Master's in Accounting Degree Programs: Master of Science in Accounting

With changing financial laws and tougher scrutiny of company finances, many organizations increasingly rely on the knowledge of accounting and auditing professionals.* If you have successfully completed a bachelor's degree in business, with a major in accounting or finance, Kaplan University’s Master of Science in Accounting could be your next step in the pursuit of a mid-to-senior-level position within the field of accounting.^† This master's in accounting program is designed to provide students with critical thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as the knowledge base to prepare for professional practice within the field of accounting.

Areas of Specialization | Curriculum | Tuition and Fees

Master's in Accounting Program Highlights

The Master of Science in Accounting program is designed to prepare graduates to pursue mid-level management positions in both the public and private sectors. The curriculum is designed to enrich skills in auditing, taxation, cost accounting, and financial accounting while providing students the opportunity to choose elective courses and a specialization to meet their specific interests and goals. Graduates may be eligible to sit for professional certification examinations, which include the Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA®), and Certified Management Accountant (CMA®) examinations.^‡ The curriculum focuses on:

Familiarizing you with overall department management
Generating and analyzing accounting data
Creating quality improvement processes, compliance strategies, and reimbursement procedures
Conducting research
Addressing risk management and legal issues

What are the Career Opportunities?

Employment opportunities for graduates with an accounting degree may exist within government, private, nonprofit, and public accounting. In addition, many entrepreneurial opportunities may exist for small business accounting and consulting services. Specific careers may include public accountant, management accountant, government accountant, internal auditor, and tax accountant.^† Click here to review career profiles.

Areas of Specialization for the Master of Science in Accounting

In addition to developing a broad foundation in accounting principles, this master's in accounting program is designed to enhance your knowledge in the area of specialization that best fits your career and educational goals.

Focus on the development, design, and implementation of accounting systems with an emphasis on internal control. Explore fraud examination and forensic accounting, and study techniques for obtaining evidence and interviewing subjects. Apply preventive, detective, and investigative strategies to identify the causes of fraud. Design and assess internal control systems and become familiar with risk assessment and management.

Study research methods for assessing how accounting information impacts business and decision making. Explore the evolving nature of risk, expectations about its management, and the pressure it has placed on previous working practices. Investigate the relationship between international accounting and global business and investment decisions, including the influences of cultural, political, and economic variations.

Consider the financial and managerial accounting concepts specific to the planning and administration of public, quasi-public, and nonprofit organizations. Concentrate on the development, design, and implementation of accounting information systems with an emphasis on internal control. Design and assess internal control systems and become familiar with risk assessment and management.

Examine the United States income tax on foreign-earned income and the taxation methods of other countries. Study the concepts, processes, and information sources relevant to tax research, including the Internal Revenue Code, treasury regulations, and federal and state tax cases. Explore federal estate and gift taxes, and the impact of income tax. Topics include an introduction to interstate succession, wills, gifts, marital property, and more.

