The Graduate Certificate in Financial Management (GCFM) provides a valuable credential for non-financial mid-management professionals in the private and the public sectors who wish to advance to decision-making positions within their organizations.
The primary audience for the GCFM are individuals with undergraduate degrees in fields other than business management with finance as a major who wish to acquire additional academic credentials to advance within their organization or who wish to change their career paths and improve their competitive position in the job market. Especially, for many employees working in the technical and scientific fields without any financial background, the GCFM provides the knowledge of finance needed for decision-making roles within their technical or scientific fields.
The certificate requires students to complete 12 hours of graduate study. This consists of three required 3-credit courses and one elective 3-credit course as detailed below. All students must demonstrate a basic understanding accounting and finance. For those students with no background in these areas, they must take the prerequisite courses listed below.
Prerequisite:
- Financial Accounting and Business Financial Analysis
Required (9 credits):
- Corporate Finance
- Advanced Corporate Finance
- and International Finance
Elective (3 credits):
One course from a list of approved courses, which may include courses such as,
- Derivatives
- Financial Statement Analysis
- Current Topics in Finance
- Independent Study: Finance
- Data Analytics
- Accounting Information for Management Decisions
Graduate students in the certificate program are encouraged to extend their education further by applying for admission to the Master of Science in Finance or the MBA program. Students of the GCFM who are subsequently accepted into the MSF or MBA program may apply certificate courses with grades of B or better toward their master's degree requirements.
Admissions Requirements:
Undergraduate degree in science, engineering, technology or business. Other areas will be considered in consultation with the program coordinator.
For more information, contact Chang-Wung Kim.
For the latest course information please visit the UMass Lowell online Academic Catalog.