Major Overview

Description

The Finance major builds on the foundations of finance from the perspective of a functioning organisation. The major includes corporate finance issues such as the appropriate mix of equity and debt to finance projects, identifying the optimal dividend policy, and the resourceful selection of business projects. You can also learn aspects of investment finance including risk and return trade-offs, workings of the capital markets, investment products and investment portfolios, and appropriate risk management techniques. The Finance major can be combined with a major in Economics if you are interested in pursuing a career as a financial economist.

Outcomes

Students are able to:

  1. understand and explain the basis for optimal portfolio construction
  2. apply modern investment theory to the evaluation of projects
  3. appreciate the value and limitations of financial instruments such as options and futures
  4. identify and use appropriate risk management techniques
  5. engage in critical debate on contentious issues in finance such as the validity of the efficient markets hypothesis and the role of corporate governance.
Broadening guidelines

All students studying towards a Bachelor's Degree at UWA are required to Broaden their studies by completing a minimum of four units (24 points) of study outside their degree specific major. Broadening is your opportunity to explore other areas of interest, investigate new disciplines and knowledge paradigms and to shape your degree to suit your own aspirations and interests. Many of you will be able to undertake more than this minimum amount of broadening study and we encourage you to do so if this suits your aspirations. Over the next few months you will find here some broadening suggestions related to your degree-specific major. While we know that many students value guidance of this sort, these are only suggestions and students should not lose sight of the opportunity to explore that is afforded by your Broadening Choices. Advice can also be sought from your Allocated Student Advising Office.

Courses

Finance can be taken as a degree-specific major in the following degree courses:

No study plans found for this major. See study plans for more information.

Units

Key to availability of units:
S1
Semester 1
S2
Semester 2
N/A
not available in 2025 – may be available in 2026 or 2027

Bachelor of Commerce students completing a second major in Engineering Science are not required to complete STAT1520 (as MATH1011 and MATH1012 meet this requirement). In addition, students should substitute CITS2401 Computer Analysis and Visualisation as the Level 2 option to meet the requirements of the commerce major.

Level 1

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (12 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1, S2 ACCT1101 Financial Accounting
Incompatibility
ACCT5432 Introductory Financial Accounting
S1, S2 FINA1221 Introduction to Finance None

Level 2

Degree-specific major units

Take the following unit:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1, S2 FINA2222 Corporate Financial Policy
Prerequisites
FINA1221 Introduction to Finance
or FINX1221 Introduction to Finance
or FINA2221 Introduction to Finance
Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 12 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S2 FINA2204 Derivative Products and Markets
Prerequisites
STAT1520 Economic and Business Statistics or equivalent
or STAX1520 Economic and Business Statistics
and
FINA1221 Introduction to Finance
or FINX1221 Introduction to Finance
or FINA2221 Introduction to Finance
S1 FINA2205 Practical Finance Analytics
Prerequisites
STAT1520 Economic and Business Statistics or equivalent
or STAX1520 Economic and Business Statistics
and
FINA1221 Introduction to Finance or equivalent
or FINX1221 Introduction to Finance or equivalent
S1 FINA2207 Business Analysis and Valuation
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
FINA1221 Introduction to Finance ,
or enrolment in
MJD-BUSAN Business Analytics.
or FINX1221 Introduction to Finance
Incompatibility
ACCT3302 Financial Statement Analysis
S2 FINA2209 Financial Planning
Prerequisites
FINA1221 Introduction to Finance
or FINX1221 Introduction to Finance
or FINA2221 Introduction to Finance

Level 3

Degree-specific major units

Take the following unit:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 FINA3324 Investment Analysis
Prerequisites
any Level 2 Finance unit.
for pre-2012 courses: FINA2221 Introduction to Finance
Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 12 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 ECON3236 International Finance
Prerequisites
ECON2234 Macroeconomics: Policy and Applications
or any Level 2 Finance unit.
for pre-2012 courses: none
S1 FINA3304 Banking: Theory and Practice
Prerequisites
Successful completion of FINA2222 Corporate Financial Policy
or
Enrolment in
MJD-FINEC Financial Economics
and Successful completion of
FINA2204 Derivative Products and Markets
and FINA2205 Practical Finance Analytics
N/A FINA3306 Derivative Strategies and Pricing
Prerequisites
FINA2204 Derivative Products and Markets
and FINA2205 Quantitative Methods for Finance
S2 FINA3307 Trading in Securities Markets
Prerequisites
Any level 2 Finance unit
S2 FINA3326 Applied Financial Management
Prerequisites
Successful completion of FINA2222 Corporate Financial Policy
or
Enrolment in
MJD-FINEC Financial Economics
and Successful completion of
FINA3304 Banking: Theory and Practice
S2 FINA3333 Student Managed Enterprise Investment Fund
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
Unit(s) FINA3324 Investment Analysis
and Unit(s) FINA2207 Business Analysis and Valuation and current WAM of 70 or higher and approval by Unit Coordinator