Online finance degrees are extremely popular and students have a lot of choice as to which college or university they attend as a great many educational institutions offer high quality accredited online finance degree programs. All levels of finance degrees are also available online, from the undergraduate associate and bachelor's degree to the graduate level master's degrees and doctorate programs, and students also have many specializations and course concentrations to choose from.

Those holding qualifications in finance will also find it easy to obtain a lucrative position in one of the many financial fields like private banking, financial planning, insurance or investment management. With international trade today becoming increasingly possible through the medium of online sales, more and more local private sector businesses will start doing business on the international market and this will create many more positions for those with an understanding of international finance.

Online Finance Associate Degrees

Degrees at the associate level are only meant to give a student a broad overview of an area in which he thinks he may want to specialize. On-campus associate degrees will usually take students approximately two years to complete but, should they choose distance learning over on-campus learning, they should be able to complete their degree program far more quickly.

Associate of Applied Science - Business Finance: Harrison College

This degree program is designed to give students an overview of the financial and accounting principles that they would utilize in the business world and could also later use as the basis for further study in specialized areas. Courses are divided among professional courses, general education courses and foundation courses and include:

1. Interpreting financial statements (professional course);
   
2. Computers and office automation (foundation course);
   
3. Presentation skills (general education course); and
   
4. Introduction to finance (professional course).

Those students who wish to obtain further information concerning this online degree can contact Harrison College at 550 E Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204 (tel: 317-264-5656).

Associate Degree in Finance: Penn Foster College

The Penn Foster web-based courses offer students specialized software as well as unlimited instructional support and access to online studying tools. In addition to their associate finance degree, they also recommend their 1-year certificate in accounting to students at the high school / community college level. Some of their courses include:

1. Financial management;
   
2. Business law;
   
3. Accounting; and
   
4. Principles of management.

Further details regarding both the associate degree and the 1-year certificate may be obtained from Penn Foster College at 14300 N Northsight Boulevard, Suite 111, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 (tel: 1-800-275-4410 and website)

Online Finance Bachelor's Degrees

BS in Finance	BS in Finance	BS in Finance
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A bachelor's degree shows a greater amount of course specialization than an associate degree but is still a far way away from the level of specificity seen at the master's and doctoral levels. The typical bachelor degree also contains more courses than an associate degree and usually takes a student four years, rather than two, to complete. Online study could, however, accelerate this process.

Bachelor of Business Science - Accounting and Finance: Southern New Hampshire University

This degree program offers a non-traditional approach to teaching finance, although the usual courses that would qualify a student for the CPA track are available on request. Course content includes the required core courses, the finance/account majors and three electives, and courses include:

1. Multinational corporate finance (major);
2. Foundations of critical thinking (graduation requirement);
3. Fundamentals of investments (major); and
   
4. Business systems analysis and design (business core course).

Students who wish to learn more about this, and other, degree programs offered by the fully accredited Southern New Hampshire University can contact them at 2500 N River Road, Manchester, NH 03016 (tel: 1-800-668-2211)

Bachelors in Business Administration - Finance: Brandman University

Brandman states that this degree's objective is to enable students to do things like use technology to support business decision making and evaluate and solve ethical issues in business environments. Brandman also uses the innovative blended-learning approach, which combines the best of online and on-campus teaching methods. Courses included in this degree are:

1. Information systems management;
   
2. Organizational communication;
   
3. Human resources; and
   
4. Marketing.

Brandman University can be contacted for more information at 16355 Laguna Canyon Road, Irvine, CA 92618 (tel: 1-800-581-4100)

Online Finance Master's Degrees

MBA in Finance	MBA in Finance	MBA in Finance
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Students have a great deal of choice concerning which online master's degree in finance they register for as many of the MBA online programs have course concentrations in finance. The typical master's degree will take two years to complete and this will include the preparation of the course capstone project, or thesis.

