Online Certified in Finance & Economics

The WHU Online Certified in Finance & Economics Program will provide you with the necessary knowledge, skillset, and tools to make financial decisions.

The program consists of the following online courses:

• Financial Markets & Assets
• Financial & Management Accounting
• Global Business Economics
• Investors, Valuation & Governance
• Economic Foundations of Decision Making

To receive a certification, you must participate in four of five courses and successfully pass each course’s examination. The certificate grants 10 ECTS credits (16% of an MBA).

Before starting the Online Certified in Finance & Economics we highly recommend taking part in the math pre-course to update your knowledge in this field. This course requires 14 h of self-study within the timeframe of max. 6 weeks. For more information, please contact us directly.

Financial Markets & Assets

• Understand the basics of neoclassical economics and behavioral economics
• Be familiar with the basic tools needed to objectively assess investment projects
• Understand how financial risks can be managed and measured

Financial & Management Accounting

• Being able to define a suitable corporate financial top-down objective
• Realize the key steps and ingredients of the budgeting process
• Understand the structure, functions, and interrelation of the basic financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement)
• Be able to perform a structured fundamental analysis of financial statements in order to assess a firm’s profitability, liquidity, and solvency

Global Business Economics

• Understand the main drivers behind the globalization of markets and players
• Elaborate on the role of international institutions in trade conflicts
• Describe different forms of regional economic integration
• Learn about the costs and benefits of a monetary union
• Differentiate crisis prevention and crisis management

Investors, Valuation & Governance

• Derive the relationship between an enterprise’s stock price and the cost of equity
• Develop the necessary practical skills to estimate the cost of capital of an enterprise
• Understand the impact of financial leverage, tax, and financial distress on the cost of capital
• Learn about financing sources for corporations and equity financing

Economic Foundations of Decision Making

• Understand how enterprises can create value and position themselves within the arena of markets
• Analyze where and when to compete, in particular how to distinguish attractive from unattractive markets
• Examine how changes in economic or industry conditions affect business strategy

Expand your professional network at one of the most renowned German business schools and become part of an active network of peers and experts at WHU.

Ideal candidate profiles include

• Participants with a first degree in engineering, law, social sciences, humanities, foreign languages
• Participants with a first degree (Bachelor) in Business Administration or International Business will benefit from this program, as it is very practice-oriented and looks at (maybe) known topics from a different perspective.
• Participants who are aiming at broadening and deepening the business/ management knowledge while fully working.
• Participants with a minimum of two years of professional experience who are moving into a leadership position.
• The participants come from diverse industry and organizational backgrounds, further enriching the learning experience, and creating a valuable network of peers.
• This program requires a high level of self-organization skills. Contents will be provided on an e-learning platform. Candidates are invited to attend live online lectures on Saturdays, and the program requires participation in self-organized virtual group work.
• The Online Certified in Program format is particularly valuable for candidates who are on maternity/ paternity leave.

Admission requirements

• Proof of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent first degree is necessary.
• Minimum of two years of post-graduate professional experience.
• Participants should have adequate written and spoken English-language skills at C1 level (or equivalent).
• Participants should be willing and able to engage fully during the courses, as teamwork makes up a substantial part of the programs and course gradings.

Participation in course examinations is mandatory in this program. You can find the complete certificate regulation here.

The program language is English.

The program consists of 4 courses. Each course requires, on average, 17 hours per week of self-paced learning and 1-2 hours of live-teaching sessions which take place on Saturdays with the opportunity to choose between two timeslots at 1:00 pm or 4:00 pm (CEST). All courses last 4 weeks and include a final examination.

You can download an overview of the upcoming dates here:

Dates Online Certified in Programs(PDF, 163 KB)