I. Objectives

In the School of Accountancy, qualified students may work toward the following graduate degrees: Master of Science with a concentration in Accounting, Accounting Systems, or Taxation; or PhD in Business Administration.

Program objectives are: (1) An understanding of the general context of business in society, the ethical issues relevant to the accounting profession, and an appropriate knowledge base for professional exams in accounting; (2) effective analytical, interpersonal, and communication skills; (3) acquisition of technical accounting knowledge and skills and related computer technology; and (4) ability to make significant professional contributions by application of accounting knowledge and skills in profit and not-for-profit organizations.

II. General Admission for Master of Science Program

Admission to the master of science degree program is granted to graduates of accredited colleges and universities who show high promise of success in graduate business study. Qualified candidates may enter the program at the beginning of any semester. The admission requirements include satisfactory performance on undergraduate course work and a recent (five years or less) GMAT admissions examination score. The GMAT is required even if the applicant has earned a prior master's degree. In recent years the average GMAT score for applicants admitted to master’s programs was approximately 530.

III. Master of Science Degree

The 30-hour master’s program provides students with a corporate governance perspective that emphasizes accounting in a service-oriented economy. Three concentrations within the major are offered: accounting, accounting systems, and taxation.

The Master of Science degree requires:

1. Prerequisites of ACCT 3110 and 3120, Intermediate Accounting. Students choosing the taxation concentration or who are required to take ACCT 6520 also must have taken ACCT 3510, Federal Income Tax, or its equivalent.

Students taking ACCT 6241 must take the course prerequisite ACCT 4240. Students taking ACCT 7320 must take the prerequisite ACCT 3310. If students do not have an undergraduate degree in business, they must complete the following Essential Foundations courses (C or better in each course) or their equivalent:

ACCT 7000	Fundamental of Accounting
ECON 7010	Economic Theory
FIR 7070	Financial Concepts
ACCT 3011	Business Law
MGMT 7030	Management and Organization
MKTG 3010	Principles of Marketing
ISDS 7070	Information Systems Principles

2. Each candidate must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of approved graduate courses. The 30 graduate credits must include 21 hours in Accounting.

ACCT 7120	Strategic Accounting (3)
ACCT 7610	Accounting Issues in a Service-Oriented Economy (3)

B. Concentrations

Specialization Core: 15 hours

Accounting	Accounting Systems	Taxation
ACCT 6241, Auditing and Assurance	ACCT 6241, Auditing and Assurance	ACCT 6520, Taxation of Business Entities
ACCT 7320, Controllership	ACCT 7320, Controllership	ACCT 7510, Tax Research
ACCT 7420, Accounting Databases and Systems	ACCT 7420, Accounting Databases and Systems	ACCT 7511, Partnership Taxation
ACCT 6520, Taxation of Business Entities	ACCT 7421, ERP Systems Design***	ACCT 7512, Corporate Taxation
Accounting elective*	ACCT 7442, e-Enterprise Accounting Systems***	ACCT 7514, Estate and Gift Taxation

Supporting Courses: 9 hours

Accounting	Accounting Systems	Taxation
Non-accounting elective*	Non-accounting elective*	Non-accounting elective*
Non-accounting elective*	Non-accounting elective*	Non-accounting elective*
Communication**	Communication**	Communication**

^*Elective courses to be selected in consultation with Masters Program Advisor to support concentration specialization.
^**Communication courses to be selected in consultation with Masters Program Advisor from MKTG 7510, Negotiation Strategies; MGMT 7173, Executive Communication; or ENGL 7807, Workshop: Government and Corporate Writing.
^***ACCT 7241, Internal Auditing, may substitute for one of these two courses.

IV. PhD Program

See the beginning of this college section for admission, prerequisites, and program requirements. Additional guidelines are outlined in the PhD Student Handbook, which is available from the Director of PhD Programs.

6211. Advanced Financial Reporting. (3). Business combinations and consolidated financial statements, accounting for foreign currency transactions, translation of foreign subsidiary financial statements, and partnership accounting. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 3120.

