Curriculum

Plan of Study Requirements

A grade-point average of 3.25 on a 4 point scale is required for all courses listed on the Plan of Study. The Plan of Study can be changed only by the Program Committee. If the student receives three grades of “C” in courses on the Plan of Study, the student will be dismissed from the program. The four (4) point scale, as used at Oklahoma State University, applies hereafter throughout the document.

Major Field:

The major field of study in finance requires at least twenty-four (24) semester credit hours of graduate finance courses. Successful completion of thePh.D. degree requires at least a 3.4 grade point average in the finance coursework on the Plan of Study, excluding dissertation hours.

Support Areas:

Each student must demonstrate a minimum level of competency in economics and quantitative methods through satisfactory completion of graduate coursework. The minimum level of competency in economics is demonstrated by the student taking or having taken the equivalent of Microeconomic Theory (ECON 5123), Macroeconomic Theory (ECON 5133), Mathematical Economics (ECON 5243), and Econometrics I and II (ECON 5243, ECON 6243). The minimum level of competency in quantitative methods is demonstrated by the student taking or having taken the equivalent of Mathematical Statistics I and II (STAT 4203, STAT 4213) and nine hours of Statistics beyond the two math stat courses.

Basic Requirements:

It is the policy of Oklahoma State University that students pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy degree take a minimum of 90 semester credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree, or a minimum of 60 semester credit hours beyond a master’s degree. The Department of Finance has developed two Plan of Study programs; one for students who enter the program with a master’s degree and another for students who enter the program without a master’s degree. Both plans of study require the student to enroll for a minimum of 15 semester credit hours of dissertation. The Plan of Study requirements are detailed separately on pages 10-16.

Doctoral Examinations

Major Field Examination:

The student must successfully complete a written comprehensive examination in the field of Finance. The student will sit for their comprehensive examinations on the Monday of the fifth week following the end of finals week during the Spring semester (approximately the week of June 10th) following the student’s completion of their doctoral seminars in finance. For students entering the program with a master’s degree this will normally be following the second year of courses. Under extraordinary circumstances and with the approval of both the Coordinator and the student’s Program Committee a
comprehensive examination may be offered at a time other than June.

The student should expect to be examined on all areas of finance, including the literature and possible applications, whether or not the same were included in the student’s courses. Guidance on studying for the examination requires interaction with the Finance Faculty at the student’s initiative and at the convenience of the faculty. The examination will be administered in three five-hour sittings and will cover the areas of financial management, investments and financial markets and
institutions. The exams will be administered on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the same business week, i.e., the exam period may not span a weekend. Comprehensive exam questions will not be distributed to the students following the administration of an examination.

The Coordinator will prepare the exam with questions spanning the general field of finance solicited from all members of the Finance Faculty. Exams consist of four questions in each functional area. Two questions are required and a choice will be made by the student between the two remaining questions. Thus the student must only answer three of the four questions, and only three questions will be graded. All members of the Finance Faculty may read and grade the written exams, with at
least one person grading each question for all students taking the exam. A numerical scoring system is used to evaluate the examination. The student must attain a score of at least two thirds of the possible points to pass the examination. The results of the written examination are to be given to the student in writing within two weeks of taking the exam.

f the student fails one of the three exams, the student will retake an exam on that topical area on the Monday of the week that is three weeks prior to the start of the Fall semester (normally the last Monday in July). If the student fails two or three sections of the exam, the student will retake exams on the failed sections during the next scheduled administration of comprehensive exams in June of the following year. If the student fails the examination for a second time, the student is automatically terminated from the program.

Dissertation Proposal Defense

The student must orally defend the formal written dissertation proposal to the Dissertation Committee in a meeting which is open to all faculty members of the Department of Finance, Finance doctoral students and other invited faculty. The entire Finance Faculty must receive a copy of the proposal no later than one week prior to the oral defense. Approval of the dissertation proposal, with modifications if needed, rests with the Dissertation Committee and requires a majority vote of the
Dissertation Committee. However, the Dissertation Committee is expected to reflect the sentiment of the entire Finance faculty in its approval or rejection of a proposal.

Dissertation Defense

The completed dissertation represents the culmination of a period of intensive research and must be defended orally before the Finance Faculty. It should be marked by extensive interaction between the Ph.D. candidate, the Dissertation Chairperson and the Dissertation Committee. Interaction will include general and specific guidance, usually involving several draft copies of the dissertation.

