MBA Partner of the Month


Choose from 20 MBA Specializations AACSB Accredited + NO GMAT required! At Southern New Hampshire University, we have a tradition of excellence and a proven success rate - 95 percent of our students are employed upon graduation.

Request Information Here

Risk Management MBA + Online Options

April 25, 2021 12:48 am0 commentsViews: 850

Managing risk effectively is vital to the economic health of companies, businesses, nations and people. We have seen in the 21st century that organizations need robust systems in place to assess and manage risk effectively. If risk is more effectively managed and mitigated in a company, this can increase profitability and reduce the risk of financial liability.

With a risk management MBA, you will be well prepared for many vital careers, such as:

  • Corporate risk management
  • Consulting in risk management
  • Management and consulting in the field of employee benefits
  • Insurance brokerage

What Is a Risk Management MBA?

A risk management MBA is typically a two year graduate degree that will prepare you to deal with employee benefits and rights, insurance for health issues and the liabilities that companies face, as well as state and federal labor laws.

Professionals in this MBA speciality will learn important skills in reducing risk for companies, which is very important for the long term profitability and viability of most organizations. This is especially important today because of the increased competitiveness of the global marketplace. Jump to accredited risk management degrees in our 50 Best Online MBA Degrees report.

An MBA in risk management can be an excellent option for experienced professionals and recent business graduates who want to move into mid and upper level management roles in operations and administration. These companies will greatly value your high level of skill in helping them to effectively avoid and mitigate all kinds of risk.

Calculating risk is very important for increasing and controlling profit margins. Thus, a risk management MBA can help you to have a better edge in the global marketplace.

A risk management MBA will teach you how to evaluate, analyze and reduce unneeded risks for organizations. Most companies will require you to take classes in the following areas:

  • Labor law
  • Theories of security management
  • Industrial safety
  • Company auditing
  • Workers comp
  • Environmental laws
  • Compliance laws
  • Prevention planning
  • Risk management in emergencies

This type of MBA program will make you fully understand everything about risk management, which is defined as the process of analyzing risk exposure and how to handle the risk in the best and more reasonable way. Many MBA programs will take a best practices approach to risk management. They will focus on understanding the most serious risks, and managing them within a safe level.

The ways that many MBA programs today approach risk management is as follows:

  • Determine the most important risks that are arising from the company’s or organization’s operations each day
  • Make a priority list of risks that are based upon how likely the risk is to occur, and also what the seriousness of its potential impact
  • Implement proper strategies to reduce risk
  • Monitor how effective the risk management efforts have been

After completing this MBA, you will be very well equipped to provide guidance on environmental and other hazards, and making sure that your company is in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. Further, because most companies today have a global perspective, you will be better able to deal with important industrial safety standards here and around the world.

Specific Requirements

To be admitted into most risk management MBA programs, you would be advised to have a 3.0 GPA, and GMAT and GRE scores could be needed. If you have a GPA under 3.0, it is very likely you would need standardized test scores. Some applicants may be able to have the requirement waived if they have more than five years of work experience, in addition to a 3.0 or higher.

Most applicants to quality MBA programs in this specialty will also need to have updated transcripts, a good statement of purpose about how risk management is related to your career goals, and an updated resume.

Types of Courses To Expect

Taking a required set of course in your MBA program will provide you with a good framework to understand the basics of business management. Also, taking a set of risk management classes will allow you to develop the analytical skill set that is needed to identify, evaluate and mitigate various types of risks in an enterprise environment.

Required classes in your risk management MBA program could include the following:

  • Financial Statement Analysis
  • Derivative Security Markets
  • Risk Management
  • Fundamentals of Risk Management
  • Valuation
  • Investments
  • Statistics
  • Managerial Finance and Accounting
  • Project Management
  • Improving the Supply Chain

Other MBA programs in this field may focus more on risk as it pertains specifically to insurance only. For example, the University of Denver focuses its coursework in the following areas:

  • Principles of Risk and Insurance
  • Corporate Risk Management
  • Practical Enterprise Risk Management
  • Employee Benefits and Workforce Risk Management
  • Global Risk Management
  • Investment Management Analysis
  • Financial Innovations
  • Management of Financial Institutions
  • Real Options and Decisions in Uncertainty
  • Financial Modeling

Career Path and Salary

With a versatile MBA in risk management, you will be qualified to work in these following roles:

Financial Manager

This is one of the most likely roles that you can find yourself in when you earn a risk management MBA.

A financial manager is responsible for monitoring important financial reports and investments for a company. There are various types of financial manager; some will handle cash, others will handle credit and others are only focused on risk management.

The role of the financial manager in many businesses is evolving because there have been many advances in technology in recent years. This is allowing it to take less time to prepare complex financial reports. Thus, financial managers often are spending more time on analyzing data and reducing company risk, as well as trying to maximize profits.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this role is expected to see a job growth rate of 15% by 2029, which is much faster than average. It is thought that the services that financial managers provide, such as directing, planning and coordinating investments, may stay in demand as the economy continues to grow.

Median pay in this field in 2020 was $134,180.

Experts point out that you can increase your marketability and potential salary if you hold the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification.

Insurance Underwriter

An insurance underwriter decides which person will qualify for an insurance policy, and the premium that he or she will pay. Underwriters for insurance companies also will analyze certain individuals to determine if they are too high of a risk to be ensured.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that demand in this job will decline by 6% in the ten-year period leading up to 2029, due to more automatic underwriting. However, there still is a need for human underwriters to be available to deal with special situations in the underwriting process.

The median pay in this field was $71,790 as of May 2020.

Claims Investigator

Claims investigators work closely with various insurance companies to determine whether your claim for compensation on an insurance policy is going to be covered or not. Investigators review insurance claims to determine if the amount that has been claimed is reasonable, given the situation. Many investigators also will consult with experts to find out if a claim may have been fraudulent.

This job is also expected to see a 6% decline in the run up to 2029. The median salary in this field was $68,130 as of 2020.

May 2020 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics salary and labor market information for Financial Managers,  Insurance Underwriters, and Claims Adjusters, Appraisers and Assessors is based on national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed May 2021.