Certificate in Financial Analytics

Drive Results Through Financial Analytics

Firms are operating in an increasingly challenging business environment, with greater competition, more informed customers and rapidly changing market trends. They also have access to more information about their customers, the marketplace and their competitors than ever before. This 12-credit-hour online program will help expand your understanding of the data available to you and how to make use of it most effectively.

August, January or May Start

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What You'll Learn

Understand how programming languages can be used to model problems in financial economics.
Understand the limitations of data analysis and/or data mining.
Be able to select the correct modelling alternative for a given problem.
Be able to analyze and interpret data to support financial decisions.

Take Charge of Your Future

The curriculum is comprised of four methods courses, which you can tailor to fit your interests. All of these courses are either required or electives of the MBA program offered by the College of Business. You must earn a grade C or better in each course to complete the certificate.

Course Schedule

Complete Two Required Courses

Quantitative Methods in Finance FINA 801 Practical use of statistical and quantitative methods that have wide applicability in business and financial decision making.
Predictive Analytics SCMA 851 Prerequisites: GRBA 851 This course will focus on how knowledge management has been successfully applied in business in the form of predictive analytics. Predictive analytics extends statistical and/or artificial intelligence to provide forecasting capability. It will also describe in non-technical terms the statistical and artificial intelligence-based tools commonly used in forecasting and other business decisions involving big data.

Choose One FINA Elective Course

Fixed Income Analysis FINA 802 Basic understanding of fixed-income markets, fixed-income securities, and tools employed by market participants to the analysis of fixed-income investments.
Portfolio Management FINA 863 Prerequisites: GRBA 811 The workings of securities markets. The fundamental intuition of the risk-return trade-off. The role of information in financial markets. All major asset pricing models and application to risk management in a portfolio context.
Options, Futures and Derivative Securities FINA 867 Prerequisites: 2.5 cum GPA; FINA 338 or 367 or 863 The use of derivative securities in risk reduction and portfolio management strategies.

Choose One SCMA Elective Course

Risk and Simulation Modeling SCMA 837 Analytical and simulation models for decision making in functional areas such as finance, accounting, marketing, personnel, operations, and inventory. Construction of decision models for practical applications. Emphasis on analyzing alternatives and implementing solutions that result in increased productivity.
Data Mining and Descriptive Analytics SCMA 853 Prerequisites: GRBA 851 Data mining applies quantitative analysis to support humans in identifying actionable information from large amounts of data. Actionable means that value can be obtained, which for businesses usually relates to making money. This course will focus on how data mining has been successfully applied in business. It will also describe in non-technical terms how the statistical and artificial intelligence-based tools commonly used in data mining work. The course will also address ethical issues related to use of information obtained through data mining.
Advanced Analytics and Big Data SCMA 854 Prerequisites: SCMA 851 Covers advanced business analytics topics, including data cleansing, classification, clustering, reduction, exploration and visualization. Big data analysis platforms and tools are also covered.

Admission

The application deadline is July 1, with the program beginning in the fall semester.

Upload Supporting Documents

All supporting documents including unofficial transcripts, professional resume and three references are uploaded directly via the graduate application.

You are required to submit an unofficial transcript from each post-secondary institution you have attended during the application review process.

Submit Official Transcripts

If you are admitted, you will be required to submit an official transcript sent directly from each institution you have attended to The Office of Graduate Studies. We recommend that you complete this task before your admitted term begins. A hold will be placed on your account if they do not receive your official transcripts by October 1 for the fall term, February 1 for the spring term and July 1 for the summer term. Students will have until that day to submit official transcripts or your admission will be rescinded.

Transcripts can be sent electronically to graduate@unl.edu or by mail to

University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Graduate Admissions
1100 Seaton Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588-0619

International Student Transcript Submission

If you are an international student, please refer to the Nebraska Office of Graduate Studies for transcript and document information.

International Transcript Information

Applying for Multiple Certificates

The College of Business is pleased to provide multiple graduate certificate options. Please note, however, that students pursuing multiple graduate certificates may not apply the same course to more than one certificate. Below is a list of courses used by more than one certificate. If you have questions about this policy, please reach out to the Business Graduate Programs office at businessgrad@unl.edu.

Additional information on Application Requirements can be found at Graduate Studies website.

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Prerequisites

Before applying, ensure you have met the prerequisites of a bachelor’s degree with a GPA of 3.0 or higher and have completed undergraduate Calculus (MATH 104, or equivalent) and Statistics (ECON 215, or equivalent). The GMAT (600) is required, however it can be waived with significant industry experience.

There are no other specific course requirements for admission to the certificate program.

August Start

Apply by July 1

Affordability

Since certificate programs are not eligible for financial aid, we know cost is key. At a flat rate of $700 per credit hour, our certificate programs are some of the most affordable in the Big Ten.

Tuition and Fees

Maximize Your Investment

Completing a certificate can be a good way to get a feel for graduate level classes and diversify your expertise. Because the course credits you'll earn while completing a certificate are transferrable, you can roll your credits into a master's program later on. If you're already enrolled in one of our MBA programs, you can use your MBA electives to earn this graduate certificate at the same time.

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Get More Information

Provide your information and we'll send you what you need to know about earning your graduate certificate at Nebraska.

If you have immediate questions, contact our Business Graduate Programs Office at businessgrad2@unl.edu or 402-472-2338.

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