Penn State Smeal College of Business
Business Building
475 Shortlidge Rd
University Park, PA 16802

Associate Professor of Finance
Fenghua Song is an Associate Professor of Finance at Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches financial management (undergraduate) and corporate finance (PhD). He received his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests include banking and financial crises, executive compensation and corporate governance, and corporate finance. His research has appeared in The Economic Journal , Journal of Finance , Review of Financial Studies , Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis , World Bank Economic Review , and Journal of Risk , and has also been covered in VoxEU, World Bank Chief Economist's Blog, and Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation . Besides research, Fenghua enjoys music, movies, nature, and spending time with his family.
Executive compensation, financial intermediation, financial crisis, and economics of information
Ph D in Finance, Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School, St. Louis, MO, 2007-05-01 MS in Finance, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 2002-01-01
BA 580 – DBA Culminating Res Project
This course provides Doctorate of Business Administration students with the opportunity to identify a practice problem or clinical question and investigate the literature related to this selected area of interest. Students will develop and implement a comprehensive project to address the problem. Students will also disseminate the results in both a scholarly presentation and manuscript for publication.
FIN 305M – Fin Mgt Bus Ent Hn (M)
Development of advanced practices of financial management and their application to decision making in a business firm. FIN 305M Financial Management of the Business Enterprise (Honors ) (3) The objective of this course is to give students an understanding, and working knowledge of the major decisions faced by corporate financial managers. In general, the course will emphasize three major areas: investment and capital budgeting, financing and capital structure, dividend policy and corporate growth. A basic understanding of financial analysis and valuation will be provided. Basic corporate securities markets will be described. Determinants of securities prices, yields, and returns will be discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the role of the capital markets in financing corporate operations and investment, in facilitating corporate reorganizations and financial restructuring, and in reflecting owner's wealth and evaluating the performance of corporate management. Students taking, the course should have a working knowledge of elementary statistics, and a basic understanding of accounting and financial statements. As an Honors course, students will study the impact of corporate activities on the market value of its stock, so a common stock pricing model is needed that accounts for factors that matter to investors. FIN 305M looks at these issues through topics such as, time value of money, risk and return, and valuation of stocks and bonds. The course concludes with topics related to specific business activities, such as capital budgeting, capital markets, capital structure, and dividend policy. The level of discussion and critical analysis expected in FIN 305M compliments the expected level of performance for honors students.
FIN 305M – Financial Management of the Business Enterprise (Honors) (M)
Development of advanced practices of financial management and their application to decision making in a business firm.
FIN 305W – Financial Management of the Business Enterprise (W)
Development of advanced practices of financial management and their application to decision making in a business firm.
FIN 305W – Financial Mgmt Bus (W)
Development of advanced practices of financial management and their application to decision making in a business firm.
FIN 596 – Individual Studies
Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
FIN 597 – Special Topics
Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently; several different topics may be taught in one year or term.
FIN 597B – Corporate Finance I (B)
Doctoral seminar which will cover the fundamental topics in corporate finance, covering both theoretical and empirical work in corporate finance.
Song F., Thakor A., Quinn R. "Purpose, profit and social Pressure" Journal of Financial Intermediation, vol. 55, 2023-07-01
Song F., Thakor A. V. "Market freeze and bank capital structure heterogeneity" Management Science, vol. 69, 2023-03-01
Song F., Thakor A. V. "Ethics, capital and talent competition in banking" Journal of Financial Intermediation, vol. 52, 2022-10-01
Song F., Thakor A. V. "Bank culture" Journal of Financial Intermediation, vol. 39, 2019-07-01
Goel A. M., Song F., Thakor A. V. "Correlated leverage and its ramifications" Journal of Financial Intermediation, vol. 23, 2014-12-01
Gopalan R., Milbourn T., Song F., Thakor A. V. "Duration of executive compensation" Journal of Finance, vol. 69, 2014-12-01
Gopalan R., Song F., Yerramilli V. "Debt maturity structure and credit quality" Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, vol. 49, 2014-08-01
Song F., Thakor A. V. "Notes on financial system development and political intervention" World Bank Economic Review, vol. 27, 2013-07-01
Song F., Thakor A. V. "Financial system architecture and the co-evolution of banks and capital markets" The Economic Journal, vol. 120, 2010-01-01
Gopalan R., Milbourn T., Song F. "Strategic flexibility and the optimality of pay for sector performance" Review of Financial Studies, vol. 23, 2010-01-01
Song F., Thakor A. V. "Relationship banking, fragility, and the asset-liability matching problem." Review of Financial Studies, vol. 20, 2007-01-01
Song F., Thakor A. V. "Information control, career concerns, and corporate governance" Journal of Finance, vol. 61, 2006-01-01
Lim K., Song F., Warachka M. "The effect of taxes on the pricing of defaultable debt" Journal of Risk, vol. 6, 2003-01-01