Master of Accountancy

The Master of Accountancy program (M.Acc.) is accredited by the AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB accreditation assures quality and promotes excellence and continuous improvement in undergraduate and graduate education for business administration and accounting.

The Master of Accountancy (M.Acc.) program provides rigorous preparation at the graduate level for students to achieve success in their chosen career path in public practice, industry, or government. Students entering the program are expected to have an undergraduate degree or significant background in accounting. Building on the knowledge developed as an undergraduate, the M.Acc. courses broaden, extend, and integrate the student’s knowledge. Students completing the M.Acc. program develop the following skills: 1) Research: Students will be able to access, assess, and apply the appropriate standards, regulations, or other information needed to address accounting and business problems. 2) Risk Analysis: Students will understand business risk, how it affects decisions and how to create strategies to mitigate risk. 3) Problem Solving and Decision Making: Students will be able to identify problems, consider alternative solutions, analyze the pros and cons of each alternative and support their conclusions. The M.Acc. program is a full-time program designed to be completed in one year.

Admission to Degree Program: The M.Acc. program is open to students who have an acceptable undergraduate grade-point average, an acceptable Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) score, and (international students only) an acceptable TOEFL or IELTS score. Students entering the program are expected to possess a basic understanding of statistics, mathematics, information systems, accounting, and business. Course work deficiencies must be resolved at the beginning of the program.

Requirements for the Master of Accountancy Degree: Students with appropriate backgrounds in business administration and economics and with an undergraduate concentration in accounting will be required to complete 30 semester hours of course work beyond the baccalaureate degree, at least 21 semester hours of which must be in courses reserved exclusively for graduate students. Prior accounting and computer courses must either have been successfully completed within the five years prior to entry to the M.Acc. program, or the student must provide other evidence of current knowledge in these areas. Otherwise, applicants may be required to repeat selected courses.

All students must be enrolled for a minimum of 12 hours during consecutive fall/spring semesters. The student must be in residence a minimum of 24 weeks (see residency requirements of the Master of Arts/Master of Science).

Course work in the accounting discipline beyond introductory accounting must include coverage of each of the following areas:

       a. financial accounting and accounting theory

       b. management accounting and cost accounting

       c. accounting information systems

       d. financial and operational auditing

       e. taxation

Eighteen semester hours of accounting are required, 12 hours of which are specified:

ACCT 5413 Accounting Issues for Restructuring
ACCT 5433 Fraud Prevention and Detection
ACCT 5443 Asset Management
ACCT 5463 Contemporary Accounting Issues

Nine semester hours of the student’s program must be non-accounting electives. Three semester hours may be either accounting or non-accounting electives.

A student may transfer to the M.Acc. program not more than six hours of graduate level credit from an AACSB-accredited graduate program, provided that each course has a grade of “B” or better, and the courses are acceptable to the departmental M.Acc. committee. Students contemplating transfer of credit should consult in advance with both the M.Acc. Adviser and the Graduate School of Business.

In addition to the degree requirements noted above, students with no undergraduate work in business administration and economics will be required to complete the courses or their equivalents listed below. Students with some background in business administration and economics, but with deficiencies in the following areas, will be required to remove these deficiencies as soon as possible.

• Financial management
• Legal environment
• Management concepts/organization behavior
• Management information systems
• Marketing principles
• Microeconomics and macroeconomics
• Production/operations management
• Statistics

A cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 is required on 1) graduate work taken for the degree and 2) all accounting courses (both undergraduate and graduate) taken for the degree. At least 75 percent of the graduate credit hours submitted for the degree must be “A” or “B” grades. The M.Acc. degree program does not require a thesis. Successful completion of a Master of Accountancy Degree from the University of Arkansas will qualify a student to take relevant professional examinations.

For further information, write to the M.Acc. Adviser, Department of Accounting, Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701.