BUS 550 Financial Management
BUS 550 moves quickly from financial statements into discounted cash flow, bonds, stocks, risk and portfolio decisions. Students are expected to explain the finance behind the calculation, then use that reasoning in MBA-level discussions and comprehensive assignments.
Working across a broader subject load? The Online Finance Class Help page covers recurring class-level support beyond this single syllabus.
What this course is really asking you to do
BUS 550 is an 8-week, 3-unit Westcliff University course emphasizing financial and managerial accounting concepts used in strategic and operational decision-making. The required text is Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 12th edition.
Skills the syllabus is designed to build
- Recall and apply finance terminology, equations, charts and calculations.
- Analyze the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows.
- Use discounted cash flow and valuation methods in financial decisions.
- Evaluate bonds, stocks, risk and expected return.
- Apply capital budgeting and cost-of-capital concepts to business decisions.
How the work develops across the course
Where the grade is concentrated
The hard part of BUS 550 is linking topics together
- Discounted cash flow is reused in bond, stock and capital-budgeting problems, so early calculation habits matter later.
- Portfolio work introduces variance, standard deviation and correlation on top of finance concepts.
- MBA discussion prompts often require short, evidence-backed explanations rather than purely numerical answers.
BUS 550 moves between corporate-finance calculations and MBA writing
A course-specific way to approach the weekly work
This sequence is written for BUS 550, rather than repeating the same generic ordering process used on other class pages.
Identify the finance decision
Clarify whether the task is valuation, capital budgeting, risk, return or portfolio construction.
Build the numeric model
Set up cash flows, rates, returns or weights before calculating.
Test the assumptions
Check interest-rate, risk and timing assumptions before relying on the result.
Write the decision logic
Explain what the calculation implies for the firm, investor or portfolio.
Questions specific to this course
These answers focus on the actual syllabus structure, tools and assessment pattern rather than repeating generic class-help questions.
What does BUS 550 cover at Westcliff University?+
BUS 550 covers financial and managerial accounting concepts used in financial management, including statement analysis, valuation, capital budgeting, bonds, stocks, risk and portfolio decisions.
How long is BUS 550?+
The published syllabus information describes BUS 550 as an eight-week, three-unit course.
Which textbook is used in BUS 550?+
The published course page lists Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 12th edition, by Ross, Westerfield and Jordan.
Why does BUS 550 require statistics in some assignments?+
Portfolio analysis uses measures such as mean return, variance, standard deviation and correlation, so students need basic statistics to evaluate risk and diversification.
Where should students go for broader finance-class support?+
For recurring finance coursework beyond BUS 550, the Online Finance Class Help page covers weekly finance modules, calculations and spreadsheet work.