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Finance Division

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Letter From the Chair

Photo Image of Mike Johannes

Finance is at the core of making informed business decisions. Columbia GSB’s finance division provides a complete finance training with a carefully integrated core curriculum and over 100 elective courses to train students to manage their own finances as well as for career success in asset management, investment banking, real estate, financial technology firms, management consulting, and for roles in central banks and government.

Taught by award-winning faculty from all areas of finance, our professors bring a combination of research-based insights, theoretical frameworks, and practice-based understanding to the classroom. The curriculum focuses on merging the theory and practice of finance along three dimensions: understanding finance principles, an ability to use state-of-the-art data-analytical tools, and a deep knowledge of financial markets and institutions. The core curriculum provides the foundation, and then expansive electives provide more advanced and concentrated courses in the main areas of finance: investment management, investment banking, private equity, venture capital, and real estate.

Central to Columbia GSB’s finance training are Centers and Programs that curate the curriculum, connect students with alumni and industry, and mentor students along their career journeys. These include the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing, and Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate, which anchor our training in entrepreneurial finance, value investing, and real estate, respectively. These programs host many conference and events, and offer significant executive education, connecting our alumni and industry practitioners with new developments and insights.

Together, our program has a long track record of producing transformative business leaders, with Warren Buffett and Henry Kravis as two leading examples who’ve revolutionized the asset management and private equity industries. Our goal is to teach and mentor the next generation of business leaders in finance.

Michael Johannes


Ann F. Kaplan Professor of Business
Chair of Finance Division

In the Media

Barron's
March 18, 2025

Trump Fires 2 Democratic Commissioners at FTC

Highlighted by Columbia Business School, this media piece showcases Topics and Areas of Expertise about our esteemed faculty. The content is specifically curated from the publication that showcased the mentioned faculty and/or research, emphasizing its contributions in various fields. The featured Topics and Areas of Expertise reflects the school's commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge.

Mentioned Faculty

Shivaram Rajgopal

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shiva Rajgopal is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has also been a faculty member at the Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington. Professor Rajgopal’s research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture.  His research is frequently cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist.

Full Profile
Forbes
March 14, 2025

Taxing Universities

Highlighted by Columbia Business School, this media piece showcases Topics and Areas of Expertise about our esteemed faculty. The content is specifically curated from the publication that showcased the mentioned faculty and/or research, emphasizing its contributions in various fields. The featured Topics and Areas of Expertise reflects the school's commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge.

Mentioned Faculty

Shivaram Rajgopal

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shiva Rajgopal is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has also been a faculty member at the Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington. Professor Rajgopal’s research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture.  His research is frequently cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist.

Full Profile
The Free Press Journal
March 6, 2025

Climate Risk Is Business Risk—why ESG Must Go beyond Compliance

Highlighted by Columbia Business School, this media piece showcases Topics and Areas of Expertise about our esteemed faculty. The content is specifically curated from the publication that showcased the mentioned faculty and/or research, emphasizing its contributions in various fields. The featured Topics and Areas of Expertise reflects the school's commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge.

Mentioned Faculty

Shivaram Rajgopal

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shiva Rajgopal is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has also been a faculty member at the Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington. Professor Rajgopal’s research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture.  His research is frequently cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist.

Full Profile
Forbes
March 2, 2025

DOGE Has a Historic Opportunity to Address 3 Tough Challenges

Highlighted by Columbia Business School, this media piece showcases Topics and Areas of Expertise about our esteemed faculty. The content is specifically curated from the publication that showcased the mentioned faculty and/or research, emphasizing its contributions in various fields. The featured Topics and Areas of Expertise reflects the school's commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge.

Mentioned Faculty

Shivaram Rajgopal

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shiva Rajgopal is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has also been a faculty member at the Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington. Professor Rajgopal’s research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture.  His research is frequently cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist.

Full Profile
Politifact
February 26, 2025

No US Government Audits for the Last 100 Years? Here’s Why ‘Shark Tank’ Star Kevin O’leary Is Wrong

Highlighted by Columbia Business School, this media piece showcases Topics and Areas of Expertise about our esteemed faculty. The content is specifically curated from the publication that showcased the mentioned faculty and/or research, emphasizing its contributions in various fields. The featured Topics and Areas of Expertise reflects the school's commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge.

Mentioned Faculty

Shivaram Rajgopal

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shiva Rajgopal is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has also been a faculty member at the Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington. Professor Rajgopal’s research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture.  His research is frequently cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist.

Full Profile
Christian Science Monitor
February 24, 2025

Trump and Musk Cite Fraud, but What Does a Government Audit Really Look Like?

Highlighted by Columbia Business School, this media piece showcases Topics and Areas of Expertise about our esteemed faculty. The content is specifically curated from the publication that showcased the mentioned faculty and/or research, emphasizing its contributions in various fields. The featured Topics and Areas of Expertise reflects the school's commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge.

