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Accounting
Overview
The Accounting Area offers broad exposure to accounting theory and research. Accounting research spans numerous topics including: (1) the influence of accounting information on capital markets and the behavior of fir m decision-makers; (2) management and its impact on the quality of financial accounting information; (3) information asymmetry between external users of financial information and corporate insiders resulting in efficiency impairments with which market participants interpret financial information and make resource allocation decisions; (4) the impact of government regulations (e.g., the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) on firm valuation and audit practice; and (5) how firms design and adapt incentive compensation structures and governance mechanisms to align managers' actions to the firm within a dynamic global and competitive environment.
The Accounting area offers a wide range of undergraduate and MBA courses for students to acquire the knowledge and skills of measuring and communicating financial information (i.e., of “speaking the language of business”) that will help them make better managerial and financial decisions, Accounting course offerings can also be structured to prepare students interested in careers in professional accounting. The Accounting area also offers a Ph.D. degree distinguished by the individual attention and high level training devoted to each student by our faculty.
Accounting faculty members are highly committed to the pursuit of excellence in their teaching and research activities, and to maintaining strong interactions among faculty and students.
Faculty
For available faculty positions, click here.
Visiting & Affiliated Faculty and Researchers
Accounting and Related Careers
A Sampling of Jobs for which Accounting Provides a Strong Basis
- External Auditor (Public Accounting)
- Tax Accountant
- Budget Analyst
- Controller
- Internal Auditor
- Chief Financial Officer
- Treasurer
- Commercial Banker
- Investment Banker
- Attorney
- Consultant
- Entrepreneur
- Information System Designer
- Manager
Being the language of business, the study of accounting provides a solid basis for a very wide range of jobs – i.e., work that directly involves doing accounting and work that exploits the knowledge of the accounting language in almost any endeavor – be it profit seeking or not.
Accountants help to ensure that organizations are run more efficiently, that public records are kept more accurately, and that taxes are paid properly and on time. They gather and analyze data that allow a company to make sound decisions and maintain compliance with legal requirements, and participate in firms’ strategic decision-making processes. Accountants perform these crucial functions by offering an increasingly wide array of business and accounting services – including preparing, analyzing, and verifying financial documents in order to provide information to their clients.
Accounting is important in to all businesses, but in certain industries that are regulated, heavily transaction-based, or both, this activity is crucially important and may be required by law. This is true for any publicly traded company as well. Internal accounting departments keep track of everything a company does, from purchasing and selling goods and services, to paying employees, to managing pensions and benefits, to maintaining compliance with the law. In other words, accounting involves much more than "bookkeeping" and is essential to the profitability and viability of any business.
While accountants need to be good at math and have strong analytical thinking skills, attention to detail is also important. And as accountants are increasingly being promoted to the executive levels, they are finding it increasingly necessary to develop strong written and verbal communication skills. Knowledge of computers and information systems is also important, not only to understand their utility but also to assess their value to a company.
Typical Professional Accounting Positions
Typically, there are four major career paths for individuals interested in pursuing a career in professional accounting. These are Public Accounting, Management Accounting, Government Accounting and Internal Audit. These four paths are described in more detail below.
Public Accounting
Public accountants carry out a broad range of accounting, auditing, tax, and consulting activities for their clients, who may be corporations, governments, not-for-profit organizations, or individuals. Some public accountants concentrate on tax matters, such as counseling companies of the tax advantages and disadvantages of certain business decisions and preparing individual income tax returns. Others are consultants who advise clients in areas such as compensation or employee health care benefits; the design of accounting and data processing systems; and the use of controls to safeguard assets. Some specialize in forensic accounting – investigating and interpreting bankruptcies and other complex financial transactions. Still others audit a client’s financial statements and report to investors and authorities as to whether they have been prepared and reported correctly. Public accountants, many of whom are CPAs, generally have their own businesses or work for public accounting or professional service firms.
Management Accountants
Also known as industrial, corporate, or private accountants, management accountants record and analyze the financial information of the companies for which they work. Responsibilities also include budgeting, performance evaluation, cost management, and asset management. They are most often part of executive teams involved in strategic planning or new product development. Management accountants analyze and interpret the financial information executives need to make sensible business decisions. They are also involved in preparing financial reports for non-management groups, including stockholders, creditors, regulatory agencies, and tax authorities. Within accounting departments, they may work in areas including financial analysis, planning and budgeting, and cost accounting.
