MSc in Accounting

Lead more. Contribute more. Earn more.

Extend your education and advance your studies in each of the major areas of accounting — financial, managerial, information systems, auditing, and taxation, as well as supporting fields of finance and quantitative methods.

Prepare for a leadership role in an accounting career, such as public accounting, information systems consulting, industry, finance or government. Or prepare for further study in a Ph.D. program leading to a career in an academic setting.

Program Highlights

Concentration Options

Choose from concentrations in analytics, controllership, financial management or management information systems, or build your own in-depth study by combining elective courses.

Choose Your Program Length

The M.S. in accounting program offers both full-time and part-time courses of study.

• 1 Year

Full-time students with an undergraduate degree in accounting from an AACSB-accredited institution.

• 1.5-2 Years

All other full-time students.

• 2-5 Years

Part-time students.

• Accelerated

Accelerated M.S. program for UD undergraduate accounting majors can be completed in one year or less.

Undergraduate Prerequisite Requirements

The M.S. is designed as a one-year, 30-hour graduate program beyond these undergraduate course requirements. If you lack any of these prerequisites, you may complete this work while in the M.S. program or you may want to consider the master of accounting practice (available fall 2018). Normally, those holding an undergraduate business degree from an AACSB International-accredited college will have met the general skills, business, and management knowledge areas requirements outside the area of accounting. Graduate-level courses taken to fulfill prerequisites will not count towards fulfilling the 30-hour requirement of the M.S. in accounting.

Faculty Research

Learn from faculty conducting research in exciting areas of the accounting field, such as Professor Jennifer Joe, whose unique research documents the influence that managers of high-risk companies can have on audits simply by demonstrating confidence to auditors.

Other faculty research areas include corporate disclosure and financial reporting issues, domestic and international financial reporting, taxation of financial instruments, capitalization requirements, tax law, compensation, voluntary disclosure, corporate governance, financial statement analysis, decision-making in accounting and auditing settings and more.

Career Opportunities

Accounting is always in demand. Having a master’s degree in accounting provides numerous career opportunities. Graduates work in public accounting, consulting, finance or for the government.

Mission

The accounting program’s mission is to promote scholarship in accounting, offer distinctive and innovative educational opportunities related to the profession of accounting, and to advance successful leadership in a rapidly changing business environment.

To that end, the faculty is committed to the following goals:

• Attract and retain talented and diverse faculty, who are thought leaders in scholarship and excellent teachers, committed to the success of our students.
• Maintain leadership in integrating technology throughout the accounting curriculum.
• Attract talented, diverse and intellectually curious students.
• Develop distinctive educational programs that provide the knowledge and skills required for our students to succeed in a global marketplace.
• Support interaction with business entities and professional firms and organizations to provide opportunities for the professional development of our faculty and students in order to enhance the relevance of our courses and programs.
• Prepare students for success in achieving professional certifications.