Finance is a broad term encompassing various things regarding the study, development, management, manufacture, and accumulation of financial assets and liabilities. It includes the processing of monetary transactions to provide for normal business operations. The objective of finance is the management of funds in an efficient and logical manner to achieve desired goals through effective investment and credit planning. Other goals may be to provide funding for long-term projects, stabilize the financial position of organizations, and provide for the protection and issuance of public securities.

Finance is the science or art of getting funds to execute financial plans. Thus, it includes the science of managing money, interest, and other financial instruments. A variety of financial decisions are made by people in the field of finance. Some of these include setting up banks, creating mortgage-based securities, buying, selling, managing collective investments, and buying public securities. All these activities are undertaken to create financial opportunities for borrowers and investors, as well as for governments and central banks.

Economics is the branch of business and financial planning that studies how people and institutions interact with one another to make economic choices. In simple terms, economics studies what brings about the existence and behavior of market prices and quantities. This branch of business and financial planning also looks into the nature and causes of changes in aggregate income, prices, productivity, and structure of any economy. One of the major theories of modern economics is that money is a form of wealth. The role of finance in bringing about changes in aggregate income and the nature and sources of aggregate wealth has been a long debate among economists. The growth and progress of finance have been the subject of numerous books and research reports over the past few centuries.

The study of business and financial decisions aids other fields of study like accounting and management. Many studies have been conducted on the relationship between economics and business and financial markets. In the modern business environment, finance is an integral part of many aspects of the business environment. Finance theory and practice guides business decisions and, consequently, business growth.

The practice and theory of finance revolve around the idea that firms utilize funds to buy raw materials, produce goods, and make profits. The idea is that firm funding will be required for operations and growth. The traditional definition of capital is the accumulated funds available to a firm to engage in certain activities. The scope of financial management extends well beyond the simple definition of finance. Financial management also includes other important areas such as saving, borrowing, and lending.

As mentioned earlier, the scope of finance is quite broad and covers a range of activities. Some of the most important areas of finance are savings, capital budgeting, corporate finance, investment banking, debt finance, and financial markets. All these areas have their own unique characteristics, influences, processes, and constraints. All of these things are crucial in the overall process of financing. These different factors influence the process of capital market transactions and therefore determine the extent to which the firms utilize the funds they acquire.

Among the most important areas of finance are corporate finance, which refers to the area of managing the finance of a firm through various means. The other areas of finance include banking, where the main function of the financial professionals is to deal with loan sales. Commercial real estate finance is focused on buying or selling property and financing the acquisition of land, buildings, and assets used for business purposes. Another important area of finance is insurance, which mainly deals with matters such as risk retention and assurance. Public finance encompasses aspects of public finance including the provision of education, taxation, health care, social security, government, and other aspects of public finance.

The field of behavioral economics is also related to finance. The main difference between behavioral economics and finance is that the former relies solely on theoretical models and assumptions while the latter employs simulation techniques and quantitative methods. Most of the models used in behavioral economics are mathematically based. The field also uses a wide range of statistical methods to study the behavior of individuals, firms, and institutions. Finance is very different from the field of behavioral finance because its main focus is on optimizing the way an investment manager makes investment decisions.