Course Description
Principal aspects of public financial management, including accounting, budgeting, capital budgeting, revenue forecasting, risk management, pension management, and auditing. The focus of the course is on state and local finance.
Athena Title
PUB FIN MANAGEMENT
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in POLS 7830
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed as a survey of the principles, issues, and skills of financial management in the public sector. The focus is upon applications in the public and nonprofit environment.The objectives of the course are to provide students with both a theoretical understanding of the topic and to develop some of the fundamental skills necessary to work competently in the field. The focus will be on preparing students to be skilled consumers of financial information who possess the ability to analyze and make sound decisions based upon their analysis. This is not a government accounting class, but the development of some ability to understand accounting practices is an important part of the course. Students specializing in public finance will find this course to be an introduction to the key issues of research and practice in the financial management area. Some of these topics will be covered in greater depth in the department's more advanced public finance seminars.
Topical Outline
I. Applied cost concepts II. Accounting terms and concepts III. Operating and cash flow statements IV. Cash management, short term resources and obligations V. Revenue forecasting VI. Investing public funds, pension management VII. Ethics, accountability, and control VIII. Variance analysis IX. Long-term financing X. Municipal bonds XI. Non for profit accounting, government accounting XII. Financial statement analysis XIII. Financial condition analysis XIV. Auditing, audit preparation