B.B.A. in Finance

Successful growth for any business entity involves the ability to manage assets and risks through sound financial planning.

As a JMU finance major, you’ll gain a strong foundation in the principles of valuation, financial statement analysis and the concepts behind sound financial decision-making, preparing you for a career in individual, corporate, governmental or international markets. This broad area tends to overlap with a number of specialized fields such as investment management, asset securitization, risk management, real estate and banking.

If you are interested in investment management, you'll learn the analysis of financial investments and the economic interaction between the financial institutions and the financial markets in which they operate. If you are interested in the international aspect of finance, you'll study asset and liability management, capital budgeting, fundraising and exchange transactions for multinational corporations.

The major in finance requires a minimum of 120 credit hours of undergraduate coursework. Fifty percent of this work, or 60 credit hours, must be taken outside of the College of Business. In counting the 60 credit hours of non-business courses, students may include all hours taken in General Education, up to a total of nine hours in economics (ECON courses must be counted as economics), and three hours of COB 191. Business Analytics I. The remaining hours, to bring the total to 60 must be taken from any department outside the College of Business. Students should carefully select these non-business electives to help them gain additional knowledge and expertise for their careers and personal lives.

Students enrolled at James Madison University who wish to change their major to finance should go to the Student Center in MyMadison to submit a request. Students must be in good academic standing to change their major to finance and, if they have taken any FIN prefix courses at the time of the change request, must meet the prerequisites for the required courses in the finance major.

Students who plan to major in finance and earn a score on the Math Placement Exam sufficient for placement into MATH 235 are strongly encouraged to enroll in MATH 235.

Required major courses provide finance majors with a foundation in financial management, investments, and institutions. Electives within the major permit students to obtain an additional emphasis and explore other areas within the field of finance.

We know that success requires equal parts intellect and action. At JMU, that’s what Being the Change is all about.

When students graduating from James Madison University proudly walk across the stage to receive their diplomas, they’re more than just educated. They’re members of a fellowship of doers. They know how to make things happen. They’ve honed their ability to think critically. They’ve learned the importance of a strong work ethic and they’ve become committed to and skilled at collaborating with others. Diplomas in hand, they leave campus determined to live lives of meaning and pursue careers of purpose.

Only two hours from Washington D.C., JMU is fast becoming one of the nation’s leading lights in higher education. That’s because students enjoy unusually engaged relationships with world-class faculty who are at JMU because they want to pursue knowledge and teach talented students.

JMU students, faculty and alumni are using equal parts intellect and action to succeed in every sort of pursuit: they’re boosting innovation and discovery, leading in business, advancing culture, improving health care, reforming education, renewing civil society, competing in athletics — they’re Being the Change in every imaginable way.