FNAN 311 Master Syllabus

Costello College of Business Logo

FNAN 311: Principles of Investment Master Syllabus

Course Instructor:
Office Number:
Office Hours:
Email:
Course Meeting Times:
Course Materials: 

  • Required Textbook:
    • Bodie, Kane, and Marcus, Essentials of Investments, 10th edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2017 (BKM). (You may also consider the solutions manual for use with this book.)
  • Other Resources:
    • A financial calculator is required and should be brought to class on a daily basis. 
    • A subscription to the Wall Street Journal is also encouraged (or other finance-oriented publication like Business Week or the Financial Times).
  • Technology Requirement
    • Students should have a video camera and microphone that feed or stream audio and video in real time to or through the internet. Students may need to activate the camera and microphone for class activities such as class lectures and office hours. 
    • LockDown Brower/Monitor Application is required to take online exams in this course. (Student download link for Mac or Windows)

Course Website: 

Course Objectives

This course is an introduction to portfolio management and asset valuation. The material focuses on institutional investing, although the course is also relevant for individuals. The goal is for you to use modern investment strategies and risk-management tools to manage equity and fixed income portfolios. In particular, you will learn the concepts of asset allocation, risk and return trade-off, diversification, CAPM, portfolio performance evaluation, option markets, and market efficiency. 

Learning Goals

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to (1) demonstrate, evaluate and explain the risk and return trade-offs in finance, (2) recognize and understand how to address ethical issues in finance including agency problems, and (3) conduct research to support the analysis of a firm or financial project and effectively present their analysis. 

Grades 

Since this is an advanced course, it inevitably covers more difficult topics than those in FNAN 303. Students are responsible for putting in sufficient time to study the textbook, course notes, and problems. I expect this course to be intellectually challenging. My intention is to grade generously, but fair. I will, however, not hesitate to give low grades to those who clearly did not put in a sufficient amount of effort.

Your final grade will be based on: 

Attendance & participation 5%
Homework 5% 
Midterm Exam I  25%
Midterm Exam II 25%
Final Exam 40%

The final exam is comprehensive and will cover topics in the first two midterm exams. Students are not allowed to skip any of the prescheduled exams and must take the exam at the scheduled time. Any student missing an exam will receive a grade of zero. One exception is that you present a physician’s statement attesting to illness on the day of the exam or for an extraordinary reason.

Important rules: 

  • All exams must be taken without notes or sheets of formulas. 
  • You will be required to bring your own financial calculator to the exams. Sharing calculators is not allowed.

Students’ final letter grades for the course are determined based on the following:

A >= 92.0 B 82.0 – 85.9 C 69.0 – 73.9
A- 89.0 – 91.9 B- 78.0 – 81.9 D 60.0 – 68.9
B+ 86.0 – 88.9 C+ 74.0 – 77.9 F  <= 59.9

Homework Problems 

I will assign problems for homework. The assignments will be collected and checked for effort. Part of the exams will be taken either directly or slightly modified from the homework, thus it is important that you do homework problems. 

Appeal of Grading 

If you wish your answer to a question to be regarded, first submit a copy of your answer to the question and a written explanation of why you believe that the grading is incorrect.  You must turn in this material within one week after the graded work is returned.  In general, the entire exam will be checked for grading errors, and correcting these could either raise or lower the overall score. 

University Office of Disability Services 

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center at (703) 993-2474.  All academic accommodations must be arranged through the ODS. 

Academic Misconduct 

Academic misconduct causes failing the course and triggers quite unpleasant university-mandated procedures which result in further sanctions. Faculty Rule 2.11.5 (Faculty Responsibility under the Honor Code) requires alleged misconduct to be reported to the department and the Honor Committee. So follow the George Mason University honor code at all times and don’t even think about cheating! 

Course Outline

Each topic requires in-depth reading of the textbook. Lecture notes and other course materials will be posted on Canvas. Please download lecture notes before class. 

  1. Introduction and basic concepts 
    1. Chapters 1, 2, 3 
    2. Chapter 4 (optional) 
  2. Probability background, capital markets, and risk vs. return 
    1. Chapter 5 
  3. Diversification 
    1. Chapter 6 
  4. CAPM and APT 
    1. Chapter 7 
  5. Portfolio performance evaluation 
    1. Chapter 18 
  6. Market efficiency and behavioral finance 
    1. Chapter 8 
    2. Chapter 9 (optional) 
  7. Option markets 
    1. Chapter 15 

School of Business Recommendations for Honor Code Violations 

Approved May 2016

UG-Non Freshman Students (including transfer students)
Type of Violation First Offense Second Offense

Plagiarism

  1. Failure to cite/attribute sources
  2. Representing someone else’s work as the student’s own (e.g., copying and pasting) 
 An F in the class; referral to Writing Center; and Academic Integrity Seminar completion  An F in the class; referral to the Writing Center; Academic Integrity Seminar completion; termination from the School of Business; and at least one semester suspension or expulsion  

Cheating

  1. On a minor assignment (e.g., homework, quizzes)  
  2. Cheating on a major assignment or exam, submitting course work from another course as original work 

An F in the class; and Academic Integrity Seminar completion  

An F in the class; and Academic Integrity Seminar completion, and at least one semester suspension

 An F in the class, Academic Integrity Seminar completion; termination from the School of Business; and at least one semester suspension or expulsion 
Lying (e.g., providing fraudulent excuse documents, falsifying data) An F in the class; and Academic Integrity Seminar completion, and at least one semester suspension An F in the class; Academic Integrity Seminar completion; termination from the School of Business; and at least one semester suspension or expulsion 
Egregious Violation (e.g., stealing an exam; submitting coursework from another class as original work across multiple courses; lying to an employer about academic performance, false identification or posing as another, in person or online)  An F in the class, Academic Integrity Seminar completion; termination from the School of Business; and at least one year suspension  An F in the class; Academic Integrity Seminar completion; termination from the School of Business; and expulsion 

To print: Right-click and choose “Print,” then follow your browser’s print settings.
To download: Right-click and choose “Print,” then select “Save as PDF.”