6241. Information Systems Auditing and Assurance. (3). (0551). Auditing of computer-based accounting systems; emphasis on audit software and computer auditing techniques used to evaluate accounting system controls and test accounting data integrity; nature and use of expert systems in accounting with emphasis on their use as an audit tool. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 3120; PREREQUISITE OR COREQUISITE: ACCT 4240.

6520. Taxation of Business Entities. (3). Introduction to the federal income taxation of corporations, partnerships, estates, and trusts. PREPREQUISITE: ACCT 3510 or permission of instructor.

7000. Fundamentals of Accounting. (3). (7001). Accelerated and in-depth introduction to the conceptual foundations of accounting as a dynamic information system for measuring and communicating economic and financial data for planning and control purposes. Primarily for non-business students but is acceptable to remove accounting prerequisites for the MBA and MS programs.

7040. Legal Concepts for Business. (3). A survey of the legal, social, and political factors that affect business operations; prerequisite for MBA Core Knowledge and Skills.

7110. Accounting for Decision Making. (3). (7010). Financial reporting from a decision-maker’s perspective, managerial use of accounting information; includes case studies and research projects. NOTE: Not open to students who have received credit for ACCT 3310 or a similar course. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7000 or equivalent.

7120. Strategic Accounting. (3). Theoretical aspects of financial reporting focusing on the quality of accounting reports and contemporary accounting controversies; case studies and research projects.

7170. International Accounting. (3). International accounting problems, including accounting by multinational corporations, foreign currency translation, institutional structures, financial control and reporting for international operations, comparative analysis of accounting principles and auditing standards of various countries. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7000 or equivalent.

7172. Global Accounting Policies. (3). Accelerated and in-depth introduction to conceptual foundations of financial and managerial accounting; selected tax topics. Restricted to students enrolled in IMBA concentration.

7241. Internal Auditing. (3). Authoritative internal audit standards, ethics of internal auditors, techniques of efficiency and effectiveness audits. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 4240.

7310. Advanced Cost Accounting (3). Budgets, determination of standards, variances and their functions, cost reports, profit projecting, direct costing, gross profit and breakeven analysis, cost-profit volume analysis, capital expenditure control, comparative cost analysis. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 3310 or ACCT 7110.

7320. Controllership. (3). Controllership function; evolution of management accounting; conceptual framework of management accounting compared and contrasted with financial accounting; functional tools used by controllers; emphasis on research, and written and oral communication skills in context of management accounting. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 3310 or ACCT 7110.

7330. Cost Management. (3). Concepts and applications of cost management systems, including strategic planning and control, activity based costing and management, total quality control, product life-cycle cost, performance evaluation, target costing, just-in-time inventory system, and continuous improvement. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 3310 or ACCT 7110.

7420. Accounting Databases and Systems. (3). Accounting systems analysis and design; emphasis on database information structures; advanced system analysis tools; integrating accounting and computer controls; use of state-of-the-art database package leading to development of working accounting model; on-site practicum.

7421. Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Design. (3). Environment of multiuser accounting; audit trail and internal control considerations in centralized versus distributed accounting systems; design considerations of computerized accounting subsystems, including accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, and general ledger. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7240 or permission of instructor.

7422. e-Enterprise Accounting Systems. (3). Development of working computerized accounting systems; overview of IDE Tools for accounting systems development; accounting file design, accounting user interface characteristics, accounting report generation considerations; complete development and programming of working accounting subsystem modules by student teams. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7420.

7510. Tax Research and Theory. (3). Advanced study of federal taxation with emphasis on tax research methodology and various theoretical precepts; integration of basic tax knowledge with skillful tax research to accomplish desired ethical tax objectives. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 6520.

7511. Federal Income Taxation of Partnerships and Partners. (3). Tax law organization, operation, and liquidation of partnerships; general overview of Subchapter K, acquisitions of partnership interests, basis of partner’s partnership interest, taxation of partnership operations, transfers of partnership interests, partnership distributions, death or retirement of partner, adjustments to basis of partnership assets. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7510 or permission of the instructor.

7512. Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders. (3). Tax law: organization, operation, and liquidation of corporations; organization of corporation under Code Section 351 and related problems; corporation’s capital structure; corporate income tax; corporate elections under Subchapter S; stock redemptions and partial liquidations; and corporate reorganizations and liquidations. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7510 or permission of the instructor.

