The investment management and financial analysis sectors require industry professionals with advanced technical knowledge, plus practical experience with programming. Our Investment Management and Financial Analysis MSc (IMFA) programme is designed to equip you with these skills, and help you acquire your CFA Level II professional qualification.
As such, this programme offers modules that are academically more advanced and, at the same time, more practice-oriented than those offered by a typical UK master's programme in finance. You will study technical and practice-oriented modules. LUMS accounting and finance specialists and expert tutors from Fitch Learning will prepare you to complete CFA Level II. Core modules embed training in financial programming languages including VBA, R and MATLAB, and provide hands-on experience with data platforms such as Thomson EIKON or FactSet.
Programme outline
You can elect to prepare for the February CFA Level I exam or if you already have CFA Level I, you will study alternative modules to benefit a career in Investment Management or Financial Analysis. You then prepare for the August CFA Level II exam. An alternative non-CFA pathway is available for those who do not want to acquire the CFA qualification, or those who already have the qualification but still wish to benefit from this practitioner-oriented programme.
You will study the following modules, outlined in the course structure:
Term 1 core modules:
- Fund Management
- Financial Modelling and Analysis
- Programming and Databases for Financial Applications
Students without CFA Stage 1 will also study Topics in Professional Analysis
Students who have already attained CFA stage 1, or those on a non-CFA pathway will also study Quantitative Methods for Finance
Term 2 core modules:
- Advanced Financial Markets and Investment Management
- Advanced Financial Reporting and Analysis
- Advanced Investment Research Methods
- Careers Skills in Finance with Applications to ESG
Students without CFA 1 will take the February examination.
Term 3
Students taking the CFA Level II examination will complete the following modules followed by the examination in August:
- Advanced Topics in Fund Management and Investment Analysis
- CFA level 2 training
- Capstone project
Students not taking the CFA Level II examination will instead complete a dissertation.
Employability and careers
Employability skills are key to this programme. The curriculum has been developed to deliver "desk-ready" graduates with a strong academic background and professional attitude. You will also receive career support from our specialist Financial Careers Coach. Potential careers on completion of your Master's include working as an asset analyst/trainee fund manager or in the fields of asset management, investment banking or financial services.
LUMS Accounting and Finance master’s students not only go on to work at blue chip Investment Banks, Investment Management firms, Consultancy and Financial Analytics firms but also at smaller and medium size boutique financial firms, often via relationships with LUMS alumni. Read more about where our graduates go in the careers information below.
Assessment methods
Many modules use a mix of coursework, projects and formal exams so that you can demonstrate your abilities in various ways. You will be given specific training by the experienced Fitch Learning tutors to prepare you for the CFA examinations, and the online learning portal gives you access to a bank of practice questions and other learning resources too.
