• Completion of an Australian Bachelor degree (or equivalent) in a similar discipline; OR
• Applicants with a minimum five (5) years approved work experience will be considered for admission to this course.

Advanced Standing

If you've previously successfully completed any of the units in the course you have enrolled in, or their equivalent, you may be eligible for credit transfer.

If you've otherwise gained skills and knowledge that are relevant to your course, you may be eligible for recognition of prior learning.

VU Online provides you with the support you need, when you need it, during your course. Our support network has a single focus on ensuring you are entirely supported to succeed in your studies.

Our highly experienced academics are responsive and accessible and understand how to deliver a quality online learning experience. You will also be introduced to your very own Student Success Advisor, who provides motivation and one-on-one personalised assistance with non-academic matters throughout your course.

You’ll experience the support of your community through chat, virtual seminars and discussion board activity. Remember, your support network is only a phone call and email away.

A Graduate Certificate in Finance from VU Online costs $3,995 per unit*, taking the total for 4 units to $15,980*.

This depends on the number of units you study and whether you are eligible for Advanced Standing, which is assessed after you submit your application.

Note that you may be eligible for the Australian Government’s loan scheme, FEE-HELP. The loans are available to assist eligible full-fee paying students with the cost of a university program. It can be used for all or part of the tuition. To determine your eligibility, visit the FEE-HELP website.

*2025 student fees are shown and are subject to change.

For more information on fees and student support, download a brochure.

Studying with VU Online means that you can undertake postgraduate study without having to attend on-campus classes. This makes it easy to fit study around existing commitments including work and family. You will be able to access your coursework, resources, assignment details and individual feedback from facilitators, all from your online learning environment, VU Collaborate.

Chat with fellow students, compare research notes and collaborate on group tasks – it’s all possible with our seamless, community-focused platform.

With VU Online, you will study just one unit at a time under the award-winning VU Block Model®. Learn about our postgraduate online Block Model with this YouTube video.

With VU Online, you can rest assured you will find support from our responsive academics and facilitators, as well as your dedicated Student Success Advisor throughout your study.

VU Online has simplified the application process, involving just three key steps.

1. Speak to one of our Student Enrolment Advisors, who will help you determine your eligibility for the program and whether it suits your career goals. Our advisor will keep you informed of all the application requirements and what to expect during the process. They can also suggest flexible study plans for your circumstances.
2. Begin your online application and submit the required documentation. This may include a copy of your CV and academic transcript.
3. Upon completing your application, you will receive a confirmation email or an email letting you know if you need to provide any additional information.

Financial acumen is an important skill for managers in the complex local and global business environment. The unit takes a multidisciplinary approach to develop advanced analytical, planning and decision making skills. This unit proposes a theoretical framework for effective and efficient use of financial statement information for business analysis. It identifies and evaluates: financial statements, business strategies, financial data, and growth of the business. This framework is then applied to a variety of complex decision making contexts including security analysis, credit analysis, merger and acquisition analysis, and management communications analysis.

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This unit focuses on the understanding and use of financial information and the composition and meaning of financial statements. It is designed from a user-perspective for those who use accounting information, rather than those whose task it is to prepare information. The unit covers accounting reports prepared for external users, as well as accounting reports used by managers to plan, control and make decisions. Students will demonstrate skills in accounting techniques used to gain intelligence to plan and control business operations and plan future business activity.

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This unit provides students with an understanding of how organisations make investment and financing decisions. Students will demonstrate how to apply various valuation methods and theories to real-world settings. Students will also learn to appreciate the limitations of tools in practical settings. Specific topics include capital budgeting, investment decision rules, discounted cash flow, real options valuation, cost of capital, capital structure, dividend policy and evaluation methods such as WACC and APV. Students will demonstrate the necessary skills for making value-changing financial decisions to maximise an organisation’s value.

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This unit explores advanced financial decisions of corporate managers. The unit expands on the traditional project evaluation criteria by introducing real options and valuation techniques in the presence of uncertainty. Students will demonstrate the correct use of debt and equity as financing instruments and how to assess leases and evaluate exposures to risk. The unit also provides examples of how to hedge a company’s cash flow and balance sheet from both domestic and international exposures. Students are exposed to authentic case studies to demonstrate the application of advanced financial decision making to real-life examples using research methodologies and data sets in corporate finance research. Through case study research, students will propose how organisations can employ different risk management instruments to hedge against financial risks.