Every Dissertation Committee member has a responsibility to assure that the Ph.D. dissertation meets the guidelines of the proposal and the standards of the department, college and university. Therefore, tentative acceptance of the dissertation should be obtained from all Dissertation Committee members based on a completed draft copy. The oral defense of the dissertation is scheduled at a time acceptable to all members of the Dissertation Committee. The entire Finance
Faculty should be notified of the dissertation defense at least two (2) weeks before the defense, and invited to participate in the defense. The candidate will provide copies of the dissertation to the faculty members of the Dissertation Committee, and will provide the departmental assistant with a copy of the dissertation that is to be made available to any interested party. The candidate will provide other Finance Faculty and interested faculty from other departments with a ten to twenty (10-20) page synopsis of the dissertation. Approval of the dissertation rests with the Dissertation Committee.

Student Obligations

In addition to the above, the student has the following obligations:

The student must attend all faculty and student research seminars, visiting lectures and other research seminars on campus. The student must attend and participate in Southwest Finance Symposium. Doctoral candidates will discuss papers presented by other schools participating in the symposium and may present a paper at the symposium.
Conduct summer research projects as follows: The first year summer research project will be in conjunction with Research Methods in Finance, FIN 6523. In FIN 6523, the student will gain hands-on experience with the tools and databases that are used to conduct empirical finance research. The student will conduct a replication of a “classic” piece of empirical research. The student will use the skills developed in the class to replicate the classic research. The student will then update the study by evaluating the state of the literature in the topical area since the study was originally conducted, and updating the empirical aspects of the study.
The second year research paper will be an original piece of empirical research. The topic will be selected in consultation with the Program Committee. The goal will be to produce original research that will be published in an academic journal prior to the student’s graduation. The paper will be presented in a research seminar in the Fall semester of the third year.

Program Summary

The Ph.D. program places primary attention on competency rather than formal credit hours. However, as a general guideline, a summary of the credit hour requirements in the areas of study beyond the background requirements (see Program Description, Prerequisite Requirements) are included in the following sample Plans of Study.

Plan Of Study^a,b

Candidate has completed a Master’s Degree prior to beginning the Doctoral Program
Masters – 69 Hours

Total Hours – 69

NOTES:
^aA 3.25 GPA on a 4 point scale is required for all courses listed on the Plan of Study.
^bA maximum of 9 graduate hours of coursework may be transferred in from another
institution or graduate program and a minimum of 45 hours must be taken at OSU. (See
Transfer Credit on page 18.)
^cA 3.4 GPA is required for all finance courses
^dA maximum of 15 hours of dissertation may be counted toward the 90 hours.

Course Rollout for Ph.D. in Finance

(Candidate has completed a Master’s Degree)

Fall Semester	Spring Semester	Summer Semester
Fall Semester	Spring Semester	May	All Summer	June
Year One - 24 Hours of Courses
FIN 6053 – Advanced Corporate Finance	FIN 6600 – Ph.D. Seminar	FIN 6523 – Research Methods in Finance	Summer Research Project
Year Two – 18 Hours of Courses
	FIN 6600 – Ph.D. Seminar		Summer Research Project	Comprehensive examinations for students entering in Year One
Year Three – 12 Hours of Courses
			Dissertation
Year Four –15 Hours of Dissertation (total)
Dissertation Interview for job	Dissertation		Dissertation
Year Five
Dissertation Interview for job	Dissertation		Dissertation

Plan Of Study^a,b

Candidate has not completed a Master’s Degree
Prior to Beginning the Doctoral Program
Masters – 90 Hours

Finance^c – 24 hours
Finance 6053 .............Advanced Corporate Finance
Finance 6600 .............Seminar in Finance #1
Finance 6600 .............Seminar in Finance #2
Finance 6523 .............Research Methods in Finance

5000 Level Finance Courses – 3 courses
Finance 5763 .............Derivatives Securities

Economics – 15 hours
Economics 5123 .......Microeconomic Theory I
Economics 5133 ........Macroeconomic Theory I
Economics 5223 ........Mathematical Economics I
Economics 5243 ........Econometrics I
Economics 6243 ........Econometrics II

Quantitative – 15 hours
Required:
Statistics 4203............Mathematical Statistics I
Statistics 4213............Mathematical Statistics II
Select 3 courses from the following courses:
Statistics 5033............Nonparametric Methods
Statistics 5053............Time Series Analysis
Statistics 5043............Sample Survey Designs
Statistics 5063............Multivariate Methods
Statistics 5073............Categorical Data Analysis
Statistics 5113............Intermediate Probability Theory
Statistics 5133............Stochastic Processes
Statistics 5203............Large Sample Inference
Statistics 5213............Bayesian Decision Theory
Statistics 5513............Multivariate Analysis

Agricultural
Economics 6213.....Advanced Econometrics
Economics 6010 ........Game Theory

Electives - 21 hours
The following is a list of courses suggested by the Finance Faculty.

