Master of Science in Finance Online
Business may run on numbers, but it relies on people who can build and analyze sophisticated models to translate financial figures into bold insights and innovative strategies. The finance professionals who have a firm grasp of the technical skills and practices of finance have the singular ability to clearly deliver contemporary solutions in all facets of management and finance.
When you choose William & Mary’s Online MSF program, you have the opportunity to graduate with both your master’s degree and a specialized finance certificate—either a Corporate Finance certificate or an Investment Management certificate—in as few as 16 months. Earn two credentials and get a deep dive into finance more quickly and thoroughly than you would with a typical MBA. The Online MSF program prepares future CFOs with the quantitative and leadership skills necessary to identify value-creation opportunities and assess risk, navigate global challenges, foster change and create value in an ethical manner.
*Online MS in Finance students are invited to join other W&M online students at one of the immersive residency weekends at our Williamsburg campus. Students who attend a residency will earn one additional credit. Read more about the residency weekend experience.
Online Master’s in Finance Program Details
- 16 Months to Completion
- 32 Credits
- 8 Courses
- 7.5 Weeks Per Course
- 100% online
- Optional weekend residency*
- No GMAT/GRE required
- 3 starts per year: August, January and May
My classes at William & Mary have helped me prepare for the CFA exam. From a theory and an application standpoint, I feel a lot more confident and better prepared. I also feel like I can critically assess any financial issues, models or anything that they may throw at me during that exam.
Invest in Your Future With the Online Master of Science in Finance Program
From a career as a financial manager to the C-suite, you’ll benefit from a strong outlook for financial careers.
17%
$156,100
#12
#1
$204,476
Get the Insider Perspective on the Online MSF Program
Program faculty members share the features and benefits of the Online MSF program.
Video Transcript
What stands out about our Masters of Science and Finance program is that we have full-time faculty designing the entire curriculum. They're also designing that with the help and input of industry leaders. That brings you the current information that you're gonna need to succeed in today's business world. We also have a theoretical background so that you can solve not just the current problems in business, but any problem that you're gonna see in the future. Because if we don't teach you how to think, then all we're gonna do is have you trained for today. But we need you to be trained for all the years to come.
Scott Gibson:
The MS and finance is critically important to advancing your career. If you're self-employed, your your business, it's going to give you the critical skills and the models you'll be able to build from scratch, a model to solve any kind of problem. You won't be forced to use off the shelf software where you don't know what's going on and you put the numbers in, they come back. Sometimes it's a square peg and a round hole. It just doesn't work. We'll teach you how to build from scratch and make the proper a decision model, and we'll give you the underlying theories and provide that framework that's gonna enable you to fully understand the problem and what you're doing.
Michael Seiler:
It's not just the content that is important that we deliver to you, it's how we deliver that information. We have worked painstakingly hard to make sure that this information is in bite-sized, digestible chunks.
Scott Gibson:
With Online, we can design courses that go at a speed that is tailored to you. We can cover the topics that are tailored to you.
Michael Seiler:
Students often ask me, is there a way for us to network inside the program? And I say, there are tons of ways. In my Real Estate Investments course, we have industry leaders who will present topics within the module. At the end of that module, they share with you their name, their contact information, and they welcome you to reach out to them with any questions that you might have.
Scott Gibson:
Graduates of our program are gonna be prepared for success. You're gonna have a thorough understanding and the confidence when you're called into a board meeting. You'll be able to present not only the, the numbers, the, the spreadsheets, the models, you'll be able to explain in plain terms to those maybe outside of finance, the underlying intuition, kind of the theoretical underpinnings that led you to the decision that you're guiding.
Hear from alumni as they share why they chose William & Mary and how the program has impacted their career.
Video Transcript
I decided to get a master's in finance because I knew it was something that I'm very interested in with my career, but also something that would help me tremendously going forward.
Shay Parris:
I looked at a lot of different schools, a lot of different programs, and I felt this soul, William and Mary would give me not only the support and the networking that I need, but the educational foundation that would be required to further my career.
Branden Owen:
I'd loved my opportunities to engage with the faculty at William and Mary. It was truly an interactive experience. Each one of them made sure to make time for whatever I needed. If I had questions outside of class or if I wanted to get together with a group project, for example.
Shay Parris:
I think that William and Mary offered much more than just an education, but also a community and almost like a, a family vibe.