Audit
Finance
Government
Tax

Curriculum for the Master of Science in Accounting

Course #	Course Title	Credits
AC 501	FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING	4 FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING This course provides a comprehensive, international perspective on accounting and financial reporting systems. Financial accounting and reporting issues are viewed from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Topics include, but are not limited to, the factors that managers and executives must consider as they confront complex and important financial accounting and reporting issues including traditional issues, such as revenue recognition, valuation allowances, and leases, and contemporary issues, such as pensions, stock options, and financial derivatives.
AC 502	REGULATION	4 REGULATION This course will advance the student's knowledge of business law as it applies to accounting. Students will be introduced to the major legal requirements that will be encountered by the professional accountant. Topics include, but are not limited to, the Uniform Commercial Code, contracts, and the legal liability and responsibilities of agencies and accountants.
AC 503	ADVANCED AUDITING	4 ADVANCED AUDITING This course addresses the examination of financial statements and systems from the viewpoint of an independent auditor. Emphasis is on the application of auditing techniques and the professional standards that direct audit performance and reporting. Topics include, but are not limited to, external audit services, audit reports, auditor and management responsibilities, professional standards of external auditors, and how information technologies enhance internal control and procedures used to audit through a computerized system.
AC 504	ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS AND ACCOUNTING	4 ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS AND ACCOUNTING This course examines moral development and ethical choices within the framework of business and accounting. Psychological, social, and other theories used to predict human choices are introduced and applied to the current practice and environments of public and corporate accounting. The dilemmas commonly encountered by accounting professionals and their accepted solutions are examined.
AC 505	ADVANCED MANAGERIAL/COST ACCOUNTING	4 ADVANCED MANAGERIAL/COST ACCOUNTING This course focuses on the role of cost accounting as a tool for managerial decision making and the application of these skills to the overall operation of a business. Topics include, but are not limited to: budgeting, cost volume-profit analysis, job order costing, absorption costing, differential analysis, and capital budgeting.
AC 507	CORPORATE TAX DECISIONS AND STRATEGIES	4 CORPORATE TAX DECISIONS AND STRATEGIES This course will emphasize the effect of the federal income tax on business, the federal income tax structure, and the concept of taxable income as it relates to business. Business transactions are influenced by the rules of taxation. Examples of particular interest include, but are not limited to: buying and selling business assets, mortgages, liquidating or reorganizing a business, and transactions between a business and an employee.
GB 512	BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS	4 BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS Business Communications focuses on effective communication strategies for various stakeholders using oral and written formats for different purposes, including one-on-one communication and engagement with larger audiences.
GB 540	ECONOMICS FOR GLOBAL DECISION MAKERS	4 ECONOMICS FOR GLOBAL DECISION MAKERS This course covers micro- and macroeconomic principles with an emphasis on decision making and strategic applications. Microeconomic topics include scarcity, supply and demand, elasticity, utility, profit maximization, cost structures, economic systems, labor markets, and entrepreneurship. Macroeconomic topics include international trade, national income accounting, exchange rates, money and banking, economic growth, and fiscal policy.

Course #	Course Title	Credits
	ACCOUNTING ELECTIVES	8 ACCOUNTING ELECTIVES
	SPECIALIZATION COURSES	12 SPECIALIZATION COURSES

Course #	Course Title	Credits

AC 550	ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS	4 ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS This course is focused on the development, design, and implementation of accounting information systems with an emphasis on internal control. Students will examine how to develop new information systems or modify existing systems. Identifying and using controls to uncover security strengths and weaknesses will be a major emphasis.
AC 555	FRAUD EXAMINATION	4 FRAUD EXAMINATION This course provides an overview of fraud examination, which includes the introduction of techniques for obtaining documentary evidence, interviewing witnesses and potential suspects, writing investigative reports, testifying to findings, and forensic document examination. Students will learn to apply prevention, detection, and investigative strategies to determine why and how occupational fraud is committed. Students will analyze human behaviors such as greed, deception, and cheating.
AC 557	INTERNAL CONTROL ASSESSMENT AND DESIGN	4 INTERNAL CONTROL ASSESSMENT AND DESIGN This course prepares students to design and assess the internal control system or process. Students will become familiar with risk assessment and management, and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and COSO. Control concepts introduced will include control types, the cost/ benefit of control, control responsibilities, the plan-do-check-act concepts, and the control responsibilities and standards issued by the FASB, SEC, New York Stock Exchange, AICPA, and other similar organizations

Course #	Course Title	Credits

AC 551	ACCOUNTING RESEARCH	4 ACCOUNTING RESEARCH This course focuses on research methods used to assess the impact of accounting information on business and business decision making. In this survey of research on accounting theory, students learn how to assess empirical studies and initiate and develop research projects through research paper discussions and replicating and extending existing research studies. This course is devoted to the analysis of current financial reporting issues.
AC 554	ENTERPRISE RISK ANALYSIS AND PLANNING	4 ENTERPRISE RISK ANALYSIS AND PLANNING This course explores the evolving nature of risk, expectations about its management, and the pressure it has placed on previous working practices. Risk management has traditionally been segmented and carried out in silos. Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a response to the sense of inadequacy caused by using a silo-based approach to manage increasingly interdependent risks. Students will gain an understanding of the interdependencies between risks and how risks in one business area may increase the impact of risks in another business area.
AC 558	INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL REPORTING	4 INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL REPORTING This course focuses on the relationship between international accounting and global business and investment decisions. The influences of cultural, political, and economic variation within the practice of international business are examined. Topics include, but are not limited to, managerial decision making, the evaluation of foreign financial statement information, and the impact of culture and political practices on capital formation

