10 credits from lower-division course work satisfy University General Education Requirements

²

3 credits for the upper-division business core satisfy General Education Requirements

Business Administration Core Curriculum (91)¹

The business administration core curriculum provides students with a broad overview of business; basic skills in accounting and quantitative methods; an understanding of the legal and social environment of business; a background in management and organizational behavior, marketing, finance, and operations management; an understanding of the entrepreneurial process; and the opportunity to integrate course work and further develop decision-making skills through the analysis of business cases.

*

Baccalaureate Core Course (BCC)

^

Writing Intensive Course (WIC)

¹

MTH 241; ECON 201 and ECON 202; WR 222, WR 323 or WR 327, and COMM 111, COMM 114 or COMM 218 meet the university's Baccalaureate Core requirements for mathematics, social processes and institutions, writing II, and speech, respectively. All students must meet the other Baccalaureate Core requirements and the other requirements for baccalaureate degrees. (See Requirements for Baccalaureate Degrees.)

²

For students who transfer into College of Business business-related programs, the Blueprint transition courses meet the same outcomes as the professional development (Blueprint) course series accounting for the student’s academic year when they transfer into the business program

FInance CURRICULUM (36)

¹

Also part of the Business Core

Major Code: 182

*

Baccalaureate Core Course (BCC)

^

Writing Intensive Course (WIC)