Mentioned Faculty

Shivaram Rajgopal

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shivaram Rajgopal

Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing; Chair of the Accounting Division
Accounting Division
Chartered Accountancy
1987

Shiva Rajgopal is the Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. He has also been a faculty member at the Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington. Professor Rajgopal’s research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture.  His research is frequently cited in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times, Business Week, and the Economist.

Full Profile

Research

Better Innovation for a Better World

Authors
Olivier Toubia
Date
Forthcoming
Format
Journal Article
Journal
Journal of Marketing

We aim to stimulate discussion on how innovation research within marketing can use a better world (BW) perspective to help innovation become a driver of positive change in the world. In this "Challenging the Boundaries" series paper, we hope to provide purposeful research opportunities for scholars seeking to bridge innovation research with the BW movement. We frame our discussion with four areas of innovation research in marketing that are particularly relevant to BW objectives.

Read More about Better Innovation for a Better World

Personalized Game Design for Improved User Retention and Monetization in Freemium Games

Authors
Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer , and Julian Runge
Date
Forthcoming
Format
Journal Article
Journal
International Journal of Research in Marketing

One of the most crucial aspects and significant levers that gaming companies possess in designing digital games is setting the level of difficulty, which essentially regulates the user’s ability to progress within the game. This aspect is particularly significant in free-to-play (F2P) games, where the paid version often aims to enhance the player’s experience and to facilitate faster progression.

Read More about Personalized Game Design for Improved User Retention and Monetization in Freemium Games

The Data Economy: Tools and Applications

Authors
Isaac Baley and Laura Veldkamp
Date
Forthcoming
Format
Book
Publisher
Princeton University Press

Data is the new oil. It is the fuel for AI, a firm asset, a strategic advantage, information for prediction, a productivity booster, a privacy concern, a by-product of transactions, and a means of payment. How can we update traditional economic and finance frameworks to include a role for data and use these updated frameworks to measures it economic impact?

Read More about The Data Economy: Tools and Applications

The Macroeconomics of Stakeholder Equilibria*

Authors
John Donaldson and Hyung Seok E. Kim
Date
Forthcoming
Format
Working Paper

We propose one route to a more inclusive society. Our context is the prevailing one of high wealth inequality where stockholders alone supply the stochastic discount factor governing the allocation of capital. A large and pervasive pecuniary externality is thus imposed on non-stockholder workers, something we view as antithetical to the notion of an inclusive society.

Read More about The Macroeconomics of Stakeholder Equilibria*

Are Inflationary Shocks Regressive? A Feasible Set Approach

Authors
Felipe Del Canto Monge , John Grigsby, Eric Qian, and Conor Walsh
Date
Forthcoming
Format
Journal Article
Journal
Quarterly Journal of Economics

We develop a framework to measure the welfare impact of macroeconomic shocks throughout the distribution. The first-order impact of a shock is summarized by the induced movements in agents’ feasible sets: their budget constraint and borrowing constraints. We combine estimated impulse response functions with micro-data on household consumption bundles, asset holdings, and labor income for different US households. We find that inflationary oil shocks are regressive, but monetary expansions are progressive, and there is substantial heterogeneity throughout the life cycle.

Read More about Are Inflationary Shocks Regressive? A Feasible Set Approach

Ideas

Finance
Date
May 14, 2024
Alan Patricof '57
Finance

Alan Patricof's '57 Latest Venture Fund Embraces the Future of Longevity Tech

The pioneering venture capitalist talks co-founding Primetime Partners, as well as the School's role in his successful career.
 

  • Read more about Alan Patricof's '57 Latest Venture Fund Embraces the Future of Longevity Tech about Alan Patricof's '57 Latest Venture Fund Embraces the Future of Longevity Tech
Economics and Policy
Entrepreneurship
Innovation
Type
Columbia Business
Date
October 12, 2022
Economics and Policy
Entrepreneurship
Innovation

5 Questions About Value Investing and Finance

Tano Santos, the Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Asset Management and Finance and Director of Columbia Business School’s Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing, discusses the school’s approach to value investing and finance.

  • Read more about 5 Questions About Value Investing and Finance about 5 Questions About Value Investing and Finance
Labor
Leadership
Date
July 10, 2023
Author David M. Schizer smiles
Labor
Leadership

How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps

Expert scholar and nonprofit leader David M. Schizer offers the ultimate management book for nonprofit professionals, board members, and donors.

  • Read more about How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps about How to Save the World in Six (Not So Easy) Steps
Chazen Global Insights
Finance
Date
February 15, 2011
CBS Template Placeholder Image
Chazen Global Insights
Finance

Research: Balancing the Returns of Offering Free Information

Can free sampling hurt your business?

  • Read more about Research: Balancing the Returns of Offering Free Information about Research: Balancing the Returns of Offering Free Information

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