Accounting Prerequisites: (9 hours)

The MS in accounting requires completion of the following accounting prerequisites.  If prerequisites are completed at the undergraduate level, course equivalents must be completed with a grade of “C” or better.  If taking the course at the graduate level, a grade of “C” or better is required, but students must also maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 as students with grades below a B may be subject to probation.

Required Courses (advisor will evaluate transcript for possible waivers):

• BUSN 6550 - Analyzing and Interpreting Accounting Information

• undergraduate equivalent: ACCT 2200 and ACCT 2220

• ACCT 6030 - Financial Accounting

• undergraduate equivalent: ACCT 3220 and ACCT 3230

• ACCT 6070 - Management Accounting

• undergraduate equivalent: ACCT 3320

Common Body of Knowledge (CBK): (6 hours)

Depending on prior coursework, students may be required to take up to two background courses (advisor will evaluate transcript for possible waivers in the CBK):

• BUSN 6530 - Data Analysis for Managers
• BUSN 6620 - Applied Economics for Managers

Accounting Core: (12 hours)

Students may not receive graduate credit for undergraduate coursework and may not retake any course successfully completed at the undergraduate level with a grade of “C” or better.  An advisor will evaluate prior coursework to determine substitutions. 

• BUSN 6540 - Legal and Ethical Environment of Business
• ACCT 6020 - Auditing Theory
• ACCT 6054 - Accounting Systems and Data Processing
• ACCT 6140 - Tax Planning for Managers

Accounting Capstone: (6 hours)

• ACCT 6250 - Seminar: Financial Accounting
• ACCT 6260 - Seminar: Managerial Accounting

Accounting Electives: (6 hours)

ACCT courses numbered 6000 or higher excluding ACCT 6030 or ACCT 6070.  Or, courses contributing to one of the specializations may be used to meet this elective requirement. 

Free Electives: (6 hours)

Accounting is increasingly diverse and linked to many business decisions. Accountants may eventually work as systems designers, chief financial officers, cost analysts, budget officers or chief executive officers. Students will be better prepared for their careers if they develop competencies in a related field, which may be chosen from a single discipline such as finance, information systems, decision sciences, entrepreneurship, international business, marketing, or management. 

Free electives may consist of any course numbered 6800 or higher with BUSN prefix or any course numbered 6000 or higher with a prefix of ACCT, BANA, CMDT, ENTP, FNCE, INTB, ISMG, MGMT, MKTG, or RISK excluding ACCT 6030 and ACCT 6070.

Total: 30 hours

Accounting Specializations

Students may use a combination of accounting and free electives to complete one of the following specialization options. Auditing and Forensic Accounting Specialization and Controllership and Financial Leadership Specialization follow the MS Accounting requirements above. Accounting and Information Systems Audit and Controll Specialization follows the requirements listed below that specialization. 

Accounting and Information Systems Audit and Control (AISAAC) Specialization

Recently, new regulatory environments have required companies to provide better documentation of their accounting and IT systems to improve the management and disclosure of their business processes for better financial and regulatory controls. Accounting and IT professionals have significant roles in audit and control activities, since they control the systems that monitor and report on finance, planning and operations. The courses within this specialization cover business-process management and financial controls; the emerging trends and practices in privacy and security; the strategies for integrating governance and compliance; and the IT organization’s financial and business intelligence services. These courses will focus on how to leverage the existing IT infrastructure to establish quality in financial and internal audit processes and address the regulatory issues associated with reporting, consolidation and document/content management more effectively and completely.

As you will note, this degree plan is 30 hours + 12 hours prerequisite hours + 9 hours in Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) as listed below.