Become a trusted advisor with a financial planning degree

This course introduces students to the Franklin University community and provides strategies for successful transition to and participation in that community. Topics include University resources and procedures, strategies for advancing communication skills, the use of electronic tools to participate in virtual environments, and the development of an academic and career plan.

This course prepares students to be successful lifelong learners both academically and in their chosen careers. Franklin courses require a high level of self-directed learning and focus on skills required in the workplace and the classroom that are easily transferable between the two environments. The course includes strategies for advancing communication skills, including the use of electronic tools to participate in virtual environments. The assignments and activities in the course are created to closely simulate teamwork found in the workplace.

By using applied critical and creative thinking, students in this course will develop a set of communication skills that will enhance their personal and professional relationships and endeavors. This course will focus on skill development in key areas such as self, perception, listening, verbal messages, conversations, relationships, conflict management, persuasion, and public speaking.

This public-speaking course emphasizes the fundamentals of extemporaneous speaking. Skill-building activities and assignments focus on research, organization, reasoning, style and delivery of presentations as well as listening and audience engagement.

This course focuses on using spreadsheets to solve business applications.

This course is an introduction to financial and managerial accounting. It is designed for non-accounting majors. Financial accounting emphasizes how general purpose financial statements communicate information about the business's performance and position for users external to management. It emphasizes how the accountant processes and presents the information. The course also examines the major elements of the financial statements. The managerial accounting portion of the course studies internal reporting and decision-making. The course assists those who wish to learn "what the numbers mean" in a clear, concise and conceptual manner without focusing on the mechanical aspects of the accounting process.

A study of the everyday legal problems encountered in business with emphasis on the areas of legal procedure, contracts, agency, employment law, business organizations and torts, with cases relating to these and other areas.

An introduction to economic theory involving the examination of how decision making by firms and individuals is shaped by economic forces. Emphasis is placed on demand, supply, market equilibrium analysis, and basic market structure models. The invisible hand as the driving force for economic decisions as well as market externalities are discussed. The class concentrates on providing a balanced approach to studying economic agents' behavior and the global implications and outcomes.

This course is designed to survey the field of finance and provide the foundation for more advanced finance coursework. Topics include sources of business and financial information, financial statement analysis, the time value of money, the nature and measurement of risk, financial institutions, investments and corporate finance.

This course explores the basic concepts and processes of management. Students will explore the functional roles and processes of planning, leading, organizing, and controlling comprising the manager role. Students develop skills related to the manager function that are required in today's competitive environment.

Theory, strategies and methods are foundational to the informed practice of marketing. Students investigate the importance of marketing to an organization or cause, the interrelationship of the difference phases of marketing, the marketing of goods versus services, analysis and identification of markets, pricing strategies and digital marketing tactics.

An introduction to personal financial planning. Topics include the financial planning process, money management and investments, insurance needs, income tax planning, retirement planning and estate planning. Cases are used to illustrate important planning concepts, techniques and issues.

An examination of investment markets, transactions, planning and information. Topics include investment risk and return measures, debt and equity instruments, evaluation techniques, hybrid and derivative securities, mutual funds, real estate investments, tax planning and the investment process, and portfolio management.

An introduction to federal income taxation and the role of the tax code in financial planning for individuals, businesses, and business owners. Topics include the tax environment, fundamentals of income tax planning, the measurement of taxable income, the taxation of business income, individual income taxation, and the tax compliance process.

An introduction to the techniques and issues of risk management and insurance for businesses and individuals. Topics include legal principles in risk and insurance, insurance contracts, personal property and liability risk, life and health risks, social insurance, insurance companies and product markets, insurance pricing, insurance taxation, government regulation of insurance, and professional ethics and market conduct. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

An introduction to retirement planning concepts, procedures, and issues for individuals, businesses, and business owners. Topics include understanding and evaluating client retirement objectives, qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, tailoring retirement plans to client needs, funding retirement plans and investing plan assets, retirement planning for individual clients, post-retirement monetary needs, tax considerations in retirement planning, and retirement plan distributions. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

An introduction to the principles and techniques in estate planning. Topics include the use of living and testamentary trusts, joint ownership of property, life insurance, charitable dispositions, inter vivos gifts, and the marital deduction to efficiently conserve and transfer wealth, consistent with the client's goals. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course is designed to provide a capstone experience, challenging students to apply financial planning techniques, procedures and practices to actual problems and cases.

This course provides students with a real world work experience opportunity that allows students to interact with taxpayers in completing and filing their income tax returns through the VITA (voluntary income tax assistance) program administered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This supervised work experience in tax return preparation mirrors the tax practice in small accounting firms. In addition, it provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate a commitment to providing community service. Students undertake an intensive course delivered in a series of modules preparing participants to complete tax forms for individuals. Students must successfully pass the IRS VITA volunteer tax preparer exam. Students then are responsible for maintaining the professional requirements of the established tax practice. Tax returns are computerized and electronically filed. Professional skills are emphasized.