Course #	Course Title	Credits

AC 550	ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS	4 ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS This course is focused on the development, design, and implementation of accounting information systems with an emphasis on internal control. Students will examine how to develop new information systems or modify existing systems. Identifying and using controls to uncover security strengths and weaknesses will be a major emphasis.
AC 556	GOVERNMENT AND NOT-FOR-PROFIT ACCOUNTING	4 GOVERNMENT AND NOT-FOR-PROFIT ACCOUNTING This course examines the financial and managerial accounting concepts peculiar to the planning and administration of public and quasi-public organizations, such as governmental units, educational institutions, and charitable organizations. Topics include, but are not limited to, budgeting, financial reporting, and governmental auditing standards.
AC 557	INTERNAL CONTROL ASSESSMENT AND DESIGN	4 INTERNAL CONTROL ASSESSMENT AND DESIGN This course prepares students to design and assess the internal control system or process. Students will become familiar with risk assessment and management, and compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and COSO. Control concepts introduced will include control types, the cost/ benefit of control, control responsibilities, the plan-do-check-act concepts, and the control responsibilities and standards issued by the FASB, SEC, New York Stock Exchange, AICPA, and other similar organizations

Course #	Course Title	Credits

AC 559	INTERNATIONAL TAX PLANNING AND ISSUES	4 INTERNATIONAL TAX PLANNING AND ISSUES This course focuses on U.S. income tax on foreign-earned income and the taxation methods of other countries. The effect of U.S. taxation on international transactions and its impact on multinational businesses will be examined and discussed. The tax laws of other countries will be surveyed with emphasis on the treatment of capital gains, dividends, and depreciation. Various tax treaties will be identified and discussed.
AC 560	TAX RESEARCH AND THE IRS	4 TAX RESEARCH AND THE IRS This course introduces students to the concepts, processes, and information sources relevant to tax research. The Internal Revenue Code, treasury regulations, and federal and state tax cases are examined. Topics include, but are not limited to, interpretations of the tax code, ethical considerations, sources for research, and appropriate presentation of results.
AC 561	TAXATION OF ESTATES AND TRUSTS	4 TAXATION OF ESTATES AND TRUSTS This course is a study of the federal estate and gift taxes, and the impact of income tax. Topics will include an introduction to interstate succession, the drafting and enforcement of wills, living trusts, gifts, marital property, and the avoidance of probate. The course covers the preparation of fiduciary income tax returns with an emphasis on unique tax issues such as income of a descendent, distributable net income, and fiduciary accounting.

Total Program Requirements	52 Total Program Requirements

Core
Electives
Specialization/Audit
Specialization/Finance
Specialization/Government
Specialization/Tax
Total Program Requirements

You Could Save Time and Money on Your Kaplan University Degree

Credit for Prior Learning

If you already earned course credits at another institution, you may qualify for transfer credit that can be applied toward your program requirements at Kaplan University. Qualifying transfer credit may reduce your total costs for graduate programs. Refer to the University Catalog for our transfer of credit policy.

Students in the Military

Kaplan University is proud to support our military and veterans in their educational pursuits by offering significantly reduced tuition. Undergraduate program tuition is reduced up to 55 percent for active-duty servicemembers and up to 38 percent for veterans. In addition, Kaplan University participates in the Yellow Ribbon program for all of our graduate programs, and both active-duty servicemembers and veterans are eligible for special tuition rates for these programs. A 10 percent tuition reduction is also available to spouses of active-duty servicemembers. For more information, call 866.583.4412 (Toll Free) to speak to a military Admissions Advisor or visit the Kaplan University military site.

Tuition and Fees

Cost per credit hour	$441.00
Total program requirements Master of Science in Accounting	52
Total cost of tuition	$22,932.00
This program requires a prorated technology fee of $50 per term. A nonrefundable application fee, depending on your program and as described in the Tuition and Fees Supplement, may be required at the time of enrollment. We encourage you to explore the availability of financial aid and scholarships.

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* Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013 Edition, Accountants and Auditors, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Business-and-Financial/Accountants-and-auditors.htm. (Accessed April, 2012) National long-term projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions, and do not guarantee actual job growth.
Certain accounting positions may require further certification and/or licensing by individual states.
^†Kaplan University's programs are designed to prepare graduates to pursue employment in their field of study, or in related fields. However, the University does not guarantee that graduates will be placed in any particular job, eligible for job advancement opportunities, or employed at all. Additional training or certification may be required.
^‡Although certain programs at Kaplan University are designed to prepare students to take various certification or licensing exams, the University cannot guarantee the student will pass those exams. In some cases, field experience, additional coursework, and/or background checks may be necessary to take or to successfully pass the exams.

Master of Science in Accounting

School of Business and Management