Finance

As a Finance major at Simmons University, you'll master content knowledge in financial theory, including time value of money, risk preferences, financial markets, and investment analysis.

Students in class

Master complex methods to manage ongoing challenges in business and finance

The discipline of finance has evolved from an art due to an ever-increasing emphasis on quantitative techniques for problem solving. This evolution has placed strict demands for students to master the complex analytical and quantitative methods increasingly used in managing the ongoing challenges in business and finance.

In response, Simmons University’s School of Business offers the Finance (BSBA) as a direct response to this demand in the financial industry. This rigorous major combines a carefully structured and sequenced interdisciplinary curriculum designed to integrate quantitative techniques with the theory and practice of modern financial analysis. Our BSBA Finance major will also be exposed to the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s critical knowledge, skills, and abilities that are needed in an investment and finance role today.

In our AACSB accredited Finance program you will:

  • Master content knowledge in financial theory, including time value of money, risk preferences, financial markets, and investment analysis
  • Be prepared to sit the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) professional certification exam
  • Gain familiarity with core financial instruments, market structures, financial institutions, and financial regulations
  • Gain an in depth understanding of financial risk management, including risk measures, and derivatives
  • Effectively work with financial market data and information systems
  • Apply relevant analytical methods, including exposure to core finance tools and business analytical techniques needed for problem solving processes
  • Exposed to discussions in ethical conduct of finance executives and professionals

Our BSBA finance graduates will be qualified to be tomorrow’s experts in the increasingly complex field of finance in:

  • Asset management.
  • Credit and market risk management.
  • Treasury operations.
  • Portfolio management.
  • Research and technical analysis.
  • Corporate risk compliance.

Our graduates find employment a several local employers that include Boston Private Bank and Trust, Brown Brothers Harriman, Liberty Mutual Insurance, EMC Corporation, and more.

Prerequisites for Finance Majors

ECON100 Principles of Microeconomics 4
STAT118 Introductory Statistics 4

Required Core Courses

ACCT110 Financial Accounting 4
ACCT120 Managerial Accounting 4
BUS100 Introduction to Business and Management 4
BUS234 Organizational Communication & Behavior 4
BUS250 Principles of Marketing 4
BUS260 Financial Management 4
BUS270 Business Analytics 4
BUS325 Operations Management 4
BUS370A Internship and Career Strategies 2
BUS370B Learning From Internship Experience 2

Required Financial Courses

ACCT200 Intermediate Accounting I 4
ACCT201 Intermediate Accounting II 4
BUS311 Investments 4
BUS315 Corporate Financial Planning & Strategy 4
ECON101 Principles of Macroeconomics 4

Capstone

BUS340 Strategic Management 4

Electives

Students select one elective from the following:

ACCT201 Intermediate Accounting II 4
BUS270 Business Analytics 4

Required Courses

ACCT110 Financial Accounting 4
BUS260 Financial Management 4

Electives (choose three)

ACCT200 Intermediate Accounting I 4
BUS214 International Business 4
BUS270 Business Analytics 4
BUS311 Investments 4
BUS315 Corporate Financial Planning & Strategy 4

You'll work with your advisor to tailor a program to your interests and career goals. Simmons offers many options for customizing your studies, including dual majors, accelerated programs and a wide variety of complementary minors.

Finance complements study in various other disciplines, including Marketing, Business and Management, Psychology and Economics.

A Minor in Finance is also available and provides students with a solid background in financial analysis. The minor requires ACCT 110, BUS 260 and three electives from the required Finance courses. It complements study is several disciplines including Business and Management, Marketing, Economics, Financial Math, Data Analytics and the social sciences.

Internships are a key component of the finance program. Our students work in finance organizations in the greater Boston area and beyond, including recent internships at Merrill Lynch, Hill Holiday, Boston Children's Hospital, and Infinity Pharmaceuticals. 

Internships encourage students to sharpen their skills, refine their career interests, build their resumes, and develop important relationships.

Beta Gamma Sigma and Alpha Delta Sigma

Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) is the premier honor society for students enrolled in business and management programs accredited by AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). An undergraduate student becomes eligible for membership in the second semester of her junior year. The top 10% of each undergraduate class, ranked by GPA, are invited to join. The Society's mission defines this lifelong commitment to its members' academic and professional success: to encourage and honor academic achievement in the study of business, to foster personal and professional excellence, to advance the values of the Society, and to serve its lifelong members.

Alpha Delta Sigma (ADS) is a national honor society sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. It recognizes and encourages scholastic achievement in advertising and marketing studies. The requirements are that the student must be current in dues membership, be a senior or rising senior, have taken at least two advertising or marketing courses, and have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.25.

Alpha Mu Alpha

Since its inception in 1937, the American Marketing Association has remained committed to the advancement of excellence in the field of marketing. It was this commitment, which fostered the establishment of the national marketing honor society, Alpha Mu Alpha during the spring of 1981.

Spotlight on Finance Students and Alums

Photo of Abigail Willis in front of a sign for "The Hardford"

Abby Willis ’19 Shares her Simmons Transformation: From Too-Shy, to Assistant Director & Financial Analyst

“Simmons really taught me how to learn, whether that was learning from other people or actively learning as you solve problems.”


Headshot of Joanne Wilson

Joanne Wilson ’83 Wins Rappaport Alumnae Achievement Award

Congratulations to Joanne Wilson who embodies the spirit of the award with her focus on women- and minority-owned businesses. Wilson is a limited partner in venture funds committed to investing only in women, Black, and Latino founders.


Group photo of women attending the Forte Business Conference.

Maegan Bernier ’20 and Shelby Young ’21 Attend Forté Business and Finance Conferences

Last fall, Maegan Bernier ’20 and Shelby Young ’21 were selected to attend Forté Conferences for Undergraduate Women. We caught up with Bernier and Young about the valuable lessons they learned from these experiences.


Headshot of Jill Peterson

Working Abroad in Germany with Jill Peterson '14

Jill tells us how her experience at Simmons made her a "Simmons woman for life."