Master of Professional Accounting Advanced

at University of Wollongong - Southern Sydney Campus Australia

The Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) Advanced is a two-year course designed for non-accounting graduates who want a career in the accounting profession and want to enhance their learning experience by including another discipline specialisation within their course. The learning experience and knowledge areas in the MPA Advanced are focused on the practice of accounting.

Within the MPA Advanced, you can choose to complete one of three possible specialisations, depending on your career aspirations. The Financial Management specialisation enables you to focus on areas of financial management such as banking and securities. The International Business specialisation allows you to broaden your knowledge of intercultural aspects of the business environment. The Business Analytics specialisation equips you with the skills to utilise and interpret data to inform business strategies and add value to businesses.

The Master of Applied Finance with a double specialisation in Investing and Financial Services is for students who are interested in focusing on investment, portfolio management and financial services. The degree will allow you to integrate technical, theoretical and industry knowledge on the operation and organisation of – and participation in – local and international finance. The Investing specialisation focuses on investment and portfolio management, while the Financial Services specialisation focuses on financial institutions, as well as bank management and lending.

The Master of Applied Finance (Financial Services) is for students interested in acquiring an advanced understanding of financial institutions, bank management, and lending. If you are currently working in the Finance industry or a recent graduate, you will benefit from the specialized knowledge learned in this course.

You will study the theory and practice of financial management and gain an understanding of the global financial system. Additionally, competing approaches to corporate governance and business ethics will be developed, and you will learn how to provide protection against portfolio, financial and corporate risks.

You will examine the legal framework establishing, controlling and regulating financial institutions and examine bank management theory, a bank's lending process and the securities associated with it.

The Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (Executive) is a unique degree designed for experienced senior managers who want to build their professional capabilities, those aspiring to executive positions and entrepreneurs who are motivated to start and grow their own business venture.

The program will develop and advance the skills required to respond to the dynamic business environment by identifying, implementing and managing best business practices through all stages of business life cycles.

You will learn to be innovative, visionary and strategic in the delivery of key business outcomes and realise and develop your authentic leadership style. Your managerial and directional skills will be enhanced to enable you to provide effective responses to the organisation of all business models.

The subjects are specifically designed and taught for interactivity, and you will be able to share and learn from likeminded professionals at similar stages of their career in the classroom. This allows you to expand on your career network and immediately utilise the learnings back to your current senior managerial or executive role. The assessment tasks are similarly designed to be applied back to real and current business objectives.

People are an organisation's most valuable resource. Human Resource Management (HRM) is concerned with finding the right staff for an organisation and having employed them, nurturing them so that they want to stay and perform to the best of their abilities. Rather than solely focusing on the bottom line, HRM also focuses on motivational factors, employee health and wellbeing, human rights, ethics, and the impact of responsible management on society.

This degree
You will undertake a foundation year that covers all core disciplines of business, giving you a solid understanding of issues facing organisations today. From your second year, you will begin your major in Human Resource Management. This major will teach you about the people side of business operations by gaining an understanding of Human Resource Management theories and practices. Careers in HRM include HR manager, HR consultant, industrial officer, recruitment manager, training management, safety manager and career development manager.

You will also undertake a final-year capstone subject that lets you apply everything you have learned in collaboration with students from other disciplines. Plus, you have the option of applying for an internship to gain valuable experience whilst receiving credit towards your degree.

What you will study
Specific focus is placed on the acquisition and development of employees, positively influencing their employment performance, and monitoring and managing the processes of staff selection, retention and turnover. HRM examines specific people management practices such as recruitment and selection, organisational behaviour, employee relations, management of change, learning and development and workplace health and safety management.

The Master of Computer Science will provide you with the skills and ability to solve complex real world problems by integrating computer science methods with effective management strategies, and by developing and deploying computer applications. During this degree you will be able to put theory into practice with an individual capstone project.

What you will study
You will study subjects in IT project management, advanced programming, algorithms and data structures. You can choose to complete subjects from the below four areas:

• Computational intelligence, and reasoning and learning
• Machine learning algorithms and big data
• Advanced network security and computer security
• Software requirements and specifications, and service-oriented software engineering

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is designed for experienced professionals with ambition and drive who wish to develop their responsible and sustainable leadership skills. You will gain a holistic strategic business point-of-view required to operate effectively in an increasingly competitive and changing global business world.

The course has been designed to cover three stages:

• Diagnostics, where you learn to diagnose issues in real organisations with a focus on marketing, employee engagement, talent management and accounting.
• Exploration, where you explore the latest thinking and practices in organisations and research worldwide, while developing skills in innovation and business transformation.
• Integration and Application, where you develop your strategic decision-making skills, undertake a real-world business project and hone your personal effectiveness as a responsible leader.

The Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting is an introductory course that provides a general understanding of accounting and related areas in business, including finance, statistics and economics.

Successful completion of the Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting provides a pathway to the Master of Professional Accounting or Master of Professional Accounting Advanced, with credit of four subjects towards the Master's degree.

The Master of Applied Finance (Investing) is for students interested in acquiring an advanced understanding of investment and portfolio management.

You will study the theory and practice of financial management and gain an understanding of the global financial system. Additionally, competing approaches to corporate governance and business ethics will be developed, and you will learn how to provide protection against portfolio, financial and corporate risks.

Students are provided with realistic stock market simulations and are introduced to modern portfolio theory and practice with a focus on optimal investment decision-making. You will experience the pressure of live markets and learn how to manage portfolios through a portfolio simulation that allows you to trade shares, options, bonds, managed funds, international stocks with realistic stock market simulations.

The Graduate Certificate in Business is for those who want to advance their career, formalise their industry experience or up-skill and move into a business-focused role within their field. This course covers key business areas including accounting, financial management, organisational behaviour and marketing management.

The Graduate Certificate in Business caters for both professional and lifestyle commitments by giving students the choice to study on campus at Wollongong or Sydney CBD,