Course

Portfolio Management

Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Department
Finance
Course Code
FINC 4440
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15 Weeks X 4 Hours per Week = 60 Hours
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course will integrate concepts and theories studied to date and develop the foundations of portfolio management. Topics to be covered include efficient markets, systematic and unsystematic risk, diversification, the capital asset pricing model, portfolio selection, index and mutual funds, and risk management.
Course Content
  1. The efficient markets hypothesis.
  2. Systematic and unsystematic risk.
  3. Diversification.
  4. Leverage.
  5. Market efficiency.
  6. The Mean-Variance criterion.
  7. The efficient frontier.
  8. The Capital Asset Pricing Model.
  9. Portfolio selection.
  10. Beta coefficient.
  11. Mutual funds performance.
  12. Index funds.
  13. International portfolios.
  14. Risk management, the use of options.
Learning Activities

Material will be presented within a lecture format.

Means of Assessment

Minimum of 3 evaluations, none of which will exceed 40%, for a total of 100%.

Students may conduct research as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, the successful student should be able to:

 

  1. Differentiate between systematic and unsystematic risk.
  2. Analyze the risk/return criterion and apply it to security/portfolio selection.
  3. Explain the relationship between selected portfolios and the market portfolio and apply computer algorithms to examine the relationship.
  4. Assess mutual fund performance relative to the market.
  5. Explain the composition and limitations of various index funds and indexes.
  6. Develop risk management techniques through international diversification and the use of options.
  7. Examine the limitations and weaknesses of the various theories and models.
Textbook Materials

Textbooks and Materials Purchased by Students

 

As chosen by the instructor from:

C       Bodie et al.  Investments, Latest Canadian Ed.  McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

 

C       Reilly, F. & K. Brown.  Investment Analysis:  Portfolio Management, Latest Ed.  Thompson-South-Western.

 

C       Radcliffe, R.  Investment Concepts Analysis Strategy, Latest Ed.  Addison-Wesley.

 

C       Haugen, Robert A.  Modern Investment Theory, Latest Ed.  Prentice Hall.

Requisites

Prerequisites

FINC 3390

Corequisites

FINC 4450

Equivalencies

Courses listed here are equivalent to this course and cannot be taken for further credit:

  • No equivalency courses

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for FINC 4440
Langara College (LANG) LANG BUSM 2XXX (3)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025