Smart moves

Whether you’re a startup founder or bound for the C-suite, honing your financial knowledge is essential. The MQBS Master of Applied Finance is the skills upgrade you need to take the next step.

Macquarie University Business School (MQBS) has been offering the Master of Applied Finance for more than 30 years, with a host of high-profile alumni – including Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott – leading some of Australia’s largest organisations.

The program has constantly evolved and is highly relevant, with strong ties to the finance industry. “The Master of Applied Finance helps people get to where they want to go with their careers,” says Lindesay Brine, who did the degree in 2006 and is now director of the Postgraduate Applied Finance Program at MQBS. “It doesn’t matter whether someone has a finance background or not, the course gives them the skills to handle the finance side of any business.”

Students include those who have completed MBAs, entrepreneurs with a startup dream and experienced leaders. “Often they’re people successfully running firms where they have the technical or managerial knowledge but knowing finance is a crucial aspect of their business,” says Brine. “They want to sharpen those skills.”

Learnings become actions in real time

“The word ‘applied’ in the degree title is so important,” says MQBS associate dean Kristine Dery. “Our students take the knowledge they’re getting one day and take it back to their businesses and apply it the next.”

Brine says the students – who come from a wide range of industries – work on real-world problems, often recent case studies. “We show them not just the time value of money concept; we show them how it works in numerous situations. What are the decisions around financing an acquisition? What are the future cash flows?”

Former Australian Test cricketer Ed Cowan did his Master of Applied Finance towards the end of his professional sporting career, on top of an earlier Bachelor of Commerce. “He now works in private equity at TDM Growth Partners and speaks highly of the course and how it helped him to get where he is,” says Brine.

“At a certain point, leaders realise that to get to the next level they need more financial training,” adds Dery. “They understand the basics but they want to move into applying them in different ways to create new value. This course gives huge firepower to executives who want to move into more senior roles.”

The school is eager for more women – and a broader diversity of candidates – to enrol and offers a scholarship program to help make it happen. “The more diverse the voices, the better financial decisions companies will make,” says Dery. “Australia needs more diversity on boards and in senior management teams and this applied training gives people the skills that will help improve that balance.”

Learn more about Macquarie University Business School and the Master of Applied Finance at mq.edu.au