Business Administration - Financial Planning Concentration

Online Bachelor's Degree Program

This course will provide a basic introduction to the ethical and professional considerations in the field of financial planning. The financial planning process will be evaluated along with business objectives, regulatory framework and evolution of the profession. Technical aspects such as time value of money calculations will also be covered. Although a specific sequence is not required, the course is generally taken as the first of seven courses necessary to sit for the Certified Financial Planner' exam.

This course will provide a basic introduction to the field of insurance as well as the place of various insurance products within the financial planning process. Students will examine the professional, ethical, regulatory and technical aspects of a number of insurance products and place the knowledge in a relevant financial planning context through various course requirements including a sample plan. Although students with other objectives may also benefit from the course, students frequently take this course as one of the seven Prerequisites requirements for those who wish to sit for the Certified Financial Planner™ exam. * Textbook materials change periodically due to the nature of this course. Students need to be prepared to purchase new materials.

Investment Planning will expose the student to security analysis and portfolio management, with a focus on investments within the context of comprehensive financial planning. Concepts of risk and reward, investment selection criteria, client objectives and current views in economics such as behavioral finance and efficient market hypothesis will be addressed. Although potentially useful for students with other objectives, the course is one of seven Prerequisites classes required to sit for the Certified Financial Planner™ exam. * Textbook materials change periodically due to the nature of this course. Students need to be prepared to purchase new materials.

This course introduces students to the basic principles and laws of income taxation for individuals, employees and business owners. Topics include income tax calculations for individuals and businesses, compliance and accounting methods, taxation of trusts and estates, basis, depreciation, sale of assets, alternative minimum tax, charitable contributions and tax management.

This course is designed to provide students with knowledge of both public and private retirement plans. The public plans include Social Security, while the private plans include defined benefit and defined contribution plans and their regulatory provisions. The specifics of the various plans are analyzed as well as non-qualified deferred compensation plans. Finally, issues that individuals face in retirement, such as life-style choices, are discussed.

This course provides an introduction to Estate Planning. The focus of this course is on purpose, documentation and process required to create an estate plan that is consistent with the client's goals and objectives. The course is designed to give students a practical understanding of the Federal Estate and Gift tax code. It covers topics such as property titling, the probate process, forecasting the estate settlement cost and gifting strategies. Students will be exposed to the financial and non-financial aspects of the planning process that takes place before the actual wealth and asset distribution discussed in Estate Planning II. The course also emphasizes legal, tax and liquidity issues that a CFP professional needs to address with the client in order to create an effective estate plan.

At the completion of Estate Planning module II students are expected to have a good understanding of the Estate, Gift and Generation Skipping tax consequences of property transfers and how to structure them.

This course integrates the academic coursework contained in the six core areas of the financial planning process with actual practice management, This course is the Capstone for the financial planning concentration by introducing students to the skills and tools needed for developing a comprehensive financial plan for a client. The purpose of the course is to require the financial planning student to demonstrate the ability to integrate and apply knowledge of financial planning topics. The case-study class structure differs from the traditional lecture class structure in that students must take a more active role in the learning process. Students will complete many segmented financial planning cases related to fundamentals, insurance, investing, taxation, retirement planning and employee benefits and estate planning topics covered in the individual core courses. Students will develop both basic and complex comprehensive financial plans by following the CFP Board's six-step financial planning process. Students will complete individual and group work and will participate in the presentation of a comprehensive financial plan to the class.

This introductory course provides students with a practical and concrete explanation of the concepts and techniques they will need as managers in today's new organizations. The sequence of topics follows the familiar pattern of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Throughout the course, the manager's role in leading and accommodating change is emphasized. The course also introduces the student to the issues of managing global businesses, especially the ways in which managers need to develop a global perspective in order to be successful. Issues in strategy, diversity, and entrepreneurship are covered extensively.

This course explores applications within the Microsoft Office Suite with an emphasis on the tools needed in a business context. While covering Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, focus is placed on the use of Excel for analyzing and presenting data. Techniques for the creation of professional documents are addressed.

This course presents methods in making analytical decisions using statistics. The course focuses on the characteristics of numerical and categorical data, methods of presentation, and descriptive statistics. The course also introduces students to basic methods of sampling and of making inferences using one or two independent samples. NOTE: Credit may not be awarded for both MA215 and MA230.

