Finance MBA Specialization

By the end of this program, students will have comprehensive training in key financial principles and practices essential for strategic management. They will learn to analyze corporate financial statements, conduct present value analysis, build financial models, and evaluate risk and return. The program will also cover bond valuation, portfolio risk measurement, cost of capital, and financial instruments like futures and options. Finally, students will investigate innovations that are currently disrupting traditional finance, like blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Schedule a Call

Courses and curriculum

Finance MBA Specialization course descriptions

All Rize MBA Specialization Programs, including Finance, are designed to be taken in any order as to create maximum flexibility when it comes to adoption. These courses do not stack. Depending on your MBA program requirements, all students must complete the 3-4 courses below.

Managerial Finance

All businesses need to take risks, but managerial finance experts do so without risking it all. This course focuses on present value analysis, capital markets and budgeting, and corporate capital structure. You’ll learn to assess company value, understand debt vs. equity financing, and forecast financial performance while gaining skills in budget management and decision-making that allow you to drive value creation in every aspect of the corporate world.

Capital Markets and Investing

Investing involves risk—but this course teaches you how to manage that risk and make the right decisions to build and protect your wealth. What portfolio decisions are safer? How can companies thrive by balancing debt and equity? How can options mitigate risk? By the end, you'll have the financial acumen to make informed investment decisions, optimize portfolio performance, and master strategies for risk management, capital allocation, and sustainable financial growth.

Financial Statements Analysis and Valuation

Financial statements are a gold mine for valuing companies accurately, influencing investment decisions, and driving success. This course covers financial statement analysis, financial ratios, risk assessment, pro forma statements, and advanced valuation techniques like DCF and comparable company analysis. Students will learn to interpret and utilize these tools to make informed investment decisions and effectively communicate financial insights.

Frontiers of Finance

Finance isn’t a static field, and understanding disruptors like blockchain and cryptocurrency allows you to capitalize on opportunities that are revolutionizing financial operations. Students will describe and evaluate blockchain, analyze cryptocurrencies, and assess decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. By course end, students will be ready to explore blockchain and crypto career opportunities and lead discussions on these cutting-edge technologies.

Subject Matter Expert: Dr. Robert Hansen
Professor of Business Administration at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and Faculty Director of the Center for Business and Society

Learn More

ACADEMIC ADVISORS

Rize MBA specializations leverage the courses you already have:

Our Academic Partners will work directly with you to build a unique MBA program with specializations, leveraging and integrating courses you already have in your catalog.

A potential Finance MBA specialization could look like this:

Example core courses from your institution

Managerial Economics

Global & Transnational Management

Quantitative Business Analysis

Strategic Management

Legal Environment of Business

Innovative Decision Making

Finance MBA Specialization courses from Rize

Managerial Finance

Capital Markets and Investing

Financial Statements Analysis

Frontiers of Finance

Why Finance?

Often what firsts draws students to finance is money, and there’s no doubt that those who work in finance are handsomely paid. With entry-level financial analyst salaries already pushing six figures with a national median at $99,000, and financial managerial salaries at $156,000, the potential for earning is high. Down the line, graduates could grow into a CFO role with even greater opportunities.

Salary aside, finance is one of the most clear differentiators that can help any graduate bring value and impact to any industry. With 82% of CFOs holding an MBA, students who specialize in finance during their MBA are strategically positioning themselves to follow this lucrative and well-established career path.

Why the Rize MBA Finance Program?

Current, real-world skills

Rize is focused on making projects apply to real-world skills and making them current. Every project our students do has real-world applications that drive job outcomes. When students present, for example, the model of valuing a publicly traded company, that’s great for interviews.

Prioritizing case studies

Case studies are a standard part of any MBA experience, but Rize ensures students see a lot of different cases during the program, each dealing with a different company, which gives students diverse practical knowledge and perspectives. Our program is centered around teaching the skills and behaviors that will get our students great jobs, and when it comes to job interviews, knowing about that specific company and its industry is very important. Diverse case studies can help give that crucial contextual information, as well as more generally helping students understand the finance landscape.

The importance of broad numeracy

Rize’s finance specialization emphasizes the importance of broad numeracy—the ability to work with numbers. Being able in an interview to talk about one’s ability with numbers and spreadsheets is invaluable—and this course will prepare students to demonstrate their numeracy through building spreadsheet models to analyze and forecast company financial results.

Disruptions to traditional finance

Students will also learn about disruptions to traditional finance and cutting-edge financial innovations, including cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and decentralized finance (DeFi), preparing students to navigate global markets and leverage new financial technologies effectively—and drive innovation and strategic growth in their future careers.

Getting started...

One, flat subscription fee grants access to all 5 specializations with our new MBA bundle. Leveraging 8-week, online, asynchronous courses, the bundle will provide you, and your students, the flexibility and agility to stay on the cutting edge of new offerings and labor market needs.

Ready to learn more about Rize's MBA specializations?

Fill out the form below and someone from our Academic Partnerships team will be in touch with you shortly about launching these specializations.