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This unit focuses on the key knowledge and skills required for successful business consulting. It will synthesise and leverage the competencies you have acquired in your earlier studies, which encompass accounting and finance, marketing, human resources and organisational change management, strategy and data analysis. The unit aims to develop capabilities which will allow you to pursue a career in consulting, or act as an effective internal consultant within an organisation. You will apply knowledge and skills acquired in the previous units of the course to effectively design, research and manage a business consulting project, deliver solutions and present practical recommendations to meet the needs of a real-world client, in an ethical, sustainable and responsible manner. You will be involved in authentic engagement with a client and receive industry feedback, or draw on an industry case study, to address a complex business challenge. You will enhance your research and interpersonal skills, including problem-solving, collaboration, communication, customer-orientation and influencing.

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This unit critically examines the extent to which human resource management is strategic to organisational success in a global context. Alternative models of business strategy and the integration of human resource management are considered. The changing external environment of globalisation and competition and the resultant restructuring of industries, labour markets and organisations is analysed so that the factors influencing managerial choice and employee choice in relation to the different strategies can be assessed. There will be a focus on strategic international human resource management and the issues facing organisations that operate in the international environment.

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This unit investigates theoretical concepts of creativity, innovation, intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship and the skills and competencies to apply this knowledge effectively to diagnoses the need for, identify and leverage an opportunity and create solutions to contemporary business or societal challenges both locally and globally.
The unit provides an authentic and evidence based learning experience in which learners engage and apply to planning, strategising and decision making in professional, commercial and social contexts. The unit stimulates students to challenge the way in which entrepreneurs grow within, flourish and are perceived by and contribute to diverse societal and sustainable contexts.
Students will use their insights in analysing and critiquing contemporary international entrepreneurial trends and dilemmas as responsible ethical and global citizens. Important paradoxes are posed for students to express the way in which human ingenuity translates to business endeavour which can have both positive and negative consequences. Contemporary and emerging future scenarios and examples are given to enable students to apply knowledge to create an entrepreneurial venture that generates economic, social and sustainability benefits.

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This unit aims to critically review the major decisions faced by marketing decision makers in their efforts to harmonise the organisation’s objectives, capabilities, and resources with marketplace needs and opportunities. This unit allows students to evaluate contemporary practices of marketing: the creation of value for customers and firms, along with the strategies and methods marketers use to successfully operate in today's dynamic environment. The unit reflects on the major trends in the managerial practice of marketing and the teaching pedagogy is crafted around applied learning content, case study analysis, collaborative decision making and reflective reasoning.

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This unit critically reviews the socio-cultural environment in which business operates. Ethical frameworks for decision making will be critiqued and students will construct the debates surrounding contemporary corporate responsibility and sustainable development as they impact on organisations in their local and global contexts. Emphasis will be on how new pressures on businesses arise, and how effective the various models that structure organisational responses are to these dynamic and emergent challenges. Students will understand the importance of various United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) relating to governance, operations and culture through evidence-based research, case analysis, and evaluation, in understanding the importance of the SDGs.

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Strategic Management examines the decisions, actions and processes undertaken by firms for success, growth and change in a business environment. Managers at all levels are involved in the strategic management process and must be able to utilise an advanced body of knowledge and skills to plan and problem solve in this area.
This unit of study will explore the principal elements in external and internal environments which impact on organisations and consider how current theoretical frameworks and the interdisciplinary and professional knowledge base respond to complex issues. High level analytical and planning skills will be required to prepare relevant business plans.

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Uncertainty and changes call for unique leadership in businesses. The core learning in this unit is to understand the development of leadership capacity and prepare for critical transformation or transition in complex situations. A unique learning model that aims for students to increase to close the gap between their understanding and effective leadership action. The unit examines the contextual challenges facing leaders today, seeking to develop a deep personal understanding of leadership as a complex process of scanning the environment and setting the direction, and achieving organisational goals through influencing people both inside and outside the organisation. The dynamics of interpersonal power are investigated, with particular attention given to the leader as a social architect, implicit in the concepts of transformational and values-based authentic leadership.

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Understanding customer demand is essential to business success, and supply and demand modelling is a cornerstone of economics and business modelling. Determining viable pricing is fundamental to pricing and production decisions. Supply and demand modelling also informs, and is informed by, the decisions of rivals. This unit will critically review how supply and demand conditions influence business decision making and complex pricing decisions.
Students will learn about supply and demand modelling within diverse markets and industries, including traditional manufacturing, multi-sided platform markets, and service-based industries. The unit will also develop student understanding of fixed and variable costs of production, economies of scale/scope, monopoly/monopsony, substitution effects, complement effects, price elasticity, market externalities and pricing in markets absent of scarcity, and the implications of such concepts for supply and demand analysis and pricing strategy.

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