Masters in Business Administration - Finance: Jones International University

This degree concentrates on teaching skills that are of use in both local and international corporate finance. Jones is also an accredited school and those graduating from this program will be eligible under the education requirements of the American Academy of Financial Management for the Master Financial Professional Creditation. Courses offered as part of this program include:

1. Investment and portfolio management;
   
2. Financial management for multinational corporations;
   
3. Economics and competitive strategies; and
   
4. Advanced corporate finance.

Jones International University will be able to provide further information concerning this degree and can be contacted at 9697 E Mineral Avenue, Centennial, CO 80112 (tel: 1-800-811-5663 and website)

Master of Business Administration - Finance: Northeastern University

This is an innovative program that specializes in areas like crisis management for ailing businesses and mergers and acquisitions. The teaching program seamlessly integrates theory with individual case studies and students can thus learn from real-life situations how bankruptcies and other financial crossroads are dealt with. Topics covered in this highly specialized program include:

1. Managing foreign currency risk;
   
2. Entrepreneurship for high-tech companies;
   
3. Multinational capital budgeting; and
   
4. Joint ventures.

Northeastern University can be contacted for more information about this, and related, degree programs at 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 (tel: 617-373-2000 and website)

Online Finance Doctoral Degrees

Unlike some other areas of study, there are several online finance doctoral programs to choose from. There is also no time limit on the completion of a doctoral degree, and exactly how long it takes a student will depend on factors like how quickly they can complete the course work, and research and write the capstone project or doctoral dissertation.

Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration - Financial Management Specialization: Northcentral University

This degree requires 51 graduate semester units, which includes 24 that are specifically related to a student's preparation of their dissertation. Northcentral will also review a student's proposed dissertation topic before work commences so as to make sure that it will contribute unique information to the community's established body of knowledge. Specialization courses in the finance concentration include:

1. Financial management for quality operations;
   
2. Advanced financial statement analysis;
   
3. Investment portfolio analysis; and
   
4. Financial management for international business.

Further details about this doctoral program can be obtained directly from Northcentral at 10000 E University Drive, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314 (tel: 928-541-7777)

Doctor of Business Administration - Finance: Walden University

This doctoral program comprises 60 semester credit hours which are broken down as follows: 3 foundation courses, 15 core business courses, 3 business strategy courses, 6 research methods courses, 9 specialization courses and 24 doctoral studies courses. Examples of subjects covered by the various courses include:

1. Marketing: strategic innovation in globally diverse markets (core business course);
   
2. Quantitative decision making in professional practice (research method course);
   
3. Leadership: building sustainable organizations (core business course); and
   
4. Business strategy and innovation (business strategy course).

Walden University can be contacted through this website for additional information.

Career Opportunities and Salary Scales

There is never a shortage of lucrative careers in finance as people with financial qualifications are employable in so many different business sectors. Employment opportunities exist in fields like money management, investment banking, corporate finance, and real estate in both the public and private sector. Education is another field where those with financial degrees can make themselves at home and teach finance at both community college and university level. Further sectors that those with finance degrees will easily be able to find employment in include insurance, financial planning and private equity.

The private banking industry is possibly the industry that employs the most people holding financial qualifications and careers in this field would include:

1. the loan officer who determines whether a company or individual should get a loan and, if so, exactly what loan and on what terms; and
   
2. the mortgage banker who assists people with closing real estate deals and determines the extent to which a purchase should be financed.
   

There have been several studies done to determine the median annual salaries paid to those who work in the various financial fields and the figures, updated to December 2009, are as follows:

1. Personal banker - $35,000 per year;
   
2. Branch manager at a bank or similar financial institution - $41,000 per year;
   
3. Financial advisor - $45,000 per year;
   
4. Financial analyst - $47,000 per year;
   
5. Financial analyst in the corporate sector - $53,000 per year;
   
6. Senior financial analyst - $63,000 per year; and
   
7. Financial controller - $72,000 per year.

Conclusion

If a student is financially inclined, then a great way to exploit this would be by obtaining a qualification in finance. Finance also lends itself extremely well to distance learning and, on the whole, online studying is preferable to on-campus studying as it is much more cost- and time-effective.