Mergers & Acquisitions Graduate Certificate

Overview

The Mergers and Acquisitions Graduate Certificate provides learners with a well-rounded knowledge of key concepts that form the foundations of a successful M&A deal. Learners will learn how to use financial accounting and finance to express the economic realities of complex organizations, as well as the deal structures and transactions that shape the design of these organizations. The coursework includes a project that is a real-life investment banking case assignment, simulating the work that a Wall Street investment banking firm would deliver to a global, highly sophisticated client.

Benefit from live, interactive learning sessions with instructors and receive actionable feedback from teaching staff and fellow learners. Through hands-on projects, exercises, and case studies, you’ll develop experience and insight in mergers and acquisitions that you can apply immediately in your career.

The certificate stacks directly into the full Master of Business Administration (iMBA), Master of Science in Accountancy (iMSA), or Master of Science in Management (iMSM) from the University of Illinois.

Syllabus

Course 1: ACCY 532: Mergers and Acquisitions and Other Complex Transactions
- This course will increase your sophistication as a user of financial information by enhancing your ability to penetrate the complexity of intricate organizational architectures and to gain deeper insight into an organization's business model, strategy, and performance. It is strongly recommended to complete Finance of Mergers & Acquisitions before beginning this course.

Course 2: FIN 572: Finance of Mergers and Acquisitions
- Learn to value and price Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) deals and how to choose the optimal financing mix for an M&A deal. Deepen your understanding of financial modeling and capital structure, both in theory and practice. It is important to have a basic notion of statistics and be comfortable with quantitatively focused work before beginning this course.

Course 3: FIN 573: Investment Banking Concepts
- In this course, you will be working on a real-life investment banking case assignment, and create a pitch book that simulates the work product that a Wall Street investment banking firm would deliver to a global client. Prior to beginning this course, it is strongly recommended that you complete Finance of Mergers & Acquisitions and Accounting for Mergers & Acquisitions and Other Complex Transactions.