Prepare to rise to an executive level of responsibility and earning power with a master's degree in accounting and financial management.

The online master's degree program in accounting and financial management can help you move toward organizational leadership positions. This program, ideal for mid-career professionals, can give you the skills to make high-level decisions that can impact your organization’s current operations and financial future.

These program requirements are for students who enroll in the 2019–2020 academic year. For prior year academic requirements, visit the catalog archive in the Current Students section.

About the Accounting and Financial Management Master's Degree

Courses in the accounting and financial management master's degree curriculum feature projects for real companies and organizations, studies of real crises, and analysis of real-time data sets. Additionally, a board of industry leaders and employers advises our faculty to make sure our accounting and financial management graduate programs are covering emerging areas and are relevant to your career growth.

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 various organizations acted to moderate its effects or recovery
  • 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

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

Introductory Course

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

Core Courses

  • ACCT 610
  • ACCT 613
  • ACCT 628
  • MGMT 640
  • FIN 610
  • FIN 620
  • FIN 630
  • FIN 645
  • FIN 660
  • Two courses chosen from the following:
    • ACCT 625
    • ACCT 630
    • ACCT 635
    • ACCT 640

Core Rules & Recommendations

  • ACCT 610 must be taken before any other accounting courses.
  • You are advised to take ACCT 628 before ACCT 630.
  • MGMT 640 must be taken before FIN 610.
  • FIN 610 must be taken before any other financial management classes.
  • FIN 620 and FIN 630 must be taken before FIN 660.
  • FIN 630 must be taken before FIN 645.
  • FIN 645 is the only course that can be taken simultaneously with MSAF 670.

Capstone Course

  • MSAF 670

Capstone Rules & Recommendations

  • You must complete all program coursework except FIN 645 before enrolling in MSAF 670.

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.
 

 

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

We recommend a background in finance or accounting and familiarity with Microsoft Excel. If you lack a background in finance or accounting, we recommend you take UCSP 620. We recommend UCSP 605 if you'd like to improve your graduate writing skills.

Program Admission Requirements

You must have completed 15 credits of undergraduate accounting courses with a grade of C or better in each course, before enrolling in any graduate accounting course. Upon submission of an official transcript, you can be accepted into the degree program with fewer than the required 15 credits of undergraduate accounting courses, but you must complete that coursework before enrolling in your first 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.

Additional Information

Fast-Track Your Degree

Bachelor of Science in Accounting to Master of Science in Accounting and Financial Management

If you graduated from UMGC with a Bachelor of Science in accounting, you could be eligible to fast-track a Master of Science in accounting and financial management by up to 6 credits and complete both degrees with a total of 150 credits of coursework.

The Graduate School will accept up to two of the following course substitutions toward the completion of this master's degree program, for a maximum of 6 credits:

  • ACCT 438 and ACCT 440 in lieu of ACCT 630
  • ACCT 422 and ACCT 436 in lieu of ACCT 628
  • ACCT 323 and ACCT 417 in lieu of ACCT 613

To be eligible, you must have completed these courses at UMGC no more than two years before being accepted to the Graduate School and earned a B or better in the courses. The substitutions listed above are the only substitutions possible. Transfer credits are not accepted. Admission requirements and time limits for degree completion apply to all students.



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