The Department of Finance programs reach well beyond the classroom. In addition to a rigorous academic program, the department’s faculty and students participate in an extensive roster of activities – including student-run events, networking opportunities, educational workshops, job fairs, conferences and symposia for academia and industry professionals, the student-run investment program, recruitment outreach, and ongoing events provided by the finance-related Centers of Excellence. Finance faculty also consistently publish their research in top-tier academic journals.

Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration

Finance Concentration

Finance is an academic discipline with direct and practical business applications. It provides  a decision making framework to help business manage productive assets such as accounts receivable, short­ and long-term inventories, and plant, equipment and intangible assets. The Finance concentration offers students the opportunity to develop skills in the various areas of finance while gaining an understanding of how companies function in terms of both their financing activities, risk management, and investment decisions. The Finance concentration also helps students to maximize their potential for employment after graduation by providing practical skills and a broad understanding of how companies function in competitive environments and how financial markets operate.

Real Estate Concentration

Real estate is important to individuals, households, business organizations and the whole society. The curriculum for the real estate concentration spans the broader context of real estate, allowing students to explore the full structure of real estate and its role in our communities. The concentration combines and develops the business, analytical and communication skills students have gained during their first two years at CSUF. Students graduating with the real estate concentration will possess the skills required to enter the business world in a wide range of activities in the real estate industry—from development and construction to financing; from brokerage and leasing to property management; from appraisal and assessment to insurance and regulation; from research to urban planning, government affairs and more.

Risk Management and Insurance Concentration

Risk management is essential to individuals, business organizations, the environment and even society as a whole. Risk management and insurance as a concentration not only benefits students for their personal and property-related risk, it also assists their future careers in corporate risk management. Since insurance as an alternative risk-financing tool can maintain the safety of the environment and the stability of society, a career in risk management and insurance is both rewarding and significant.

By enrolling in the Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a concentration in Risk Management and Insurance, you will be equipped for a career that is challenging and dynamic, with excellent opportunities and a wide variety of career possibilities in actuarial analysis, underwriting, claims, financial planning, insurance distribution and risk management.    

Learn more about the Risk Management and Insurance Concentration

Joint Emphasis in Accounting and Finance

Graduates who aspire to work in today's financial environment will need a strong background in both accounting and finance to be able to analyze information. The fields of accounting and finance are undergoing profound changes that open new opportunities to students. Better decisions about investment and financing activities will result in improved profitability and corporate growth. In addition, under the Sarbanes/Oxley Bill, CFOs and CEOs must understand financial reporting to certify that financial statements are accurate. A combined program in both accounting and finance provides a student with the background to pursue careers in accounting and/or finance, including positions in public accounting, corporate accounting, insurance, real estate, banking, financial planning and corporate finance. Accounting firms are eager to employ students with a combined accounting and finance background for positions in auditing, financial reporting and business advisory services.

Common Requirements

All students are required to complete the University's General Education requirements, as well as core courses in the business administration major, a capstone course, and Global Business course.  

• Lower Division Core
• Upper Division Core
• Capstone Course
• Global Business Course