7514. Estate and Gift Taxation. (3). Transfer taxes (gift tax, estate tax, generation-skipping transfer taxes; all taxes on transfer of property accumulated after imposition of income tax); federal gift and death taxes with emphasis on tax planning. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7510 or permission of the instructor.

7515. Tax Administration, Practice, and Planning Considerations. (3). Introduction to overall organizational structure of Internal Revenue Service and operating procedures concerning individual rulings, additional issuances, the audit process, and its administrative powers; rules governing tax practice including Treasury Department Circular 230; strategies in seeking Administrative Rulings, the IRS audit, litigation considerations, penalties, statute of limitation of refund claims. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7510 or permission of the instructor.

7518. Selected Topics in Taxation. (3). Special tax considerations of individuals, partnership, corporations, estates, trusts, exempt organizations, and governmental entities. PREREQUISITE: ACCT 7510 or permission of the instructor.

7520. Federal Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates. (3). Tax law as it relates to Subchapter J; general overview of nature of trusts and estates during their existence and administration, taxable income of trusts and estates, taxation of beneficiaries, character of income, throwback rule, grantor trusts, tax planning considerations. PREREQUISITE: 7510 or permission of the instructor.

7610. Accounting Issues in a Service-Oriented Economy. (3). This culminating experience integrates financial, managerial, accounting information systems, auditing and tax knowledge and skills developed in core courses of the MS in accounting. PREREQUISITE: 15 hours of graduate-level accounting courses and permission of either Director of School of Accountancy or accounting masters advisor.

‡7910. Problems in Accounting. (1-3). Directed independent reading and research projects in an area selected by the student with the approval of the supervising faculty member and Faculty Director. Proposed plan of study must be approved prior to enrollment. PREREQUISITE: Permission of the director.

‡7911. Accounting Internship. (1-6). Internship in business organization to gain on-the-job experience and to develop writing, organizational, and applied performance skills. Projects approved and supervised by area of Accountancy. NOTE: Credit not applicable to accounting master’s degrees. PREREQUISITE: Graduate standing and permission of College Internship Director.

7920-7929. Special Topics in Accountancy. (1-3). Varied topics. May be repeated with change in topic. PREREQUISITE: Permission of Faculty Director.

†7996. Thesis. (3-6).

‡8000. Independent Accounting Research. (3). Research problem related to student’s field of concentration under direction of a faculty member.

8610. Seminar in Auditing Research. (3). Research techniques and critical analysis of reported research findings related to various phases of the audit; applications of quantitative methods in audit; auditor and audit client behavior studied and evaluated, including analytical, empirical, and archival research methodologies.

8621. Seminar in Empirical Economic Accounting Research. (3). Scientific philosophy and method of empirical research that tests economic theories of accounting.

8710. Seminar in Financial Accounting Research. (3). (8920). In-depth study of existing body of literature in various areas of empirical accounting research; emphasis on research design and methodology; design and development of individual research projects; applying various research methods in accounting literature; and experience in presenting research, refereeing papers, and publishing research projects.

8720. Seminar in Accounting Research and Human Information Processing. (3). (8210). Research on judgement and decision-making behavior in accounting; theories and empirical evidence on how professional accountants make judgements and users are affected by accounting information; extensive readings from research literature in accounting and related fields; alternative methods for conducting empirical research.

8730. Managerial and Behavioral Accounting Theory and Research. (3). (8310). Theoretical framework of managerial and behavioral accounting related to decision-making processes of management; influence of behavioral science on budgeting techniques and managerial information and control systems; behavioral accounting research.

8731. Seminar in Management Accounting. (3). Presents theoretical foundations and empirical tests (including experiments, survey and field studies, and statistical tests of archival data) of current management accounting issues.

8740. Research Seminar in Accounting. (3). Review, analysis, and integration of scholarly research in financial and managerial accounting as well as auditing research; development of critical thinking and communication skills for designing, executing, and evaluating scholarly accounting research.

†Grades of S, U, or IP will be given.
‡Grades of A-F, or IP will be given.