Accounting and financial management is one of the main specializations in all types of companies and organizations, according to their nature and scope of work. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the area of accounting and financial auditing is expanding faster than average, and is expected to grow by 11% over the next 6 years. In 2016, the average salaries of accountants and auditors with a Bachelor's degree were more than $ 860,000 annually, while the average salary of financial managers was approximately $ 122,000 annually.
In view of the importance of the field of accounting and financial auditing, the University of Maryland is offering a Masters degree in Accounting and Financial Management within its Master's programs on the Edx e-learning platform. This program is offered to professionals, financial employees and accountants who want to advance their career and move towards organizational leadership positions in the companies in which they work to become financial managers and analysts or budget analysts and responsible for loans and insurances and other high positions.
Program Goals
The MSc program in Accounting and Financial Management focuses on building good experience in analyzing corporate financial transactions, assessing risks and returns from alternative investments, in addition to providing learners with the practical training and essential skills needed to enhance their ability to make effective financial management decisions that may affect the operations of institutions and their financial future. During this program, students will learn:
How to manage the financial operations of organizations including revenue, expenses, assets and financial value.
How to evaluate alternative investments using the time value of cash accounts, and understand their impact on cash flow.
How to design and conduct financial analyzes, contribute to strategic management decisions and solve operational problems.
- How to use case studies of real companies facing financial challenges to analyze situations, assess risks and suggest work paths.
Program components
The MSc program in Accounting and Finance consists of 4 advanced level courses at the same level as the Master's courses offered at the University of Maryland. These courses cover a number of specialized topics in economics, financial resources and business administration, as each course lasts about 8 academic weeks, and each week requires a number of study hours ranging between 10 and 15 hours. These courses are:
First session: Financial decision-making
The Financial Decision Making course is offered by Dr. Monica Sava Brunn and Dr. Sharon Levin, Professor of Statistics, Accounting and Financial Management at the University of Maryland. This course is specially designed to improve learners' skills in making and making financial decisions related to companies, focusing on introducing learners to the basic concepts of financial accounting, financing and management decision-making with a focus on applying financial and non-financial information to a wide range of management decisions.
The course lasts about 8 academic weeks at a rate of between 10 and 15 hours of study per week, at the end of which students will learn how to conduct basic financial analyzes to support decision-making, and how to apply reduced cash flow techniques to compare project costs. They will also learn about the role of financial decisions in the company's general management, and the ways to apply financial and non-financial information to management decisions, as well as learn about the relationship between risks and returns in companies available for public circulation.
The second session: Corporate financial accounting
The Corporate Financial Accounting course is offered by Dr. Sharon Levin, Accounting, Financial Management and Business Lecturer at the University of Maryland. The course lasts about 8 academic weeks at a rate ranging between 10 and 15 hours of study per week, and it is required to study the financial decision-making course before joining it.
The course focuses on educating learners on how to prepare corporate financial statements according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission "SEC", and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles "FASB" by the Financial Accounting Standards Board "GAAP". By the end of the course, students will learn research accounting topics using the Financial Accounting Board standards, and how to use the conceptual framework of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.
Students will also learn how to prepare financial statements for American companies according to the standards of the Financial Accounting Board, in addition to analyzing, interpreting, and communicating financial information in a clear, correct, and concise style, as well as applying the American Institute of Certified Accountants' Law of Professional Conduct when making financial decisions.
The third session: Financial management in organizations
The Financial Management Course in Organizations is delivered by Dr. Jayenta Sen, Financial Analyst and Head of the Financial Management Program at the University of Maryland, and Dr. Jia Jin, Honorary Professor at St. Francis University. This course lasts about 8 academic weeks with a weekly average of no more than 15 academic hours. It is worth noting that joining this course requires studying the financial accounting course for companies first.
Author: Srey Lux