Changes to syllabus after 8/25/2003 will be in green
Financial Markets -- BUS 333
Course Syllabus--FALL 2003
Dr. Huffman

Course Description:

The Financial Markets course provides the opportunity for students to examine the financial system of the United States and other countries.  Topics in this course include financial markets, financial securities such as financial derivatives, financial institutions, laws, and regulations.  Students also explore the role and operation of financial markets in raising and allocating scarce resources. Further, students examine  the effects of Federal Reserve and Treasury policies on the financial system.


Support for College of Business Administration goals and objectives for BUS 333:
Common Finance Course Assessment Objectives for BUS 333:
Students will be able to:
Course Goals and Objectives:  Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

Required Materials: (1) Text:  Jeff Madura.  Sixth Edition, Financial Markets and Institutions (Thompson-South-Western, 2003). The text also has web site:  http://madura.swcollege.com/ .

(2)  Finance Program policy requires that all 333 and 334 subscribe to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).  Several assignments will require that you obtain information from the WSJ or it web page which is included in the subscription.
     (3) Handout Materials and Materials found on Blackboard BUS 333 web site: supplemental articles and readings will be distributed in class, via e-mail or from the Blackboard web site during the semester.  Please check your e-mail prior to coming to class.

    (4) Financial Calculator: Each student's calculator should be able to make time-value-of-money computations including calculations related to bonds and for series of cash flows. The student is responsible for knowing how to use a financial calculator.  The instructor will be using a TI-83 plus which is the one that most math courses require.  The instructor is also familiar with  the HP-10B and HP-17B.  If you do not have a financial calculator, the instructor suggests purchasing the HP-10B.  The HP-10B is inexpensive (about $30), easy to use and the manual has some really good examples in it.

Instructor's expectation of students:
This course will emphasize the application of analytical methods to actual markets and securities. Students who undertake this course are expected to have a fundamental background in basic finance, business and economic concepts. An understanding of accounting and statistics is also expected.  Students who are not deficient in the areas mentioned above can expect to spend at least 6 hours per week preparing for the course.  Students who are deficient in one or more area mentioned above will need more time to prepare for class.

Course work will include activities which will require some familiarity with micro-computers and the use of spreadsheets. In addition, class members will need to acquire skills in obtaining data from electronic data bases and from the internet.  Student are assumed to have working knowledge of the internet, course management systems (e.g., Blackboard), and how to send and receive e-mail.

This is not a remedial course.  The instructor does not give extra credit to individuals.  The instructor does not curve grades on individual quizzes or exams.  The instructor  will be fair and consistent when administering the policies found in this syllabus.  Students are expected to have read the syllabus and to adhere to the policies found in it.  As part of each student's course grade, the instructor will also subjectively evaluate each student's contribution to the class and evaluate their understanding of the course material based on communication between student and instructor.  Please see contribution section of syllabus.


Grading Criteria and Tentative Chapters Covered and Dates: Other Important dates:

No Class on Friday, October 31st (Exam II in Testing Center see above)
Topic for short paper is due on Friday, November 7th (must be turned-in during class)
No Class on Friday, December 12th (Exam III in Testing Center see above)


Allocation of Letter Grades:
 
A    scores of 92 % or higher
AB scores from 89% to 91%
B    scores from 82% to 88%
BC scores from 79% to 81%
C    scores from 72% to 78%
CD scores from 69% to 71%
D    scores from 60% to 68%
F    scores less than 60%


Grading Policies

If a student does not agree with a grade they have received, the student  has three weeks from the distribution of the grade to contest it. For the final course grade, students have three weeks from the postmarked date on the semester grades to contest. After three weeks, the instructor will not be willing to spend time with student discussing grades.   Instructor will distribute a list of grades via e-mail. It is the students responsibility to verify that the grades are recorded correctly.