Branden Owen:
This specific program has been tremendously helpful for me and one class for studying specific types of financial instruments. Now, in my company, we have a portfolio that I have to manage, and we had an opportunity to invest in a specific type of financial instrument that I had never heard of and didn't understand. It was coincidentally the same time they were in this class. I immediately knew, oh, that's what this instrument is. That's what the intention of it, that's how it pays off, and that's how it can be useful for me. And more importantly, I'm able to go to our home office and say, Hey, here's this opportunity, but here are the risks associated to it. That at in turn has made me feel far more valued within my own company.
Shay Parris:
My classes at William and Mary have been helping me prepare for this CFA exam. From a theory and an application standpoint, I feel a lot more confident, better prepared, and I also feel like I can critically assess any financial issues, any models, um, anything that they may throw at me during that exam.
As I went through the program, we had teams and there was a student from Russia. There was a student from the UK, myself, and we worked so well together. It was very surprising.
Branden Owen:
I was very surprised that the amount of interaction between the students and the friendships that we would create were very rewarding, even though we lived literally thousands of miles away from each other.
Shay Parris:
For me, I think William and Mary was the exact amount of structure and support that I needed. It's not been the easiest road, but I do appreciate the amount of time and energy and patience that William and Mary's staff and faculty have provided.
Branden Owen:
If you're ready to push yourself, if you're ready to get the most out of a program, you should absolutely do it. The professors are fantastic. The institution has a very rich history, and it's gonna be very rewarding. I thought I was gonna enjoy it. I thought I was gonna learn something, but it's been tremendously rewarding.
Where Theory Meets Reality
Get the Hands-on Learning You Need to Succeed
Build essential knowledge you need for a successful finance career with immersive learning experiences that demonstrate practical applications of course materials. Immersive experiences include:
- Case analysis
- Strategic-decision making exercises based on the uncertainty of financial models
- Extensive simulation exercises for authentic experiences in forecasting, modeling, exercising strategic skills and making decisions
Through these experiences, you will build confidence to step into leadership positions and gain knowledge and skills that apply to your work now and in the future. Graduate from this program as a well-rounded financial professional.
What skills will you acquire in the online master's in finance program?
- Analyzing financial statements
- Forecasting complete sets of financial statements
- Preparing three-statement models
- Pricing securities in modern financial markets
- Creating value for shareholders
- Understanding how firms interact with financial markets
- Building and interpreting valuation models in Excel
- Portfolio management and investment management in various asset classes
- Using financial software tools
- Analyzing individual and organizational behavior
- Comprehending the homebuying process
- Programming complex mortgages
- Generating income from each quadrant of real estate
Course Highlight
Corporate Valuation and Credit Analysis
In this course, you will become familiar with the tools and techniques for valuing corporate investment projects and assets in a wide range of settings. Get hands-on experience in building and interpreting valuation models in Excel, the same models commonly used by corporate financial managers, investment managers and investment bankers.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Analyze the ability of a firm to generate cash flow for investors
- Apply comparables analysis to estimate the value of a company
- Evaluate the uses and limitations of comparables analysis
- Apply various discounted cash flow approaches to estimate the value of a company
- Evaluate the uses and limitations of various discounted cash flow approaches
- Analyze the credit quality of a firm
Become a Confident Leader in Finance
Meet the challenge to elevate your performance and accelerate your career. The Online Master of Science in Finance strives to develop confident leaders in finance. When you graduate from this program, you will be able to successfully employ skills leaders need, including:
- Technical and analytical skills—Use Excel and other industry-specific software to construct, analyze and interpret sophisticated financial models
- Scenario analysis—Model the consequences of different outcomes to inform decisions on whether to take/mitigate certain risks and to optimize performance
- Financial strategy—Shape overall strategy by overseeing the financial health of organizations, key performance indicators and instilling a financial mindset that identifies uncertainties, challenges, and growth opportunities
- Communication skills—Communicate complex financial data and insights effectively by creating presentations and financial reports
Course Highlight
Advanced Corporate Finance
In this course, you will study the major decision-making areas of managerial finance. The course reviews the theory and empirical evidence related to investment and financing policies of the firm and develops decision-making ability in these areas.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Recognize the “art and science” of optimal strategic decision-making, especially in financial policy
- Identify financial problems and opportunities within a variety of settings
- Develop the capacity to structure a management decision problem and evaluate competing solutions
- Prepare written reports about the analysis and solution of management decision problems concisely
Grow as a Business and People Leader
With the trend of “quiet quitting” in the national discourse around work, employee satisfaction continues to be a prevalent topic for managers, leaders and businesses.
In a video from Associate Professor David Long, learn the importance of creating a more engaged team, extrinsic and intrinsic motivators, the five elements of job satisfaction and how to build a culture of engagement.
