Online Master of Science in Accounting: Curriculum

Eemphasizes the new and major pronouncements of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and provides an overview of governmental auditing by examining the Government Auditing Standards, promulgated by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). Single Audit requirements for state and local governments are also covered.

Emphasizes auditing concepts related to not-for-profit entities, focusing on financial reporting and transaction analysis. Other topics will include accountability in not-for-profit accounting and Single Audit requirements as they apply to not-for-profit organizations.

An in-depth study of professional standards, the audit process, advanced auditing techniques, and the auditor’s role in financial statement presentation. The course covers an auditor’s ethical responsibilities, responsibility to detect fraud, and classic court cases affecting auditors.

Theory and practice of state and local government finance in the United States by exploring state and local financial analysis (including major areas of spending such as education, state and local financial analysis (including major areas of spending such as education, Medicaid, physical infrastructure, and employee retirement obligations), accounting for and reporting state and local revenue sources (including property, income, sales, and business taxes, and non-tax revenues including grants), and the analysis of spending state and local funds on such subjects as educational access and affordable housing.

Applies a critical analysis of the concepts and premises underlying financial reporting practices. Coverage includes the conceptual framework of current accounting standards, their origins, and other current topics in financial reporting. The course incorporates a comprehensive perspective with respect to the development and analysis of accounting standards.

Examines the principles of administrative law and how they apply in the governmental/not-for-profit accountant’s role. Delegation to administrative agencies, agency decision-making, and judicial review of agency action will be explored. Emphasis will be placed on common administrative regulation sources such as GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board), FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board), and OMB (Office of Management and Budget.)

In-depth analysis and application of current governmental accounting topics, including relevant bulletins, statutes/regulations, and governmental accounting topics, including relevant bulletins, statutes/regulations, and guidance. Prerequisite: ACCT 502.

Explores the broad range of ethical issues students may encounter in a public sector accounting role, including the ethical issues incurred in regular operations as well as budget and policy development, analysis, and administration.

The practices and procedures in governmental budgeting and how they are applied.

Applies data analytics in the accounting environment. Students will perform data modeling and evaluation, assemble visualizations of results, and use analytics in the audit process.

Working knowledge of the theory of the audit process and its practical applications. It examines various government auditing standards and the role of performance auditing in public sector organizations. Prerequisite: ACCT 502, 502, 505.

Applies advanced current accounting theory.

Recognition of the symptoms of fraud, means of fraud prevention, and methods of uncovering frauds by, and against, public sector organizations. Prerequisite: ACCT 507

Explores federal financial management as it applies to advanced accounting principles, including budgetary and accrual basis accounting, formulating accounting reports, cost management, and auditing. Prerequisite: ACCT 502

Explores the unique political and legal environment challenges facing not-for-profit organizations and best practices in effectively and efficiently managing human and financial resources.

Comprehensive grounding on key tax and compliance requirements for tax-exempt, not-for-profit entities.

Examines the accountant’s role as a financial manager and/or auditor in governmental and non-profit organizations and the application of financial analysis from both the accounting and audit perspectives. Prerequisite: ACCT 502

Eaplores advance principles in healthcare financial management that cover acute care and ambulatory care environments. In addition, this course will provide students with the essential concepts of healthcare finance forecasting and strategic managerial budgeting. Prerequisite: BA 504

This course provides a framework for financial management techniques in the business world. Topics covered include planning the financial structure of the firm, management of firm assets, preparing the firm’s capital budget, management and acquisition of capital resources, and management of income. The focus is on practical tools for internal financial decision making.

Traditional finance and strategy courses do not consider the role of taxes. Similarly, traditional tax courses often ignore the richness of the decision context in which tax factors operate. The objective of this course is to develop a framework for understanding how taxes affect business decisions. A recurring theme will be linking the tax strategies that we learn with concepts from corporate finance, financial accounting, business law, and economics. We make extensive use of real transactions to illustrate the impact of tax structure on earnings and cash flow.