Through this course, students will develop professional communication skills needed in the fast-moving professional environment. With a focus on oral and written communication for business, students discover how to design and deliver messages in both formal and informal venues. Students will record themselves delivering speeches, thus they will need to know how to use a webcam and how to upload video files from their devices into the assignment dropbox in the Learning Management System.

This course on the principles of marketing provides an introduction to the nature and fundamentals of the marketing activity in modern businesses. The broad view of marketing that is presented builds on the integration of marketing with the entire enterprise, reinforced by theories and concepts as well as practices and applications. Topics include an analysis of the economic factors influencing buyer behavior, marketing research, market segmentation, development of marketing programs (new product, price, advertising and distribution decisions), and international marketing. The course also covers new marketing technologies that are revolutionizing the way companies bring value to their customers.

This course provides the student with a sound foundation in economic thinking that is central to business. Topics that are covered include: supply and demand, opportunity costs, elasticities, utility theory, the economic concept of the firm, the relationship between costs and capital in the short-run, and in the long-run, competition, monopoly, anti-trust laws, and public and private goods.

This introductory course provides the student with a basic understanding of personal financial planning. The course is designed to help students understand how to plan for a successful financial future for themselves and their families. The course offers a comprehensive treatment of financial planning to help students understand the complexities of today's financial world and evaluate their financial options through a formal decision-making approach.

This introductory financial accounting course introduces the student to the important role of financial accounting in modern business. The key role of financial accounting is to provide useful information to external users in order that a wide variety of economic decisions can be made. The course covers the theory and practice of accounting applicable to the recording, summarizing and reporting of business transactions. Topics include the different types of financial statements and accounts, asset valuation, revenue and expense recognition and appropriate accounting for asset, liability and capital accounts.

This course is a continuation of Financial Accounting, shifting the focus from external reporting to internal needs of managers. Managerial accounting information helps managers accomplish three essential functions: planning, controlling and decision making. The course provides students with an understanding of managerial accounting information to enable them to evaluate the usefulness of managerial accounting techniques in the real world. Topics include: managerial accounting terminology, budgeting, costing, break even analysis and cost-volume-profitability analysis. The methods of identifying and extracting relevant information from managerial accounting systems as an input to decision making and performance evaluation are stressed throughout the course.

This course is designed to provide the student with a basic understanding of the law that affects business operations including the topics of torts, contracts, commercial paper, and sales. New developments that affect the legal environment of business are presented from all three sources of law: statutes, regulations, and case law. The student will gain a thorough understanding of law that governs business and will gain an understanding of how new developments in technology affect business law.

Students examine the broad implications of technological applications within society in terms of overall connections and communication with others, career and personal interactions, political, and health care implications. Topics covered include technological progress within society, issues associated with privacy and ethical concerns through technological advancements, positive and negative impacts of technology in maintaining cultural norms and traditions, and technology in the workplace.

This course covers the principles of managing information systems in the context of an enterprise. Topics include coverage of information technology in management, information systems in decision-making, planning of information systems, systems development, controls and security measures, and electronic commerce.

This course provides students with a comprehensive review of the concepts and techniques associated with strategic human resource management (HRM) in an emerging global context. Key issues examined are the legal, ethical, and regulatory nature of the business environment. Also studied are the specific technical areas of job evaluation, recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, training and development, performance appraisal and employee relations. Of particular importance is the examination of such areas as technology, international staffing, and global competition.

This intermediate course examines the role of the financial manager in the overall management and control of a firm. Stress is placed on the use of analytical models for improving the decision-making process. Both the short-term management of working capital and the long-term planning of capital structure and investment strategy are covered. Topics include financial ratio analysis, the time value of money, valuation of stocks and bonds, free cash flows, capital budgeting and the cost of capital.

This course introduces students to concepts and principles of organizational behavior. Students investigate the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness. Topics addressed include motivation, leadership, communications, group structure and process, attitude and values, and the change process.

This course provides a foundation for understanding and applying research findings on leadership, focusing on classical leadership theories.