Examinations: three exams are given during this course taken from text and from lecture including financial press discussion. A failing grade will be earned for a missed exam. NO MAKE-UP EXAMINATIONS ARE GIVEN. Requests to take the exam early because of a legitimate conflict should be made at least five week days prior to the scheduled exam date. The exams will be a mix of objective questions and short answer questions.   During the exams students will be able to use a calculator, a foreign language dictionary (if needed) and  one  3"x5" index card  (front and back).  You can put anything on the card. The only rule is that the notes must be hand written. Computer generated or photocopied notes will be considered cheating and will result in earning a zero on the exam. The card with student notes is turned in with the exam with student's name on the index card.  Cards can only be retrieved during office hours.

TESTING SERVICES SPRING 2003 SEMESTER HOURS OF OPERATION
Polk 4: General Office/Central Desk Hours:
Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Polk 2: Classroom, Make-up, Self-Paced, Correspondence, Placement Testing Area
Fall 2003 Semester:
Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m.-*6:00 p.m. (*Changed from last term)
Friday - 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

A reminder  that exams are not given 30 minutes prior to closing time.  No
exams will be administered after 5:30 p.m.  Monday through Thursday, and
after 4:00 p.m. on Friday.


Quizzes and in-class exercises: Numerous short quizzes will be given during the semester.  Quizzes are designed to prepare students for the exams and to keep students up-to-date with material being covered in class. Students may be required to turn in an assigned homework problem to count as a quiz grade. There are NO make-up quizzes for students not in class; however, the lowest quiz score will be dropped when calculating the average. There may also be some bonus quizzes that you can take increase your quiz score.  Students are required to always bring the textbook, calculator, class notes, and a LEAD PENCIL to class. Quizzes may or may not be announced in classes prior to the quizzes.  Some quizzes may be taken using the Blackboard web site for the course.  Most quizzes will be closed book.

Pre-lecture quizzes: For each chapter assigned from the text there will be a short objective available on the course's Blackboard site is required to be completed prior to the lecture for that chapter.  If student fails to submit the quiz prior to coverage of the chapter during class you will not be able to make up that quiz; however, your lowest pre lecture quiz score will be dropped from the average.  The due dates of each pre lecture quiz will only be announced in class.

Assignments:   Several assignments are required. Many of the assignments will require students to use the WSJ and data obtained from the WSJ.  The purpose of these assignments is to familiarize students with the following: financial press, available investment data, calculations of financial models, use of data available on the internet.   A more detailed description of each assignment will be distributed during the semester.

Short paper (emphasis on short):  A three to four page double-spaced topic paper using 1 inch margins and a font no smaller than 10 point is required for the course (four pages is the maximum).  Each topic paper makes a prediction about the financial market for 2004 or beyond.  Predictions must be supported with information from books, articles, web sites, etc. At least 5 sources of information is required (the text can count as one of the sources).  Students can select from the following list of topics or suggest their own topic with instructors approval.  Topic selected must be turned in to instructor on Friday, November 7th.

Possible topics:


End-of-Chapter questions/problems/homework/assignments:   The purpose of these exercises is to familiarize students course material and practice doing problems prior to the exam.  Most of the exercises are not collected or graded.  Suggested end-of-the-chapter exercises review chapter material.   These suggested questions and problems can be found by clicking on  333 problems.  Answers to the end-of-chapter questions can be found on Blackboard in the course material section.
Course Contributions  and Instructor's Professional Evaluation:  The instructor will  subjectively evaluate each student's contribution to the class and evaluate their understanding of the course material. Each student is responsible for the preparation of all required questions, problems, assignments and projects assigned for each class session. Further, relevant issues reported in the financial press (especially The Wall Street Journal) are considered required reading. Grades for course contribution are assigned by the professor on the basis of the student's ability to raise and/or respond to relevant issues which arise in the course of the class discussion.  Participation in small group discussions is also a part of this grade.  A lack of effort on any course requirement will be reflected in the contribution  grade. During the semester students may be asked to turn-in a self evaluation and/or a peer evaluation.