Most assets escape exploitation not because they are impregnable but because they are not targeted. (Herley, 2014 p.70) Cybercrime is perpetrated all over the world and results in tremendous financial loss to many individuals, businesses, and countries of the World. This course sets out to accomplish several learning outcomes but also to develop a level of literacy about cyber related crime that will help to diminish or mitigate the problems associated with these types of crimes. The awareness of cybercrime-related activity as it pertains to your everyday life is important to your ability to navigate away from this serious criminal activity that is just beginning to grip our society. This course is designed as a literacy course and although it has critical terminology is not fundamentally a computer forensics or technical course. Herley, C., (2014). Security, Cybercrime, and Scale. Communications of the ACM, 57,(9). DOI:10.1145/2654847

Foundations of Entrepreneurship is an introductory course that examines the theory, practice, and tools of entrepreneurship. Various entrepreneurship structures and how such structures result in different unique pathways to success are explored. Students will focus on the importance of developing an entrepreneurial mindset as they assess their individual values and determine their affinity for entrepreneurial thinking, while also reviewing the risks and rewards of entrepreneurial businesses in the context of their chosen entrepreneurial philosophy. Finally, students will identify and evaluate opportunities for new ventures, and consider a strategic approach for successful business plan development.

This course provides an overview of the financial system. The roles of money, financial intermediaries, financial markets, and central banks are discussed in the context of global economy.

An examination of financial management in the global economy. Topics include international financial markets, exchange rates, interest rates and inflation, exchange rate risk management, working capital management, capital budgeting, country risk analysis, long-term financing, and global strategic planning.

This course provides qualified students with an opportunity to receive academic credit for supervised professional training and experience in an actual work environment. This Internship is an ongoing seminar between the student, the faculty member and the employment supervisor. It involves an Internship Application and Learning Agreement, periodic meetings with the faculty representative, professional experience at a level equivalent to other senior-level courses and submission of material as established in the Internship Application and Learning Agreement. Participation cannot be guaranteed for all applicants.

Independent studies courses allow students in good academic standing to pursue learning in areas not covered by the regular curriculum or to extend study in areas presently taught. Study is under faculty supervision and graded on either a Pass/No Credit or a letter grade basis (See the "Independent Studies" section of the Academic Bulletin for more details).

In this course students will explore and utilize techniques for integrating social media marketing as an integral component of marketing campaigns, serving as listening and outreach tools for building brand awareness and promoting business. Through an investigation of tools which include internet forums, message boards, blogs, wikis, podcasts, picture sharing, video sharing, and social networking, students will have the opportunity to create and present a written plan for achieving business goals through the use of a social media marketing campaign.

This introductory course focuses on applying information technology to business strategies using databases. The student will gain a working knowledge of current database technology, including relational database concepts, database design, data extraction, and data warehousing while working with database applications. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course introduces the fundamentals of Business and Data Analytics. Students will learn the fundamentals of business problem framing, data wrangling, descriptive and inferential statistics, data visualization, and data storytelling in analytics. Not open to students with credit for INFA 300.

An introduction to accounting emphasizing how general purpose financial statements communicate information about the business corporation's performance and position for users external to management. Approximately one third of the course emphasizes how the accountant processes and presents the information and includes exposure to recording transactions, adjusting balances and preparing financial statements for service and merchandise firms according to established rules and procedures. The balance of the course examines major elements of the statements such as cash, receivables, inventory, long-lived assets, depreciation, payroll, bonds, and other liabilities and stocks. Concepts of this course are applied to Managerial Accounting (ACCT 225). Students are advised to avoid any time lapse between these courses.

The study of management accounting for internal reporting and decision-making. The course introduces a business-management approach to the development and use of accounting information. Major topics include cost behavior, cost analysis, profit planning and control measures. Accounting for decentralized operations, capital budgeting decisions, and ethical challenges in managerial accounting are also covered.

This course analyzes the uses of individual and group life and health insurance to manage the financial risks that illness, incapacity, and death pose to individuals and organizations. It includes a review of various health and life insurance products and their utility in addressing specific needs and situations, as well as the underwriting and operational mechanisms that insurers employ in providing such products.

This course focuses on the core principles underlying and potential applications for comercial lines property and casualty insurance as a risk management tool. Emphasis is placed on analyzing various types of property and casualty insurance products for businesses, contracts involved in such products, and considerations of both the insurer and the insured in identifying suitable P & C insurance products for mitigating specific business risks.

This course focuses on the core principles underlying, and potential applications for, personal lines property and casualty insurance as a risk management tool for individuals and families. Emphasis is placed on analyzing various types of personal property and casualty insurance products such as auto, homeowners, watercraft, and "toys" (i.e., motorcycles, four-wheelers and travel trailers.) It also addresses insurance carrier functions of personal lines pricing, profitability and portfolio management.