This course provides a framework for supply chain management that requires integrative approach from all functions of the business within the company and across the network of companies that make up the supply chain. It strikes a balance between quantitative and qualitative techniques of operations needed to provide operations and supply chain managers for the challenges and opportunities they face. Students are introduced to analytical tools that operations managers use for decision making in product development, process innovation, supplier strategies, sourcing and outsourcing, strategic alliances, inventory management, and forecasting. The course also emphasizes the importance of managerial issues such as designing processes, working with people, building relationships, and managing information flows. Amongst topics covered are managing operations and supply chain, operations and supply chain strategy, managing inventories, managing process and capacity, lean systems, and demand planning

This penultimate course in the core business curriculum is an advanced undergraduate course focusing on entrepreneurship and small business ownership. The major topic of the course is the development of an entrepreneurial endeavor, including analyzing the venture creation process, understanding the groundwork for becoming an entrepreneur and studying real-life examples that illustrate entrepreneurial ethics and the global dimensions of entrepreneurship.

This advanced course identifies the components of modern project management and shows how they relate to the basic phases of a project, starting with conceptual design and advanced development, and continuing through detailed design, production, and termination. Topics covered include project organization and structure; project planning and control; human behavior in the project setting; and project management information systems. The course places stress on integrative concepts rather than isolated methodologies. It relies on simple models to convey ideas and avoids detailed mathematical formulations, though some of the more important mathematical programming models are presented.

This course is a study of administrative processes under conditions of uncertainty, including an integrating analysis applied to all fields of business. Special emphasis is given to policy determination at the management level.

This course introduces students to the University of Arkansas Grantham policies and staff, provides information about higher education funding resources, discusses important skills for success in the online learning environment, and provides information about University of Arkansas Grantham student support services. Students practice submitting assignments and navigating the Learning Management System (Blackboard). Students will be required to demonstrate fundamental skills necessary for success in the online learning environment at the University of Arkansas Grantham.

This course covers the process and method of science applied to understanding biological concepts at the molecular, cellular, organismal and community levels. The emphasis of this course is on biological diversity in major groups of living organisms and ecology. This course includes a lab.

This course stresses human systems, with applications to contemporary issues in human health and the environment. The scientific method and social applications of scientific information related to human issues are emphasized. This course includes a lab.

This introductory course provides an overview of current and traditional concerns and methods of macroeconomics. Topics that are covered include: economic growth, unemployment inflation, government deficits, monetary policy, investment and capital, the role and methods of the Federal Reserve, Keynesian and monetarist theories and comparative advantage.

This course emphasizes the writing process. Students will apply principles of good writing practice through various genre (narrative, persuasive, expository writings). Additionally, students will analyze reading material as part of the critical and creative thinking processes associated with written communication.

This course introduces students to terms, concepts, and documents related to Technical Writing (writing in the work environment). The concepts and skills presented in the course are intended to be a foundation for effective writing that combines content and format with knowledge of the target audience. Technical writing covers many document types; the course will provide an overview of documents used in the work place such as visual elements, instructions, reports, and presentations. Students will create a portfolio of technical writing documents including: a proposal, progress reports, feasibility and recommendation reports, visual elements, and descriptions of a mechanism and a process.

This course provides the fundamentals of data aptitude. Through this exploration of quantitative reasoning, emphasis will be placed on how to interpret graphs, charts, and pictorial representations of data, along with an understanding of the principles underlying statistics and financial information.

This course examines critical thinking and the analysis of arguments in terms of premises, reasons, and conclusions. Course topics include obstacles to critical thinking, diagramming arguments, belief and doubt, logical fallacies, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, inferences, and judging scientific theories.

This course is a survey of ethical systems with an examination of how such systems can be applied to business, medical, legal, environmental, and personal issues.

This course provides an introduction to American government and politics. Topics include the concept of a constitutional democracy, federalism, amendment rights and equal rights under the law. Also covered are political culture, political ideology, interest groups, lobbying, and political campaigns and elections.

This course presents an introductory overview of psychology. The course includes topics such as the history of psychology, nature vs. nurture, biological psychology, sensation, perceptions, developmental theories, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, memory, cognition, personality, health, and social psychology.

This course offers a global perspective to help students understand their own lives as well as presenting the most current research in the field of sociology. Students will explore social diversity while critically examining the issues and challenges facing society. Topics covered include the theoretical and empirical foundations of sociology, the major themes of sociological research, and the techniques employed.