Attendance is not part of the course contribution grade; however, it is extremely difficult to make a contribution to the course if a student  is not attending the course.  Students are required to be prepared and alert during all class meetings.  Students can make a contribution to the course in a number of different ways including:  (1) asking relevant questions about a course topic (e.g., how  topic relates to a current event), (2) volunteering to answer questions from the professor addressed to the class, (3) correctly answering a question from the professor addressed to the student,  (4) answering questions from other students addressed to the professor, (5) asking a relevant question about a course topic by e-mail or during professor's office hours, (6) providing professor with current article on a course topic, and (7) participation in small group discussions.  A lack of effort on the pretest or any other course requirement will be reflected in the contribution grade. During the semester students may be required to turn-in a self evaluation and/or a peer evaluation.  The contribution grade is the professor's subjective evaluation of how well a student knows course  material and how the student used that knowledge to improve the learning environment of all students. That is, did student's participation in the course contribute to the overall learning of all students?

Review of quizzes and exams: Some of the testing instruments will not be reviewed in class or returned. However, your exam or quizzes will be available for review in my office. I assume that I have your permission to post your grades by a numeric code of your choosing.
Contact with Instructor: As we proceed through the course, students may have difficulty and/or questions with some of the assigned course material. If a student does not understand the material after it has been covered in class then they should contact the instructor during office hours or set up an appointment via e-mail. E-mail will assure that I receive the message--my e-mail address is,huffman@uwosh.edu (please include 333 in the subject line).  Students need to be specific in terms of topic or question they are having difficulty understanding.  The instructor will ask if they have read the required material.
Academic Integrity

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is committed to a standard of academic integrity for all students. The system guidelines state: "Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others’ academic endeavors." (s. UWS 14.01, Wisconsin Administrative Code). Students are subject to disciplinary action for academic misconduct, which is defined in s. UWS 14.03, Wisconsin Administrative Code.


Announcements

• Beginning Fall Semester 2003, the College of Business Administration is implementing a First Meeting of Classes Drop Policy.  Students absent the first meeting of a College of Business Administration class will be administratively dropped from that class.

• As of the September 3, 2003, Opening Day, the waitlist will no longer be valid.  Any student who has been dropped because of a first-class meeting absence has the opportunity, via TitanWeb, to reenroll, pending open seats.  Students who were previously on a waitlist may also enroll, via TitanWeb, pending open seats.  Through this process, Add Cards (for College of Business classes) are now obsolete.
 


INTERNATIONAL STUDY TOURS

I also encourage you to consider enrolling in the International Business Study Tour (28-494). Watch for notices concerning informational meeting(s).    Additional information for study tours can be found at: http://www.uwosh.edu/colleges/coba/assets/undergrad/studyabroadtours.php

CLUBS

International Business Club
For more information go to:  http://www.uwosh.edu/IBC/IBC.html


Finance Club.  Students who are Juniors should be active in clubs related to their future careers. Clubs provide opportunities to meet and interact with business professionals. You have all heard of networking. Clubs provide an opportunity to network.   More information is available at the Finance Club's  web site http://www.uwosh.edu/organizations/fma/.

INTERNSHIPS
Watch the bulletin board outside the the Dean's Office (CC 151).  I also receive notices via e-mail that I will forward to you.


Finance Scholarships

There are about 10 scholarships available to finance majors.  Graduating seniors are eligible for receiving these awards.  students should watch e-mail for notices of scholarship deadlines and qualification. Finance scholarships are usually due in late October.  Many other non-finance major scholarships are available in the spring.   For additional information see the college bulletin board outside of the Dean's Office (CC151).  This information is on the college web site http://www.uwosh.edu/coba/ . A description of each of the finance scholarship can be found at http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/huffman/Fin_scholar.htm


BUS 438 Endowment Fund Manager Course

This is a 1.5 credit Finance Seminar that will be offered each fall and spring semester.   Applications are available at the web site:  http://www.uwosh.edu/colleges/coba/assets/undergrad/majorsinfo/finance_endowment.php

Students manage numerous endowment fund portfolios.  The seminar provides students the opportunity to evaluate a variety of financial assets and to implement an investment strategy to an actual institutional portfolio.  As a team, student make investment decisions based on each fund's investment policy statement.  Prerequisite:  Application and consent of finance faculty.  Course is repeatable.