ACCT 559 - Strategy and Operations Through CFO Lens

Very easy, manageable course. About 1/3 is CFO visits, 1/3 is debates (2 per semester, in teams), and 1/3 is learning about the industry/company. The class has been very helpful is seeing how everything comes together in the eyes of CFO and what is on their mind. But you definitely don't need to have a finance background in order to do well.

The course involves two debates and a couple of class assignment. Be ready to do some work but it's worth it. The professor is very resourceful: he will bring CFOs from different industries and you'll learn a lot from guest speakers such as CFOs, industry experts and preparing for debates.

Debates are great, speakers are pretty good, but sessions with neither can be a bit dry.

Debates are great, speakers are pretty good, but sessions with neither can be a bit dry.

Super easy course. Learn a lot about several industries and learn more about CFOs are thinking. This is important for all functions as CFOs hold the purse strings for whatever you want to do. Great professor, great guest CFOs!

Interesting, quantitatively-light class that examines role of CFO in different industries and what they look at. Lot of presentations from current CFOs and consultants, and Owens is just a really good guy. One of my favorite classes I've taken.

Very easy, manageable course. About 1/3 is CFO visits, 1/3 is debates (2 per semester, in teams), and 1/3 is learning about the industry/company. The class has been very helpful is seeing how everything comes together in the eyes of CFO and what is on their mind. But you definitely don't need to have a finance background in order to do well.

Great guest speakers!

provide a general and high-level insight for many different industries, have CFOs in class for presentation, need to prepare 2 group debates with another 2 groups for each semester.

This is a good course (not amazing or fantastic). It gives you a great overview of a number of different industries (biotech, consumer goods, asset management, media/entertainment, etc). It stays high level and allows you to understand some of the different challenges of each industry. Even if you are not a finance person, it helps give you an understanding to have intelligent, thoughtful conversations.

Interesting class, great professor, awesome guest speakers from major companies in the Los Angeles area. Get exposure to many different industries and business models.

I had great expectations from this class considering some of the stellar reviews that I had seen but frankly I was left disappointed at the end of the semester with this course. If you want to learn a little bit about all the different industries and hear from some awesome CFOs, this class maybe for you. But the caveats are that you will barely scratch the surface of each industry (somewhat haphazardly) and there is a lot of work involved. For every class debate, you need to turn in a 1-page assignment and there are 2 debates that you have to prepare for during the semester. The class debates are very superficial and don't leave you with a clear takeaway at the end. Overall, I would recommend just auditing the class instead of wasting valuable bid points.

Starts great and then goes slower and slower and starts to feel tedious

Speakers are interesting. If you're very strong in finance and have experience looking at different companies in different industries, the level of discussion may be a bit light. However, the debates are usually good.

This class should be part of core. Analyzing final coal statements is an essential skill that every MBA ought to know and Prof Owens is simply brilliant! Please replace Merle's accounting course with this (if you haven't already) PLEEEAAASSSEEEEE!!!