The Master of Science in accounting and financial management program at University of Maryland Global Campus focuses on executive-level procedures and decision-making skills that can help you move toward organizational leadership positions. Ideal for mid-career professionals, this program can give you the skills to make high-level decisions that can impact your organization’s current operations and financial future.

These requirements are for students who enroll in the 2020–2021 academic year. For prior year academic requirements, visit our catalog archive.

About the Accounting and Financial Management Master's Degree

What You'll Learn

Through your coursework, you will learn how to

  • Manage your organization's current financial operations (cash, inventory, accounts receivable, payables, short-term loans, etc.)
  • Make long-term financial decisions (evaluating and selecting capital investments, financing capital requirements, taking a company public, navigating mergers and acquisitions, and assessing bankruptcy/liquidation)
  • Manage costs and mitigate risks
  • Evaluate investments using industry software
  • Perform financial analysis and modeling
  • Make strategic management decisions and solve operational problems
  • Analyze financial reporting and its effect on financial markets
  • Incorporate international environments and opportunities into your planning
  • Handle ethical problems that arise in your field
  • Assess the state of corporate governance and internal controls in your organization
  • Use case studies of real organizations facing financial challenges to analyze their situations and propose a course of action
  • Examine the sources of the 2008 global financial crisis and analyze how organizations acted to moderate its effects or recover
  • Play the role of a new chief financial officer tasked with performing a comprehensive analysis of a new S&P 500 company
  • Present a paper to a chief executive officer

Coursework Examples

In past projects, students have had the opportunity to

  • Examine the sources of the 2008 global financial crisis and analyze how companies acted to recover or moderate its effects
  • Play the role of a new CFO tasked with performing a comprehensive analysis of a hypothetical S&P 500 company and document findings in a paper for review by the company's CEO
  • Conduct tax research to prepare IRS Form 1040: individual tax return and IRS Form 1120: Corporate tax return and communicate tax research findings with clients
  • Prepare comparative financial analyses of Fortune 100 companies and present findings to a group of investors

Industry Certification

This program can help prepare you for the following certification exam(s):

Accounting Certifications

Financial Management Certifications

Other Certification

*Requirements for CPA certification vary from state to state. Learn more about professional licensure.

Accounting and Financial Management Master's Degree Requirements

Our curriculum is designed with input from employers, industry experts, and scholars. You'll learn theories combined with real-world applications and practical skills you can apply on the job right away.

Master's Courses

Initial Requirement

  • UCSP 615
    (to be taken within the first 6 credits of study)

Core Courses

Accounting Courses

Complete the following three courses:

  • ACCT 610
  • ACCT 613
  • ACCT 628

Take two of the following for a total of 6 credits:

  • ACCT 625
  • ACCT 630
  • ACCT 635
  • ACCT 640

Financial Management Courses

Complete the following six courses:

  • MGMT 640
  • FIN 610
  • FIN 620
  • FIN 630
  • FIN 645
  • FIN 660

Capstone Course

  • MSAF 670

Course Rules and Program Progression

  • ACCT 610 is prerequisite to all graduate accounting courses.
  • ACCT 628 should be taken before ACCT 630.
  • MGMT 640 is prerequisite to FIN 610.
  • FIN 610 is prerequisite to all other FIN courses.
  • FIN 620 and FIN 630 are prerequisite to FIN 660.
  • FIN 630 is prerequisite to FIN 645.
  • FIN 645 is the only course that can be taken simultaneously with MSAF 670.

Vertical Pathway

If you completed your undergraduate degree at UMGC with coursework in accounting, a vertical pathway between UMGC's graduate and undergraduate degree programs in that field allows you to reduce your total coursework for this program by up to 6 credits.

Other Requirements

  • You must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher at all times.
  • All degree requirements must be fulfilled within five consecutive years.
  • Any transfer credits must have been earned within the five-year time frame to be applied toward a graduate degree.

Please review our overview of overall master's degree requirements for additional considerations.

 

Career Preparation

This program is designed to help you prepare for an organizational leadership position in accounting and/or financial management.

Experience Recommended for Success in the Program

You are expected to have familiarity with Microsoft Excel. If you have not recently graduated with an undergraduate degree in accounting, finance, or financial management, we highly recommend that you take the noncredit course UCSP 620 before ACCT 610 and MGMT 640. We also recommend taking UCSP 605 to help improve your writing skills.

Program Admission Requirements

Before enrolling in any graduate accounting course, you must do one of the following:

  • Complete 15 credits of undergraduate accounting coursework, with a grade of C or better in each course. Upon submission of an official transcript, you may be accepted into the degree program with fewer than the required 15 credits of undergraduate accounting coursework, but you must complete that coursework before enrolling in your first graduate accounting course.
  • Earn a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license as determined by a State Board of Accountancy. Upon submission of documentation and verification of your having earned a CPA license, you may enroll in a graduate accounting course.

State-Specific Details

This program is designed to help prepare students to sit for the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Exam and/or obtain initial licensure as a Certified Public Accountant in Maryland. To sit for the CPA Exam in Maryland, a candidate is required to have successfully completed 120 credits toward an accounting degree. Many other states, however, require candidates to successfully complete 150 credits prior to sitting for the CPA Exam.

To obtain initial licensure as a CPA in Maryland and most other states, a candidate is required to have successfully completed 150 credits. Maryland has additional requirements to obtain initial licensure as a CPA, not all of which can be fulfilled through education. Learn more about Maryland's requirements for initial licensure. Students seeking licensure in another state are advised to contact the appropriate licensing board in their state.

Learn more about professional licensure and how to contact your state's licensing board.

Student Clubs and Organizations

  • Accounting and Finance Community Hub

    • Type: Student organization
    Available To: Undergraduate and Graduate

    The Accounting and Finance Forum provides information about the accounting and finance majors as well as topics of interest from course selection to career paths. It assists students with the exploration of resources on accounting and finance careers and the accounting and finance fields, including job postings and information about career opportunities.



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