Where will this take me?

Overview

Through the Finance major you can look forward to careers paths in financial advising, counselling and planning for investors or community organisations; funds management; management consulting; retail, commercial and investment banking; treasury management; trading and dealing.

Careers outcomes

Your first job could see you as a:

  • Adviser
  • Banker
  • Planner
  • Analyst

In 5-10 years, you’ll progress to roles such as:

  • Broker
  • Consultant
  • Senior Planner
  • Trader
  • Finance Counsellor

And in 15-20 years you could be a successful:

  • Partner
  • Treasurer
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Financial Controller

Professional Accreditation

The University of Melbourne is a Program Partner of the CFA Institute, which awards the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Recognition as a CFA Program Partner means the Commerce Finance major is tied to professional practice and helps prepare you for the CFA exams.

Graduate pathways from this major

The skills and competencies you develop will put you in a good position to undertake further study in finance or even in new disciplines, such as government, humanities, law or teaching.

Coursework

The Finance major leads to a range of professional specialisation pathways, in or outside of your discipline.

The Masters of Finance provides you with specialist technical knowledge to prepare you for a career in the ever-evolving finance sector and takes you closer to completing your professional accreditation requirements.

Research
Honours

Honours is an optional fourth year of study that gives you the opportunity to draw together your undergraduate studies and focus on an exciting piece of original research thesis and complete advanced level subjects. Honours can prepare you for employment or graduate research.

  • Offered in Accounting, Actuarial Studies, Economics and Finance majors.

Research training within the honour’s year, a postgraduate diploma or a master’s degree will be required as preparation for further graduate research.

Doctoral programs

If you’re interested in a pathway to academia or becoming a finance industry expert, you can undertake further study at Melbourne Business School. They offer a Doctoral Program in Finance, which involves  2-year Master of Commerce + 3-year PhD research.

Profile

Barry Zhang

For Barry Zhang, a major in finance was about more than just numbers. His degree allowed him to explore the narrative of these subjects and gain invaluable real-world understanding. 

Originally from China, Barry Zhang moved to the Gold Coast when he was in High School. When it came time to enrol in university, he was drawn to the breadth and real-word application opportunities of Melbourne’s Finance major.

“Just being presented with the numbers doesn’t work, you need to have a story about why the numbers came about, otherwise, there’s no real-world understanding.”

“I have the capability to do the numbers, but I love philosophy, and psychology, where you get those narratives to understand the data.”

Read more about Barry’s story.