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Major
About this major
Finance focuses on understanding the financial decisions of corporations and individuals, as well as the structure and operation of institutions and markets.
This major is essential for anyone who wants to pursue a career in the financial services industry, including banking, broking and investment management. Studying finance is also useful for anyone generally interested in business, and valuable from a personal perspective.
You will study a range of units that are designed to integrate a variety of practical applications with essential theory and financial reasoning skills. You will learn about how capital markets work, what you need to know to work in them, and also be exposed to high-level, market-specific knowledge that mixes theory with current relevant practice.
By studying at the Business School, you will join a global leader in finance education. In the 2021 QS World University Rankings, our accounting and finance subject areas were ranked in the top 25 in the world.
Our Discipline of Finance is a leading research group currently ranked among the top finance groups in the Asia-Pacific region. We work in partnership with the Australian Securities Exchange, the CFA Institute, the Australian Financial Markets Association and several of the largest banking, broking, accounting and funds management businesses in the region.
About this major
The Finance major requires the completion of 48 credit points in units of study, as follows:
(1) two 1000-level core units of study (12 credit points):*
- Economics for Business Decision Making
- Quantitative Business Analysis
(2) two 2000-level core units of study (12 credit points):
- Corporate Finance I
- Corporate Finance II
(3) two 3000-level core units of study (12 credit points):
- Finance in Practice
- Investments and Portfolio Management
(4) two 3000-level selective units of study (12 credit points) selected from the following options:
- Alternative Investments
- Applied Portfolio Management A
- Applied Portfolio Management B
- Bank Financial Management
- Behavioural Finance
- Derivative Securities
- Finance Theory
- Financial Valuation: Case Study Approach
- Financial Risk Management
- Fixed Income Securities
- Industry and Community Project
- International Financial Management
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Personal Finance and Superannuation
- Real Estate Finance
- Trading and Dealing in Security Markets.
*Students completing this major in non-Commerce degrees (as a shared pool/Table S major) can substitute the 1000-level core units with alternative units - see the Interdisciplinary Studies Handbook for details.
Note. Not all selective units will be available each year.
Career Pathways
The knowledge and skills you will acquire are highly portable across a wide variety of careers in Australia and overseas, including:
- Corporate finance
- Investments
- Derivatives
- Behavioural finance
- Financial valuation
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Financial regulation
CFA Program Partners
The University of Sydney is recognised as a program partner through the Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Finance). The curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and will provide you with a solid foundation and positioning to successfully sit the CFA exams. For details please refer to CFA Program Partners. In addition to the Finance major, it is also recommended that you complete the free online learning module, Ethics and Standards of Practice available through the CFA Institute. "CFA" & "CFA Institute" are registered trademarks of CFA Institute.
Courses that offer this major
The course information on this website applies only to future students. Current students should refer to faculty handbooks for current or past course information.
To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.
