If you're considering a financial MBA, you're probably a numbers-person. Is an MBA degree worth the years of time and expense to get, when you could be working full time instead? The numbers indicate that the answer is yes! Some studies have found that MBAs earn as much as 145% more over their lifetime than non-degree professionals. Surveys of the financial sector found that CFOs without a degree earned an average annual salary of less than $39,000, while those with a BA earned an average close to $89,000, and CFOs with an MBA exceeded $100,000, on average. And, with an online MBA in finance or accounting, you could still be working full time.
An online MBA in accounting or finance isn't for everyone, but it is a growing field and a viable option for a lot more people than it used to be. But, there can be factors that the numbers above don't take in to account. What you're doing now and what you want to be doing can be a huge factor. Your previous experience speaks volumes, as does whether the company that you are working for values an MBA or not. Another factor can be whether the company attaches value to an online MBA versus traditional degrees from traditional schools.
Still, the numbers can be persuasive. The Graduate Management Admissions Council (they administer the GMAT) shows that in many cases your salary pre- and post-MBA can jump 50% or more. Those kinds of numbers can make an online MBA in finance or accounting very attractive. Which means selecting the right online program is your next step. Speak with your executives and with your human resources contacts to determine which online programs they favor. Review the schools, looking at the quality of their curriculum, the time spent working with the faculty, and how rigorous their requirements to acquire your MBA are.
Another standard you should consider is who has accredited the program. This can tell you volumes about the school you're considering for your degree. Consider how long the online MBA in accounting or finance has been offered by the schools you're considering, and perhaps review their graduation rates. All of these things will give you an idea of the strength of the programs you're looking at. Finally, being a numbers person, consider how much your online MBA is going to cost. While many financial MBA programs are competitive or even less expensive than a traditional graduate program, there are programs that can actually cost you more. And, those are important numbers, too.