Required:
Accounting
5103 ..........................Financial Accounting
5113 ..........................Managerial Accounting

Finance^c
5213 ..........................International Business Finance
5223 ..........................Investment Theory and Strategy
5243 ..........................Financial Markets. Prerequisite
5550 ..........................Special Topics in Finance
5613 ..........................Corporate Financial Planning. Prerequisite
5763 ..........................Derivative Securities and the Management of Financial Price Risk
5773 .........................Innovations in Quantitative Finance
5883 ..........................Quantitative Financial Applications

Economics
5313 ..........................Monetary Economics I
5413 ..........................Economics of the Public Sector I
5433 ..........................Economics of the Public Sector II
5543 ..........................Labor Market Theory and Analysis
5613 ..........................International Finance
5623 ..........................Economic Development I
5633 ..........................International Trade
5643 ..........................Economic Development II
5703 ..........................The Economics of Organization and Competitive Advantage
5713 ..........................Industrial Organization I
5723 ..........................Industrial Organization II
5903 ..........................Regional Economic Analysis and Policy
5913 ..........................Urban Economics
6010 ..........................Seminar in Economic Policy
6113 ..........................Seminar in Economic Theory. Microeconomics
6123 ..........................Seminar in Economic Theory. Macroeconomics
6133 ..........................Microeconomic Theory II
6143 ..........................Macroeconomic Theory II
6223 ..........................Mathematical Economics II
6313 ..........................Monetary Economics II
6803 ..........................History of Economic Thought
6813 ..........................Seminar in Economics Systems

Statistics
4113 ..........................Probability Theory
4223 ..........................Statistical Inference
5013 ..........................Statistics for Experimenters I
5023 ..........................Statistics for Experimenters II
5033 ..........................Nonparametric Methods
5053 ..........................Time Series Analysis
5063 ..........................Multivariate Methods
5133 ..........................Stochastic Processes
5513 ..........................Multivariate Analysis

Agricultural Economics
5213 ..........................Econometric Methods
6213 ..........................Advanced Econometrics

Math
4233 ..........................Intermediate Differential Equations
4513 ..........................Numerical Mathematics: Analysis
5133 ..........................Stochastic Processes
5233 ..........................Partial Differential Equations
5243 ..........................Ordinary Differential Equations I
5253 ..........................Ordinary Differential Equations II

Dissertation Hours – 15
Business Administration^d
6000 ..........................Research and Thesis

Total Hours – 90

Course Rollout for Ph.D. in Finance

(Candidate has not completed a Master’s Degree)

Fall Semester	Spring Semester	Summer Semester
Fall Semester	Spring Semester	May	All Summer	June
Year One - 18 Hours of Courses
			Dissertation
Year Two – 24 Hours of Courses
FIN 6053 – Advanced Corporate Finance	FIN 6600 – Ph.D. Seminar	FIN 6523 – Research Methods in Finance	Summer Research Project
Year Three – 18 Hours of Courses
	FIN 6600 – Ph.D. Seminar		Summer Research Project	Comprehensive examinations for students entering in Year One
Year Four – 15 Hours of Courses and 15 Hours of Dissertation (total)
Dissertation Interview for job	Dissertation		Dissertation
Year Five
Dissertation Interview for job	Dissertation		Dissertation

Summer Internships

Summer internships, during the student’s third (3rd) year, that provide an opportunity for the Doctoral candidate to gain research experience funded by a corporation or government entity are supported and encouraged by the faculty. Summer internships for Doctoral candidates that entered the program immediately after earning an undergraduate degree are strongly encouraged. A summer internship is not required to complete the doctoral program. The Finance faculty strongly discourages summer internships during the first two years of a student’s program.

Annual Appraisal

Each doctoral candidate will participate in a formal annual appraisal until the completion of their dissertation. Each summer the Program Coordinator will solicit input from all Finance Faculty members regarding the performance of all doctoral candidates during the prior year. The written feedback provided by the Finance Faculty will be shared with the student’s Program Committee prior to a formal evaluation with the student. The formal evaluation will be conducted with the student and the student’s Program Committee during the week prior to the beginning of the Fall semester. The discussion with the student will include feedback from any faculty not on the student’s Program Committee that have submitted an evaluation of the student’s performance. Individual faculty comments will be kept confidential. Following the meeting the committee will provide the student with a written copy of the evaluation.

Department of Finance

Plan of Study Requirements

Major Field:

Support Areas:

Basic Requirements:

Doctoral Examinations

Major Field Examination:

Dissertation Proposal Defense

Dissertation Defense

Student Obligations

Program Summary

Plan Of Studya,b

Total Hours – 69

Course Rollout for Ph.D. in Finance

Plan Of Studya,b

Total Hours – 90

Course Rollout for Ph.D. in Finance

Summer Internships

Annual Appraisal

Plan Of Study^a,b

Plan Of Study^a,b