Master of Business Administration (Finance)

MBA Specialisations

Choose your specialisation


Students have the option to study a generalist MBA or choose a specialisation in Finance or Change Management. Learn more about specialisations here.

Study a MBA to empower your leadership. Learn practical business principles applicable to real-world scenarios, and graduate equipped to elevate your career as an effective, authentic leader. Learn more about the Master of Business Administration here.

OR;

Choose from specialisations in Finance or Change Management to align with your career goals. Learn more about the Master of Business Administration (Change Management) here.

MBA (Finance) Career Options

Step up to a middle or senior financial management role with an online MBA (Finance). Our graduates have undertaken diverse and rewarding career paths both locally and overseas.

Want to learn more about this course?

Expand your network

VU Collaborate, our intuitive online learning environment, makes it easy to connect with like-minded students, obtain feedback from academics and leverage a supportive professional network.

Learn from industry leaders

You will benefit from the unique industry connections of our academics and facilitators, as well as VU’s strong reputation in the business community.

Gain enterprise skills

All course content is written with a strong and consistent emphasis on employability, ensuring it meets industry standards and delivers the enterprise skills employers demand.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

To apply for the Master of Business Administration (Finance), you are required to have:

  • Completion of an Australian Bachelor degree (or equivalent) in a similar discipline; OR
  • Completion of an Australian Graduate Certificate (or equivalent) in a similar discipline; OR
  • Applicants without an undergraduate qualification may be admitted to the Graduate Certificate (in the same discipline) based on approved work experience. Upon completion of the Graduate Certificate, graduates will be eligible for admission to this course with credit granted for completed units.

Advanced Standing

You may be eligible to enter into the Master of Business Administration (Finance) with credit for past skills and/or study, known as advanced standing.
 
If you've already completed any of the units in the course in which you are enrolling, or their equivalent, you may be eligible for advanced standing. Learn more about Advanced Standing here.

How Online Study Works

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 work, family and other life commitments.

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 engage with learning materials – it’s all possible with our seamless, community-focused platform.

This degree is offered through VU Online’s postgraduate Block Model®, winner of consecutive LearnX Live! Awards. Instead of taking two or three units a semester, you will study one unit at a time in six study periods per year, offering more flexibility than traditional on-campus degrees. Learn about our postgraduate online Block Model ® with this YouTube video.

Learn about our postgraduate online Block Model and how it can empower you to create your own success story.

Units of study

Units of study

VU Online’s MBA (Finance) includes four specialist Finance units and eight core business units, equipping you with the skills for current and future financial management and leadership roles. You will also complete a practical, multi-faceted capstone project. Each unit of study lasts for seven weeks.

For more information about the units of study, download a brochure.

Financial Analysis (BAO5734)

Understand the effective and efficient use of financial statement information for business analysis. This unit enables you to identify and evaluate key framework components and apply them to a variety of complex decision-making contexts including security analysis, credit analysis, corporate financing policies analysis, merger and acquisition analysis, and management communications analysis.
View unit page

Accounting and Financial Management (BAO6000)

Learn how to assess information and business support systems to monitor issues, problems and opportunities affecting businesses. This unit enables you to evaluate accounting information, analyse financial reports to inform users of business performance and position, and verify and synthesise information required for short- and long-term decision-making, and articulate and devise problem-solving techniques for making informed management decisions.
View unit page

Corporate Finance (BAO7000)

Learn and develop the necessary skills for making value-changing financial decisions to maximise an organisation’s value. Learn to demonstrate, analyse and apply knowledge of finance theories, practices and markets when making decisions. Critically analyse and solve problems related to the decisions of the corporate manager and gain a clear understanding of the theories underlying the operation of financial markets and relevant asset pricing models for strategic corporate transactions.
View unit page

Advanced Finance (BAO7001)

Gain a clear understanding of research methodologies and data sets commonly used when researching corporate finance. Be able to critically evaluate issues that arise when raising debt finance and leasing arrangements. Justify financial decision-making through demonstration of the correct use of analytical tools and frameworks, and be able to argue how an organisation can employ different risk management instruments to hedge against financial risks.
View unit page

Business Consulting (BMO7005)

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 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.
View unit page

Strategic Human Resource Management (BMO5572)

This unit critically examines the extent to which human resource management is strategic to organizational success in a global context. Alternative models of business strategy and the integration of human resource management are considered.
There will be a focus on strategic international human resource management and the issues facing organizations that operate in the international environment.
View unit page

Managing Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BMO6622)

This unit investigates theoretical concepts of creativity, innovation 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.
Contemporary scenarios and examples are given to enable students to apply developing knowledge to create an entrepreneurial venture that generates economic, social or environmental benefit and which is sustainable.
View unit page

Marketing Management (BMO6505)

This unit aims to critically review the major decisions faced by marketing decision makers in their efforts to harmonize the organization'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 and the strategies and methods marketers use to successfully operate in today's dynamic environment.
View unit page

Business Ethics and Sustainability (BMO5501)

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.
View unit page

Strategic Management and Business Policy (BMO6511)

Strategic Management examines the decisions, actions and processes undertaken by firms for success, growth and change in a business environment.
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.
View unit page

Art and Practice of Leadership (BMO6050)

The unit examines the contextual challenges facing leaders, 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.
View unit page

Business Analytics and Visualisation (BCO7000)

Business analytics and visualisation focuses on uncovering business insights hidden in massive datasets using statistical models and algorithms. Visualisation is the vital component of analysing data and communicating insights to stakeholders. The unit equips students with foundational knowledge in business analytics and visualisation to be able to analyse business data, convert insights into business decisions and communicate results to stakeholders.
View unit page

Career options

Career options

Step up to a middle or senior financial management role with an online MBA (Finance). Our graduates have undertaken diverse and rewarding career paths both locally and overseas.

