Accounting for the Professional: MS in Accounting

A background in the basics of business is often a key to making the most of a graduate business or management program. In this foundational course, students can build their business acumen in major functional areas that are essential to business success including business leadership and management, business ethics, the legal environment of business, accounting, finance, economics, quantitative methods and statistics, information systems management, global business, marketing, and strategic management.

Today's effective finance professionals use a variety of financial management tools as they seek to evaluate alternatives and make sound financial recommendations. Students will gain practical experience of a financial professional's role by using financial modeling tools such as breakeven and cost-volume-profit analysis for model pricing and cost sensitivity, forecasting and cost prediction, variance cost analysis, relevant cost analysis, project valuation and prioritization using payback, rates of return, and discounted cash flow methods. Students' increased diagnostic critical-thinking skills will help them to construct effective, ethical, fact-based arguments, which are among the fundamental capabilities required for financial decision making. Using relevant management articles, case studies, and topic analyses, students also examine how to align business needs with fact-based solutions, how to identify new opportunities, and how to manage and enhance an organization's competitive position.

An essential skill for nearly all financial professionals is the ability to effectively communicate with the organization to manage internal and external relationships. The importance of communication in finance is emphasized, and students are presented with the opportunity to practice using the tools required for effectual and efficient presentation of information while gaining critical-thinking, reading, and scholarly writing skills. Students explore various written and presentational forms of communication that financial professionals use within organizational and managerial settings. Students examine techniques for developing and presenting white papers, memoranda used to communicate issues and recommendations to management, and financial and nonfinancial information. They learn about concepts in balanced communication coverage and how to adapt to constantly changing modes of communication, including social networking, blogging, and using professional organizations and training programs to their advantage. Through these activities, students gain a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the financial professional as well as the ethical methodologies required to maintain a professional obligation to the community and their clients. 

In the news, it is too often that we hear about cases of financial fraud and misconduct involving major corporations. It is a social and professional obligation of financial professionals to be concerned and knowledgeable on topics involving legal and ethical issues in accounting and financial reporting. In this course, students learn to appreciate this role and explore the various legal and professional responsibilities of which financial professionals must be aware when developing financial statements and reports. They examine a variety of issues, such as the differences between statute and regulation and between common and statutory law. Students also assess the role of bankruptcy and its impact on business relationships. Through the extensive use of current and seminal case studies, students take a practical approach to examining the best practices of doing business in today's sociopolitical climate from a legal and ethical perspective.

One of the primary functions of the accountant's role is preparing internal accounting information that can be used by management for effective decision making and organizational performance. Students can gain a practical perspective into this role through case study review and analysis of pricing and contribution margin analysis, cost management and allocation, activity-based costing and throughput accounting, and inventory management. Students assess performance measurements, including key performance indicators, balanced scorecard, and forecasting. They explore operating and capital budgeting and financial planning techniques and become familiar with quantitative models and approaches used in management accounting. Through this course, students learn about the different departments and operating divisions within an organization and how they work individually and collaboratively to handle accounting responsibilities.  

Students in this course enhance and utilize advanced accounting research skills in order to investigate and review the current and emerging accounting issues and changes in promulgated accounting standards that could impact 21st-century business. Students examine a variety of up-to-date and relevant topical areas that are discussed in sources such as the Financial Accounting Standards Board, International Accounting Standards Board, and Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of their studies in this course, students will be able to anticipate changes in accounting standards and analyze potential impacts for making informed decisions and recommendations to management.

Accountants and business managers must be astute and proactive in managing a business to combat the inevitable threat of operational and financial risks, including those involving credit, market, liquidity, reputation, technology, and legality. In this course, students assess the tools used by accountants and managers in managing these risks. They explore the various processes used to identify, analyze, and assess risks, and they learn the appropriate use of financial and operational controls to mitigate such risks. Additionally, students examine ways to implement techniques, such as developing a risk control matrix and using the concepts of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) framework to improve an organization's enterprise risk management.  

Regulatory compliance involves the policies and processes that organizations use to ensure that they follow the rules and regulations in place by the firms that control financial activity in a given jurisdiction. In this course, students explore the facets of regulatory compliance, focusing on the role of accounting with respect to corporate governance within an organizational setting. They also focus on how organizations build transparency into their governance and compliance systems. Students review and explore the responsibilities of management in terms of compliance and auditing and explore the complex processes of checks and balances that comprise compliance systems. Students further develop their understanding of regulatory compliance through a review of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in addition to an evaluation of decisions made by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Corporation Accounting Oversight Board.  

In this quantitative course, students examine the process by which accounting policies are formulated and modified. Students use current research and case analyses to make critical evaluations of fundamental accounting concepts and foundations, such as revenue recognition, lease accounting, and other current issues, in light of their theoretical, empirical, practical, and political aspects. Students demonstrate their ability to use promulgated accounting literature to improve their general decision-making and communication skills in the area of accounting as they engage in functional exercises and weekly discussions.   

In this course, students are provided with tools, techniques, and insight to evaluate the potential for fraud within current operating and financial reporting systems. Students examine creative accounting techniques and red flags of fraud, such as the development of false financial statements; misuse of corporate resources; false revenue recognition; and fraud perpetrated for the benefit of third parties, shareholders, and managers. They explore special topics, such as the override of existing internal controls and absence of proper accounting documentation. Students also examine fraud audit standards, principles of legal evidence, and concepts of the Daubert Rule. Additionally, students examine strategies for identifying sources of securing evidence to prevent loss, corruption, and contamination.  

Students in this course examine current topics in international standards for accounting, including financial statement presentation, auditing, and accounting for importers, exporters, and multinational corporations to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various perspectives involved in international accounting. Students examine foreign exchange rates and markets, controlled economy accounting, social responsibility reporting, inflation accounting, and international taxation and its impact on an organization's international financial statements. Additionally, students analyze issues in accounting for multinationals, including areas of accounting and financial reporting standards. They also conduct an evaluation of international accounting harmonization efforts, including those involving accounting standards, to acquire an appreciation of the importance of comparability in regard to international financial statements.