Master of Applied Finance Online in Australia

The subject examines topical issues in applied finance, which depend on prevailing financial and economic conditions. Topics may be drawn from the fields of investment management, financial systems, corporate financial strategy and managing risk. Underlying theory and research skills are combined while maintaining a practical emphasis. Communication, negotiation and collaborative skills are developed. The Capstone unit comes towards the end of the program.

Source: Macquarie University

Students develop frameworks and tools for solving real-world financial problems at a corporate level. The course stresses the modern fundamentals of corporate financial decision making, referring to valuation, financing, and payout policies. Graduating students are able to: explain key concepts and terms in corporate finance, value firms using multiple methods, optimise a company’s capital structure using appropriate sources of capital, and present ideas using financial frameworks.

Source: UNSW MAppFin

The subject focuses on the share market and equity as an asset class. We discuss how shares are traded and examine the different sectors of the Australian share market, which include industrial, resources and mid-small capitalised companies. Students explore shares as an investment and analyse economic factors that influence equity markets. You also do independent case-study research to make investment recommendations to buy, hold or sell shares.

Source: Kaplan Professional

The subject builds a framework to help you understand modern investments. Students learn to compare investment strategies and explore risk-return relations. Topics include measuring risks and returns, pricing risk, valuing equities and fixed-income securities, optimising portfolios, and hedging using derivatives. The goal is to prepare you to handle market challenges.

Source: UNSW MAppFin

The subject furthers student understanding of futures and options contracts and how they're used to manage risk, building on material covered earlier in the program. You receive an overview of options, futures, forwards and swaps. These are discussed with respect to different assets / commodities, including stocks, interest rates and foreign exchange. The models used to price these instruments are examined, along with risk management techniques.

Source: Australian National University

The subject gives students an appreciation of services and products available to consumers, departing from the institutional focus elsewhere in the MAF course. Students learn to (a) discuss current issues for finance professionals; (b) explain how the issues impact practical areas of financial services; and (c) develop research skills for investigating current and future issues for industry professionals.

Source: University of Western Australia

The subject covers pricing, hedging and managing risk with fixed income. Students study analytical and numerical techniques, duration measures, and interactions between interest rate risk, credit risk and mortgage-backed securities. Graduates will be able to: (a) explain relationships among a bond’s price, coupon rate, maturity and yield-to-maturity (b) discuss bond pricing and calculate the flat price, accrued interest and the full price (c) explain duration and convexity and use them to manage bond portfolio risk (d) define forward rates and calculate spot rates from forward rates and vice versa (e) discuss mortgage-backed securities and pre-payment risk and (f) explain credit-related risks affecting corporate bonds.

Source: UNSW Online

The subject examines venture capital and private equity investments, focusing on issues to do with funding entrepreneurial firms. We depart from conventional investment approaches where you would examine risk and return of publicly listed securities, instead looking at financing innovation-intensive private enterprises.

Source: UNSW Online