Is Finance irrelevant to the MBA?

It stroke my attention that no finance course is among the core requirements for the MBA program of the University of Southern Queensland. This fact seems pretty unusual because finance is an important issue in modern business and many other MBA programs I checked, have finance in their core requirements. Some thoughts on that?


Dennis

 

Two thoughts:

1. First off, it is traditional for the thread-started to provide a weblink to the school being discussed, when the thread-starting post refers to a particular school. www.usqonline.com.au

2. Yes, Finance is relevant to an MBA.

 

Most traditional MBA programs have a very intensive financial/accounting core. Occasionally you can find a school or program with a specialized MBA offering that doesn’t, but it is pretty much the norm. One school that gets a lot of discussion on this board is Saint Joseph's College of Maine, largely because they also offer an MBA program with light financial requirements (one financial principles and two economics related courses).

They have a very heavy Leadership/Ethics focus in the program (which may not be a bad thing in business either), RA accredited, and a great reputation. One problem with programs such as these it that it also leads to debates as to whether degrees such as this should be considered MBA’s, or specialized MA’s or MS’s in organizational leadership or something else along those lines.

Regardless of your opinions either way, this is the link if you’re interested.

Dave

http://www.sjcme.edu/masterbusadmin/mbanew.html

 

I suggest anyone who contemplates an MBA should read this paper re-relevance of an MBA in its entirety:

Pfeffer, Jeffrey and Fong, Christina T. (2002). "The End of Business Schools? Less Success Than Meets the Eye." Academy of Management Learning and Education 1(1): 78-95.

Cheers,

George

 

Very interesting article.
Thanks George!

Yes! Finance is relevant to a MBA degree.

 

Here's a link to the paper online:

http://www.aomonline.org/Publications/Articles/BSchools.asp

 

I would argue any MBA curriculum needs a finance coiurse or two. One of the reasons to obtain an MBA is to help advance one's career (perhaps manglement) or start/own a business. Financials are the basic scorecard and dashboard for running a biz, and without a basic understanding (and as an MBA a more than basic understanding) of financial data and their implication, an MBA would be less than effective.

 

I would certainly agree that Finance is a core competency for a MBA. I also feel that a basic competency in maths and statistics is also necessary; I was shocked when my alma mater, the Edinburgh Business School, changed Quantitative Methods from a required core course to an elective.