Typical job titles

  • Chief Executive Officer 
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Head of Finance
  • Director of Business Development
  • Senior Managing Consultant
  • Strategic Planning Manager
  • Financial Manager
  • Financial Director

 

Course Information

View entry requirements, career options and what’s available to you, through our extensive student support network below.

MBA (Finance) entry requirements

  • Completion of an Australian Bachelor degree (or equivalent) in a similar discipline; OR
  • Completion of an Australian Graduate Certificate (or equivalent) in a similar discipline; OR
  • Completion of an Australian Bachelor degree (or equivalent) in any discipline and 5 years of managerial experience; OR
  • Applicants without an undergraduate qualification may be admitted to the Graduate Certificate (in the same discipline) based on approved work experience. Upon completion of the Graduate Certificate, graduates will be eligible for admission to this course with credit granted for completed units.
  • Additional Information
  • Applicants are required to submit a curriculum vitae (CV).

Advanced Standing

You may be eligible to enter into the masters with credit for past skills and/or study, known as advanced standing.
 
If you've already completed any of the units in the course in which you are enrolling, or their equivalent, you may be eligible for advanced standing. Learn more about Advanced Standing here.

Student support

VU Online provides you with the support you need, when you need it, throughout the course. With four layers of student support, our goal is to ensure you succeed in your studies.

Our highly experienced academics understand how to deliver a quality online learning experience and are highly responsive and accessible.

You will also have access to a dedicated Student Success Advisor, who provides motivation and one-on-one personalised assistance with non-academic matters for the duration of the course. You will experience the support of a community through chat, virtual seminars and discussion board activity. Your support network is only a phone call or email away.

MBA (Finance) fees and FEE-Help

An MBA (Finance) from VU Online costs $3,800 per unit*, taking the total for 12 units to $45,600*.

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.

*2023 student fees are shown and are subject to change.

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

How to apply

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.
Student support

Student support

VU Online provides you with the support you need, when you need it, throughout the course. With four layers of student support, our goal is to ensure you succeed in your studies.

Our highly experienced academics understand how to deliver a quality online learning experience and are highly responsive and accessible.

You will also have access to a dedicated Student Success Advisor, who provides motivation and one-on-one personalised assistance with non-academic matters for the duration of the course. You will experience the support of a community through chat, virtual seminars and discussion board activity. Your support network is only a phone call or email away.

What you'll study

This course includes four specialist MBA (Finance) subjects and eight core business units, equipping you with the skills for current and future financial management and leadership roles. You will also complete a practical, multi-faceted capstone project. Each unit of study lasts for seven weeks.

Financial Analysis (BAO5734)

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.

View unit page

Accounting and Financial Management (BAO6000)

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.

View unit page

Corporate Finance (BAO7000)

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.

View unit page

Advanced Finance (BAO7001)

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.

View unit page

Business Consulting (BMO7005)

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.

View unit page

Strategic Human Resource Management (BMO5572)

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.

View unit page

Managing Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BMO6622)

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.

View unit page

Marketing Management (BMO6505)

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.

View unit page

Business Ethics and Sustainability (BMO5501)

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.

View unit page

Strategic Management and Business Policy (BMO6511)

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.

View unit page

Art and Practice of Leadership (BMO6050)

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.

View unit page

Supply and Demand Strategy for Pricing (BEO7001)

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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Read more about the units you will study in this course and more, by downloading our comprehensive free brochure

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Frequently asked questions

Will the Finance specialty be reflected on my testamur?

Yes, upon graduation your testamur will specify that you have earned your Master of Business Administration (Finance).

Can I study MBA Finance without any finance qualifications or experience at VU Online?

It is recommended that you have some experience in the field of finance before you begin your MBA (Finance) but it is not essential. However, if you do not have prior finance experience, it is essential that you do have managerial or leadership experience. If you would like to know more, please reach out to one of our Student Enrolment Advisors.

Will I receive the Graduate Certificate in Finance in addition to my MBA?

Yes, after completing the four specialised finance units, you will recieve a certificate of completion for the Graduate Certificate in Finance. In these units, you will build on your financial skillset, which can be applied in a variety of corporate finance positions.

When do I choose my specialisation in Finance?

First, you must apply for your Master of Business Administration. Once you have received an offer, you can choose the specialisation in Finance during the enrolment process.

Do I need to sit exams when I study the MBA (Finance)?

No, Our online postgraduate degrees do not include exams. You’ll focus on experiential learning through case studies, self-determined assessments and unit content that is highly relevant to your future role.

What can you do with an MBA in finance?

With opportunities ranging from financial planning to risk management, the ever-evolving field of finance offers diverse career paths for those with the right skills and qualifications. Learn about the careers in finance you can consider here.

What is an MBA vs MBA (Finance)?

With a generalist MBA, you will build a broad business and leadership skillset, studying leadership, business strategy, entrepreneurship and more. Elevate your career as an effective, authentic leader. With an MBA (Finance) you will build on your financial skillset, studying financial analysis and financial management to excel as a leader in the finance world. Learn more about MBA specialisations and how to choose the right one for you and your career goals here.

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