MBA Emphases
Our MBA program offers areas of emphasis in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, and information technology, and renewable energy. You need a total of 9 credits for either an emphasis or general electives in the MBA Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Students who graduated from the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno cannot enroll in 600 level courses if they took them at the 400 level at University.
Note that MBA students can also pursue other areas of emphasis by taking graduate courses of their choice outside of the College of Business.
Also note that BADM 792 (Internship) and BADM 793 (independent study) are among the available courses to MBA students as either electives or as courses for an emphasis. For BADM 793, you need to have a faculty advisor from the College of Business. Prior to registering for BADM 792 or BADM 793, you should contact the MBA Office to discuss the details of the work involved and to get the contact information of a faculty advisor. Once the scope of the work for BADM 793 is worked out, the MBA Office will provide you with the information on how to register in the course.
There are two areas of accounting emphasis in the MBA Program: Financial and Tax. Other combinations are possible for this emphasis.
Financial Emphasis
The study of financial accounting concerns the rules, practices, and conventions, referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP). GAAP is the standard used by companies who report their financial results to external parties including financial institutions, regulators, and shareholders. A solid understanding of GAAP is helpful for a career in the areas of finance, administration, and accounting. The 3-course financial emphasis will give you a solid understanding of current GAAP.
Advisor: Dr. Sonja Pippin
Email: sonjap@unr.edu
- ACC 601 - Financial Reporting I (Prerequisite: BADM 710)
- ACC 602 - Financial Reporting II (Prerequisite: ACC 601)
- ACC 603 - Financial Reporting III (Prerequisite: ACC 602)
Tax Emphasis
The 3-course tax emphasis offers the MBA student both a thorough grounding in the Federal income tax regulations governing individuals and business entities and an analytical framework through which to analyze decisions with tax implications.
Faculty Advisor: Sonja Pippin
- ACC 610 - Federal Taxation (Prerequisite: BADM 710)
- ACC 611 - Taxation of Flow-Through Entities (Prerequisite: ACC 610)
- ACC 789 - Federal Income Taxation: Policy Issues (Prerequisite: ACC 610)
Entrepreneurship involves turning an idea into profit. This can occur with a startup or within an existing business. To see profit in an idea requires a breadth of business understanding, and to obtain profit from an idea requires the ability to execute. An emphasis in entrepreneurship provides grounding in evaluating business ideas and much detailed exposure to the practical steps necessary to form and execute a business plan.
Faculty Advisor: Professor Mark Pingle
- BADM 794 - Value Creation and Measurement
- BADM 791 - Special Topics (Social Entrepreneurship & Non-Profit Management)
- ENT 601 - New Venture Creation
- ENT 602 - Entrepreneurial Finance
- ENT 603 - Applied Entrepreneurship
- ENT 604 – Entrepreneurial Marketing
- ENT 651 - Entrepreneurship Jumpstart
- ENT 693 - Special Topics in Entrepreneurship
The general areas of study in finance are: corporate finance, investments, financial markets and institutions, and real estate finance. The areas involve decisions within the firm, analysis of a wide range of securities for inclusion in an individual or institutional portfolio, and an understanding of the types of markets securities trade in and their regulation. The finance emphasis offers courses in each of these areas.
- Corporate Finance (BADM 741, BADM 746, FIN 604, and FIN 693 Valuation)
- Investments (BADM 743 and BADM 744)
- Financial Markets and Institutions (BADM 745, BADM 749 or FIN 610, and FIN 620)
- Real Estate Finance (BADM 748)
Faculty Advisor: Hongchao Zeng
Pre-requisite: BADM 741
- FIN 604 – Financial Management Theory and Practice
- FIN 610 – Financial Derivatives
- FIN 620 – International Finance
- FIN 693 – Advanced Seminar in Finance: Valuation
- BADM 742 – Research Methods of Finance
- BADM 743 – Investment Management
- BADM 744 – Securities Analysis and Portfolio Management
- BADM 745 – Commercial Bank Management
- BADM 746 – Corporate Treasury Management
- BADM 748 – Real Estate Finance
- BADM 749 – Seminar in Finance, equivalent to FIN 610
The Information Technology emphasis helps students learn how innovative information systems help organizations achieve sustainable strategic advantages. In addition, this emphasis explains how organizations can both protect and leverage their existing technology, properly implement new projects, and manage the organizational change that accompanies new systems. Independent study encourages the application of coursework to real world organizational issues.
MBA students who select an emphasis in Information Technology can tailor their program to focus on specific interest and work needs. Some suggested three course clusters are:
- Project Management (IS 645, IS 695, IS 788)
- Business Analytics (IS 675, IS 682, IS 704)
- Management of IT (IS 670, IS 788, IS 789)
Other clusters are possible, drawing from 600 level and 700 level IS courses, subject to prerequisites and approval by the MBA coordinator and the IS program.
Faculty Advisor: Associate Professor Dana Edberg
- IS 645 – Project Management: Principles and Practice
- IS 670 – Computer Security, Controls, and Information Assurance
- IS 675 – Database Design and Implementation
- IS 682 – Applied Data Science
- IS 695 – IS Development and Management
- IS 704 – Data Analysis in Information Systems
- IS 788 – Digital Transformation (Pre-requisite: IS 301 or BADM 750)
- IS 789 – Information Technology Strategy and Policy
- BADM 793 – Independent Study in information systems (Pre-requisite: Approval of Faculty Advisor and the MBA Office)
The revenue generated by US professional sports leagues in 2024 was substantial, with the NFL earning approximately $19.3 billion, the NBA around $11.3 billion, and MLB also at $11.3 billion.
The Sports Management Program in The College of Business focuses on the business-side of the sports industry.
Faculty Advisor: Kambiz Raffiee
- SPTM 650 - Fundamentals of Sports Management
- SPTM 651 - Sports Ethics and Law
- SPTM 664 - Sport and Concert Arena Management