Master of Accountancy Courses

The MACC program is a ten course, 30 credit-hour program spanning one academic year. It is a full-time, day time program which begins in August only. Students graduate the following May.

The following is a select list of courses in the MACC program. Courses are subject to change and the specific program of 10 courses will be determined by the School as appropriate for each of the degree programs.  For students interested in an information systems emphasis, a selection of two information systems electives will be offered.

Advanced Auditing

The course builds on the skills obtained in the beginning auditing (assurance) course. The primary goal is to further develop student ability to understand and apply audit planning, evidence and reporting procedures.
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Information  Security

Understanding and design of a comprehensive enterprise information security policy. Topics include design of a security policy, firewall's, intrusion detection and prevention systems, VPNs, encryption, and backup/disaster recovery.
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This course covers complex financial accounting topics including forecasting, mergers and acquisitions, consolidations, segment reporting, foreign currency translations, hedging, and fair value accounting. The course takes the student beyond understanding the mechanics of the various transactions to analyzing and evaluating their usage in practice.[back to top]

Topics include litigation support, economic damages, cyber crime, and business valuations.  Our approach will be to discuss the issues relevant to each topic area and then to focus on case studies wherein participants will have an opportunity to apply various knowledge and skills to arrive at conclusions.  The skills will include report writing in the litigation environment, presentation and defense of positions taken.  This course will include a high level of interaction among students and between students and the faculty member.

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Controls Analysis and Non Profit Accounting

The primary goals of this course are to help you understand the following:

• How an organization seeks to achieve its strategic, operational, reporting, and compliance objectives through planned risk management.
• The regulatory environment concerning corporate governance and services rendered by accounting firms.
• Unique aspects of Non-profit accounting and auditing

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Performance Measurement and Advanced Managerial Accounting

This course provides a framework to address issues related to performance measurement in organizations. Discussions focus on the significance of proper linkages and fit among the organization’s strategic goals, its management control system (MCS) and the function of performance measurement.

A theoretical and conceptual framework on incentive/compensation, human resource management and management control will be offered during the first module of the class. The course will close with discussions on the system aspect and implications of designing an enterprise-wide integrated performance measurement (ERP).
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Shareholder Value Creation & Financial Statement Analysis

This course examines the role of financial statements and non-financial indicators in providing valuation information useful to managers and financial markets. Modules explore the competitive positioning of companies within industries and strategies used to optimize competitive position, the interrelation of competitive strategy and financial statements, and procedures used by analysts in valuing companies.
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Taxes and Business Strategy

This course is designed to make you appreciate the pervasive role of taxes in business decision-making. The course integrates knowledge of the tax laws with the fundamentals of corporate finance and microeconomics. Through this integration, the course provides a framework for understanding how taxes affect decision-making, asset prices, and the financial and operational structure of firms. In addition, the course will integrate tax with financial accounting by emphasizing the differences and trade-offs between the taxation and financial reporting of a transaction. In contrast with the technical tax courses, the focus of this course will be on the economic consequences of alternative contracting arrangements rather than on the myriad details of the tax laws. To be sure, you will be exposed to some of the intricacies of the tax laws, but that is not the central mission of the course. [back to top]

Professional Accounting Research

The course is designed to apply the technical knowledge of accounting theory and principles developed in other academic courses through the use of “real life” case studies, where such knowledge and professional judgment is applied in resolving advanced accounting problems and issues. This should result in developing analytical and research capabilities through case analysis and communication and interpersonal skills through written and oral presentations.
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Special Topics

This course covers topics that are not covered in depth in other courses but are important in your career. Some of the topics are technical in nature related to tax, accounting or information systems. Others address business (and life) skills that everyone needs, such as negotiation skills. The classes are taught by the faculty and by guest lecturers with specific expertise in the topics being presented.
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Electives

Information Systems

Business Process and Workflow Analysis

This course builds the foundations for process analysis by focusing on key aspects of business processes, including information, documents, people, roles and business rules. The main objective is to provide an introduction to various techniques and tools of process analysis including an understanding of organizational issues in rolling out change initiatives. It covers modeling of workflow oriented business processes and services using simulation to assess as-is and to-be process models. Various approaches to understanding collaborative business processes are also discussed.
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IT Services and Project Management

This course builds the foundations for information technology services and project management by focusing on key aspects of commoditization of hardware (e.g., on-demand, utility computing), software (e.g., the software-as-a-service model), and also business processes. It introduces the IT product development and service delivery processes with sound management principles for on-budget and on-time projects that meet end-users' needs. The course also discusses the added complexity introduced by globalization and virtualization of IT services and projects. The main objectives are to review the fundamentals and to offer practical solutions for some of the challenges.
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