What course/certification can I go for before a finance MBA?

A master’s degree in finance is a good option in itself but combined with a professional certification it can produce amazing job opportunities and scope for career growth. Certification can add a lot of value to your CV and give you an edge over the competition.

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA): While this is no short-term course, one can pursue it with their MBA degree and the course has 3 different levels and requires 4 years of work experience. It has a lot of value in the industry and you can grow your profile in the finance space easily.

Certified Financial Planner (CFP): Be it financial planning, tax planning, insurance planning, investment planning or retirement planning the course that will prepare you to take these decisions is CFP. Exams are conducted 3 times in a year and one has to write 5 papers to clear it.

FLIP Certifications: FLIP certification offers training specifically pertaining to the Indian industry. You will be able to handle any situation with this course and you can take it online.

Financial Risk Manager: This course will get you certified and identified as a risk manager globally. The course is a little pricey and one should consider only if one is sure that their aim is risk management.

Company Secretary (CS): Be it legal record management, tracking of records or maintaining records of key business functions, CS will help you. This course can be done on one’s own time and adds a lot of value to one’s resume

Actuary: Keeping track of risk, identifying it and keeping an eye over uncertainties with the help of data and statistical tools can help with any business function, this is where an actuary steps in. Being an expert at it can prove to be very beneficial especially in the future.

Certificate in Quantitative Finance: Mathematics is an evergreen field and one can find jobs in IT, Quantitative trading, derivatives and even insurance. Doing this course is a sure way to prove your ability in this field.

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA): The combination of the skills IT and accounting have many applications in the real world. The certification is widely recognized in the corporate world and a job is almost a guarantee after this course.

Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA): If you plan on having a career in internal audit, CRMA is a good option. It is conducted by the institute of internal auditors. The mode of self-study is best for this course and it adds a lot of value to one’s profile.

Lexicon MILE (http://lexiconmile.com/) offers courses with the finance specialization and is extremely useful to kick start a career in finance, with a certification this course can get you to any place you wish to get to.

Hello,

To start with basics you can go with Microsoft word,excel ,office etc can be of some use before joining mba. You can also do course on digital marketing,data analytics,lean six Sigma etc ,these days r language is also banging it's position ,so you can wvee join this which can be useful.

B schools also conduct seminars, programmes on extra courses which can be studied with MBA

Hope this helped

Thank you

Hello Aarush,

You can find various certificates related to finance in popular courses sites like coursera, Udemy and internshaala.

I can here recommend you some courses to do before doing MBA in finance which are as follows -:

1) Introduction to financial accounting (Basics) - Do this course of you belongs to a non -commerce background because in that case accounts will be the most toughest for you in MBA. So, try to do this course before doing MBA in finance.

2) Advance Excel - Most common course for all MBA students whether you belongs to marketing, finance or HR this course is compulsory for every MBA graduate.

3) CFA (Charted financial analyst) - This course along with MBA will be a great combination for any MBA finance student.

4) Complete Financial Analyst course from Udemy - A good course for finance.

5) You can also go for courses like investment banking and risk management if you have interest in it.

I hope this information is beneficial for you

All the best