The followingoutline provides an overview and topical guide tofinance:
Finance – the field concerned with how individuals, businesses, and organizations raise, allocate, and managemonetary resources over time, while accounting for therisks associated with their activities and investments.
Interest coverage ratio, also known as Times interest earned – Ratio measuring a firm's ability to meet its interest paymentsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Investment – Set of actions with the intent of earning profit
Foreign direct investment – Cross-border investment giving a foreign investor lasting control of an enterprise
Fair value accounting – Accounting method valuing assets and liabilities at current market pricesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Credit (finance) – Financial term for the trust between parties in transactions with a deferred paymentPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Credit scoring – Numerical expression representing a person's creditworthinessPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Default risk – Risk that a borrower or counterparty fails to meet financial obligationsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Factoring (trade) – Financial transaction and a type of debtor financePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Supply chain finance, also known as supplier finance or reverse factoring – Financing methods that optimize cash flow across buyer–supplier relationships
Corporate budget – Balance sheet or statement of estimated receipts and expendituresPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Active management – Investment approach where managers actively select and adjust portfolio holdings
Efficient market hypothesis – Economic theory that asset prices fully reflect all available informationPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Portfolio – Financial term for a collection of investments
Employee or fringe benefit – Non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to normal wages or salariesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Fractional-reserve banking – Banking system where institutions hold only a fraction of deposits as reserves
Deposit creation multiplier – Process by which the money supply of an economic region is increasedPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Long term care insurance – Insurance which pays monthly for nursing home or assisted-living carePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Insurance contract – Contract between the insurer and the insuredPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Loss payee clause – Clause directing insurance claim payments to a third-party interest
Risk Retention Group – Member-owned US liability insurance group formed under the Liability Risk Retention ActPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Penalized present value – Method of budgeting where an investment's value is penalized according to its risk
Expected commercial value – Prospect-weighted valuation method for assessing uncertain project outcomes
Risk-adjusted net present value – Valuation method adjusting net present value for project-specific riskPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Contingent claim valuation – Derivative whose payoff depends on an underlying asset or uncertain future eventPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Real options – Capital budgeting analysis termPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Contingent claim analysis – Derivative whose payoff depends on an underlying asset or uncertain future eventPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Kalotay–Williams–Fabozzi – Interest-rate model describing the stochastic evolution of the instantaneous short ratePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Longstaff–Schwartz – Interest-rate model describing the stochastic evolution of the instantaneous short ratePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Chen – Three-factor short-rate model for interest-rate dynamics
Rendleman–Bartter – Short-rate model describing the evolution of interest rates
This section is corporate-finance-focused: for the valuation of derivatives and interest rate instruments see§ Derivatives pricing; for the economic theory see§ Asset pricing theory.
Cooperative bank – Type of retail or commercial bank organized cooperativelyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Custodian bank – Financial institution providing safekeeping and securities services
Depository bank – Specialist bank facilitating investment via depositary receipt services
Ethical bank – Bank concerned with the social and environmental impacts of its investments and loansPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Investment bank – Financial service providing capital-raising and advisory functionsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Islamic banking – Financial activities compliant with Islamic lawPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Merchant bank – Deals in commercial loans and investment
Microcredit – Small loans to impoverished borrowers
Mutual savings bank – Depositor-owned savings institution without capital stock
Offshore bank – Bank located outside the country of residence of the depositor
Private bank – Bank owned by individuals or partners with unlimited liability
Savings bank – Financial institution focused on savings deposits
Building society – Member-owned financial institution focused on savings and mortgages
Broker – Person who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission
Broker-dealer – One who engages in the business of trading securities on behalf of their customers
Brokerage firm – Person who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commissionPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Commodity broker – Agent facilitating trades in commodity markets
Insurance broker – Intermediary between buyers and sellers of insurance
Prime brokerage – Package of services offered by investment banks
Retail brokerage – Person who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commissionPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Stockbroker – Professional who buys and sells shares for others
Clearing house – Financial institution that provides clearing and settlement services
Commercial lender – Lending of moneyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Government sponsored enterprise – Type of financial services corporation created by the United States CongressPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Hard money lender – Short-term capital loans funded by private parties and secured by real estatePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Business education listsundergraduate degrees in business, commerce, accounting and economics; "finance" may be taken as amajor in most of these, whereas "quantitative finance" is almost invariably postgraduate, following amath-focused Bachelors; the most common degrees for (entry level) investment, banking, and corporate roles are:
Doctoral-training in finance is usually a requirement for academia, but not relevant to industry
quants oftenenter the profession withPhDs in disciplines such as physics, mathematics, engineering, and computer science, and learn finance "on the job”