Top Industries Hiring for CFOs5
Online Master's in Finance Courses Overview
Our Online Master’s in Finance program is centered on four pillars—principled value creation; financial modeling, analysis and decision-making; global financial strategy; and effective communication of complex financial information and strategies. These are the conceptual and technical skills every finance professional must possess and fully master in order to find near and long-term success in corporate finance, investment management, real estate finance, commercial banking, consulting and more. These are the skills our Online MS in Finance curriculum prepares you to master.
Our 32-credit curriculum can be broken down into the following two types of courses:
- 6 core courses, worth a total of 24 credits
- 4 elective courses, worth a total of 16 credits
Complete your degree in 16 months with 8 total courses—6 core classes and 2 electives of your choosing for a deep dive into finance more quickly and thoroughly than a general MBA program.
Core Online MS in Finance Courses (24 credits)
BUAD 5027 Financial Statement Analysis and Modeling (4 credits)
Information from financial statements is used in many situations including setting targets for manager's bonus plans, determining loan covenants, setting prices for IPO's, setting prices for mergers or acquisitions, deciding whether to loan a company money, and deciding whether to purchase the stock of a company. When using financial statement information, people routinely make adjustments to net income to estimate what they believe is the true economic income of the firm (e.g., "core earnings" or "economic value-added"). In this class, students will learn how to evaluate the information provided in financial statements and draw your own conclusions about whether it accurately reflects the financial position of the firm.
BUAD 5127 Principles of Finance (4 credits)
BUAD 5417Advanced Corporate Finance (4 credits)
Building on previous courses, this course incorporates richer institutional details and deepens understanding of how firms interact with the financial markets. Topics to be included are: financing investments with capital market imperfections, corporate control, governance and risk management.
BUAD 5317 Corporate Valuation and Credit Analysis (4 credits)
BUAD 5527 Investments (4 credits)
BUAD 5617 Applied Investment Management (4 credits)
Elective Online MS in Finance Courses (16 credits)
BUAD 6007 Behavioral Finance (4 credits)
BUAD 6207 Real Estate Finance (4 credits)
BUAD 6307 Real Estate Investments (4 credits)
BUAD 6107 Money, Banking and Financial Markets (4 credits)
The intertwined goals of this course are to (1) develop a strategic-level understanding of the economics of the financial sector as a whole, including interest rate and exchange rate determination, money creation by central banks, the operations of banks and the payments system, and (2) develop in depth knowledge of how some of the largest individual money/financial markets function, what financial services and products these markets offer, and how these products might be of value to the corporations and investors. The key financial markets analyzed in this course are the money markets, including both the commercial and shadow banking systems, the foreign exchange markets and role of banks as broker-dealers, public and private bond placement, the mortgage markets, and interest rate swaps. Among the financial institutions we examine are the two most important central banks, U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, large commercial banks, money market mutual fund companies, and foreign exchange market makers.
Discover Our Online Master's Program Experience
Who’s Earning the Online MS in Finance?
Get a snapshot of the people most likely to be in your cohort:6
41%
11
30%
35
Keep Asking Questions
What skills will I acquire in the master of science in finance online program?
You’ll become fluent in:
- Analyzing financial statements
- Forecasting complete sets of financial statements
- Preparing three-statement models
- Pricing securities in modern financial markets
- Creating value for shareholders
- Understanding how firms interact with financial markets
- Building and interpreting valuation models in Excel
- Portfolio management and investment management in various asset classes
- Using financial software tools
- Analyzing individual and organizational behavior
- Comprehending the home buying process
- Programming complex mortgages
- Generating income from each quadrant of real estate
What can I do with a master’s in finance?
- Finance officer
- Forensic accountant
- Financial analyst
- Financial manager
- Portfolio manager
- Wealth manager
- Investment banking analyst
- Finance and insurance manager
- Actuary
- Corporate controller
- Vice president of finance
- Chief financial officer
What salary can I earn with a master’s in finance?
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- Retrieved January 19, 2023, from bls.gov/ooh/management/financial-managers.htm#tab-6
- Retrieved December 2, 2024, from bls.gov/ooh/management/financial-managers.htm
- Retrieved December 2, 2024, from money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/financial-manager
- Retrieved December 2, 2024, from glassdoor.com/Salaries/chief-financial-officer-salary-SRCH_KO0,23.htm
- Retrieved May 4, 2023, from ziprecruiter.com/t/Most-Popular-Types-Of-CFO-Jobs
- Based on data from enrolled Fall 2021-Summer 2024 cohorts.