Overview of finance and finance-related topics
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to finance:
Finance – addresses the ways in which individuals and organizations raise and allocate monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects.
Overview
The term finance may incorporate any of the following:
Fundamental financial concepts
History
Finance terms by field
Accounting (financial record keeping)
Banking
Corporate finance
Investment management
Personal finance
Public finance
Risk management
Constraint finance
Insurance
Economics and finance
Finance-related areas of economics
Corporate finance theory
Asset pricing theory
Asset pricing models
- Equilibrium pricing
- Equities; foreign exchange and commodities
- Bonds; other interest rate instruments
- Risk neutral pricing
- Equities; foreign exchange and commodities; interest rates
- Bonds; other interest rate instruments
Mathematics and finance
Time value of money
Financial mathematics
Derivatives pricing
Portfolio mathematics
Financial markets
Financial markets
Market and instruments
Equity market
Equity valuation
Investment theory
Bond market
Money market
Commodity market
Derivatives market
Forward markets and contracts
Futures markets and contracts
Option markets and contracts
Swap markets and contracts
Derivative markets by underlyings
Equity derivatives
Interest rate derivatives
Credit derivatives
Foreign exchange derivative
Financial regulation
Designations and accreditation
Litigation
Fraud
Industry bodies
Regulatory bodies
International
European Union
Regulatory bodies by country
United Kingdom
United States
United States legislation
Actuarial topics
Valuation
Underlying theory
Context
Considerations
Discounted cash flow valuation
- Bond valuation
- Modeling
- Results
- Cash flows
- Real estate valuation
- Equity valuation
- Results
- Specific models and approaches
- Cash flows
Relative valuation
Contingent claim valuation
- Valuation techniques
- general
- as typically employed
- Applications
Other approaches
- "Fundamentals"-based (relying on accounting information)
Financial modeling
Portfolio theory
General concepts
Modern portfolio theory
Post-modern portfolio theory
- Approaches
- Optimization considerations
- Measures
- Optimization models
Performance measurement
Mathematical techniques
Quantitative investing
Financial software tools
Financial modeling applications
Corporate Finance
Quantitative finance
- Option pricing and calculation of their "Greeks"
- Other derivatives, especially interest rate derivatives, credit derivatives and exotic derivatives
- Modeling the term structure of interest rates (bootstrapping / multi-curves, short-rate models, HJM framework) and credit spreads
- Credit valuation adjustment, CVA, as well as the various XVA
- Credit risk, counterparty credit risk, and regulatory capital: EAD, PD, LGD, PFE
- Structured product design and manufacture
- Portfolio optimization[2] and Quantitative investing more generally; see further re optimization methods employed.
- Financial risk modeling: value at risk (parametric- and / or historical, CVaR, EVT), stress testing, "sensitivities" analysis
Financial institutions
Financial institutions
Education
- For the typical finance career path and corresponding education requirements see:
- Financial analyst generally, and esp. § Qualification, discussing various investment, banking, and corporate roles (i.e. financial management, corporate finance, investment banking, securities analysis & valuation, portfolio & investment management, credit analysis, working capital & treasury management; see Financial modeling § Accounting)
- Quantitative analyst, Quantitative analysis (finance) § Education and Financial engineering § Education, specifically re roles in quantitative finance (i.e. derivative pricing & hedging, interest rate modeling, financial risk management, financial engineering, computational finance; also, the mathematically intensive variant on the banking roles; see Financial modeling § Quantitative finance)
- Business education lists undergraduate degrees in business, commerce, accounting and economics; "finance" may be taken as a major in most of these, whereas "quantitative finance" is almost invariably postgraduate, following a math-focused Bachelors; the most common degrees for (entry level) investment, banking, and corporate roles are:
- At the postgraduate level, the MBA, MCom and MSM (and recently the Master of Applied Economics) similarly offer training in finance generally; at this level there are also the following specifically focused master's degrees, with MSF the broadest - see Master of Finance § Comparison with other qualifications for their focus and inter-relation:
- Doctoral-training in finance is usually a requirement for academia, but not relevant to industry
- quants often enter the profession with PhDs in disciplines such as physics, mathematics, engineering, and computer science, and learn finance "on the job”
- as an academic field, finance theory is studied and developed within the disciplines of management, (financial) economics, accountancy, and applied / financial mathematics.
- For specialized roles, there are various Professional Certifications in financial services (see #Designations and accreditation above); the best recognized are arguably:
- Various organizations offer executive education, CPD, or other focused training programs, including:
- See also qualifications in related fields:
See also
Related lists
References
- ^ Joel G. Siegel; Jae K. Shim; Stephen Hartman (1 November 1997). Schaum's quick guide to business formulas: 201 decision-making tools for business, finance, and accounting students. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 978-0-07-058031-2. Retrieved 12 November 2011. §39 "Corporate Planning Models". See also, §294 "Simulation Model".
- ^ See for example: Low, R.K.Y.; Faff, R.; Aas, K. (2016). "Enhancing mean–variance portfolio selection by modeling distributional asymmetries" (PDF). Journal of Economics and Business. 85: 49–72. doi:10.1016/j.jeconbus.2016.01.003.; Low, R.K.Y.; Alcock, J.; Faff, R.; Brailsford, T. (2013). "Canonical vine copulas in the context of modern portfolio management: Are they worth it?" (PDF). Journal of Banking & Finance. 37 (8): 3085–3099. doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.02.036. S2CID 154138333.
External links
- Prof. Aswath Damodaran - financial theory, with a focus in Corporate Finance, Valuation and Investments. Updated Data, Excel Spreadsheets.
- Web Sites for Discerning Finance Students (Prof. John M. Wachowicz) -Links to finance web sites, grouped by topic
- studyfinance.com - introductory finance web site at the University of Arizona
- SECLaw.com - law of the financial markets