Program Content for the Master in Finance
The Master in Finance (Diplôme Spécialisé en Finance) is authorized by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation to award a recognized BAC+5 degree, Master’s Grade, to its students. Our Master in Finance program has been accredited for a four-year period after a rigorous assessment by the National Management Programmes Assessment Commission (CEFDG).
Step into a program designed to launch your career in the dynamic and demanding world of investment banking, whether in Corporate Finance or Financial Markets.
Keys points
The Master in Finance is designed to offer students all the soft/hard skills and know-how needed to excel in the investment banking:
- Diversity: the Master in Finance offers a diverse environment through its cohort (nationalities, genders, backgrounds, etc.).
- A mix between academic (20 faculty professors) and professional lecturers (90) to ensure the best learning environment
- A 2-year program structure: a common track in Year 1 and specialization in either Market Finance or Corporate Finance in Year 2. For students who enter the program in Year 1, this structure allows them to discover in depth financial applications before committing to a specialization
- emlyon’s distinctive academic signature: learning as not only a transfer of academic knowledge but also a "course of learning experiences" that equips students to forge a constant link between thought and action: "doing to learn, learning to do".
- Financial Challenges: Students will be able to take part in French or international challenges or more in the financial field (e.g.: ARE, Trophée des futures licornes, BBG, CFA in Corporate Finance and Financial Markets.
- Professional certifications: Students will also acquire the necessary skills to take different certificates: AMF, CFA 1 and 2, Bloomberg Certification.
- Summer internship preparation: To maximise your chances to get a coveted summer internship at a buldge bracket London firm during your program, emlyon business school offers a select number of students the opportunity to be trained by our career center to the application tests (limited seats).
- Careers Forum: Students will attend a specific Finance Career Forum organized by the Career Center, as well as some dedicated conferences about Financial topics.
Discover the program content for the 2025-2026 academic year:
Academic content
Year 1
📅 September to March
📍 Lyon
Academic content and experiential elements
Mandatory fundamental courses:
- Economics and intro to financial markets
- Financial accounting
- Corporate finance principles
- Introduction to portfolio management
- Basics of mathematics or accounting,
- Strategic analysis
- Applied statistics, Fundamentals of negotiation techniques
- Financial maths
- Digital tools for finance - xls/VBA
- Geopolitics & risk analysis
- Intro to data analytics
- Options and other derivatives
- Advanced fixed income
- Introduction to innovation
- Introduction to alternative investments
- Ethics CSR & climate change
Optional courses
- French for foreigners
- Certification AMF
Professional project
- Preparation to specialization and professional experience
- International seminar in London (1 week)
- Career workshops
📅 March to August
📍 France or international
Internship
The 4 to 6-month internship is a great opportunity to put your academic knowledge to the test and acquire tangible experience within the sector of your choice. The school will give you all the support and tools you need to find the right internship for you.
Year 2
📅 August and September
📍 Online
Optional Modules
Optional preparatory modules are available to help students strengthen their skills and knowledge in preparation for direct entry in the second year of the Master in Finance.
Academic content and experiential elements
📅 October to April
📍 Lyon
Corporate Finance & Innovation (specialization courses)
Mandatory academic technical courses:
- Modelling
- Advanced accounting
- Financial analysis/diagnosis & forecasts
- Financial package and structuring
- Financial markets operations
- Leverage finance
- Corporate valuation
- ESG (ex gov & SRI)
- Venture capital & growth financing
- Forecasting methods
Mandatory implementation and soft skills courses:
Management:
- communication & team building
- Innovation seminar
- M&A process - implementation
- Strategic & financial Case
- Financial negotiation: simulation case/ Assesst center
- International academic period
Financial Market (specialization courses)
Mandatory academic technical courses:
- Proba & intro to stochastic calculus
- Advanced portfolio management
- Risk management 1
- Pricing and trading of derivatives
- Statistical methods for financial time series
- Risk management 2
- Intro DS + machine learning with R
- ESG (ex gov & SRI)
- Advanced alternative investments
- Commodities and energy
Mandatory implementation and soft skills courses:
Management:
- Communication & team building
- Professional project
- Global asset allocation
- International academic period
📅 May
📍 International
International period
- International period in Italy (Bocconi) or Canada (Mc Gill) - 1 month
This is an opportunity for you to discover another culture and have courses in a prestigious university outside of France. You will be confronted to a new international business environment where you will complete your technological acculturation.
📅 From June onwards
📍 Abroad
Internship and Master dissertation
- Internship : The 4 to 6-month internship is a great opportunity to put your academic knowledge to the test and acquire tangible experience within the industry. The school will give you all the support and tools you need to find the right internship for you.
Instead of doing an internship, starting directly with your first job can validate this professional experience required to get your degree and graduate from the program.
- Master dissertation: The Professional Thesis is an analytical work on a topic related to the industry and to the professional experience gained during your internship. This is a great opportunity for you to research a subject which is not only of particular interest, but which has the potential to contribute powerfully to your personal and professional development.
Assessments
Assessment methods may include case studies, presentations, mock exercises, tests, etc.
The graduation rate for students of the previous MSc in Finance for the 2021-2022 academic year was 69.4% (99.2% of students taking the exam have graduated).