Government Accounting
Often individuals with an accounting background work in the public sector. Government accountants maintain and inspect the records of government agencies and audit private businesses and individuals whose activities are subject to government regulations or taxation. Accountants employed by federal, state, and local governments certify that revenues are received and expenditures are made in accordance with laws and regulations. Those who are employed by the federal government may work as IRS agents or in financial management, financial institution examination, or budget analysis and administration.
Internal Audit
Internal auditors confirm the accuracy of their organization’s records and check for mismanagement, waste, or fraud. Specifically, they examine and evaluate their firms’ financial and information systems, management procedures, and internal controls to ensure that records are accurate and controls are adequate to protect against fraud and waste. They also review company operations, calculating their efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance with corporate policies and procedures, laws, and government regulations. There are many types of highly specialized internal auditors, such as electronic data processing, environmental, engineering, legal, insurance premium, bank, and health care auditors. As computer systems make information easily accessed, internal auditors help managers to base their decisions on actual data, rather than personal observation. Internal auditors may also suggest controls for their organization’s computer system to ensure the reliability of the system and the integrity of the data.
Undergraduate Core Classes
30A: Principles of Accounting I
This is an introductory accounting course which will provide a basic understanding of accounting principles and how to understand, analyze and prepare financial statements. Topics covered include accounting and recording of transactions, accounting for inventories, receivables, plant assets, liabilities and stockholders’ equity transactions.
30B Principles of Accounting II (Introduction to Managerial Accounting)
This course builds upon 30A and introduces the student to the accounting decision making for managers. The course involves an in depth discussion of costs related to manufacturing and service settings and the use of these costs for decision making. Topics include fixed costs, variable costs, mixed costs, absorption costing for inventories, variable costing, sunk costs, break even analysis, cost-volume-profit analysis and how this data is used to make buy - make decisions and expansion-contraction decisions in organizations. PREREQUISITES: 30A.
Undergraduate Electives
131A: Intermediate Accounting I
This is the first of a two-course series in financing accounting theory and practice. This course will expand on the knowledge gained in the introductory financial accounting courses and will cover such topics as accounting and reporting for cash, receivables, inventories, property, plant and equipment and intangible assets. PREREQUISITES: 30A AND 30B
131B: Intermediate Accounting II
This is the second in a two-course series in financial accounting theory and practice. Topics include accounting for liabilities, stockholders’ equity, income taxes, stock compensation and statement of cash flows. Students will build on knowledge gained in their introductory accounting courses and the first intermediate accounting course and develop a deeper understanding of generally accepted accounting principles and their application to various accounting processes and transactions. PREREQUISITE: COMPLETION OF 131A
132 individual taxation
An introduction to the US federal tax system for individuals with an emphasis on property transactions. Topics include defining taxable income and deductions, tax shelters and the impact of taxes on business and investment decisions. PREREQUISITE: 30A
133 Corporate & Partnership Taxation
An introduction to the US federal tax system for corporations and partnerships with an emphasis on the transactions between owners and their businesses. Topics include tax consequences of formation, operation, reorganization and liquidation/termination for both corporate and non-corporate entities. PREREQUISITES: 30A
136 Accounting Information Systems
Involves the recognition of the importance of and the development of systems used in assuring that the capture of all accounting transactions is accomplished in such a manner so as to produce financial reports that can be relied upon. Topics include the basics of the accounting information system, the effect of a corporate code of ethics, the system of internal accounting controls in place, utilization of various accounting software programs, the capturing of accounting data from revenue, disbursement and corporate administration transactions. PREREQUISITES: 30A and 30B.
137 Advanced Accounting
This course builds on students’ accounting knowledge and explores advanced accounting concepts such as consolidation, equity method of accounting, variable interest entities, partnerships, foreign currency transactions and governmental accounting. This course will also provide an overview of the convergence of U.S. GAAP with worldwide standards to develop one set of international standards. PREREQUISITES: 131A AND 131B
138 Auditing
This course develops a working understanding of the role of auditing in the business environment and the conceptual basis of auditing including audit risk, materiality and evidence. These basic concepts will be applied to planning an audit and developing a systematic approach to auditing certain business processes, understanding the importance of analytical procedures and gathering sufficient audit evidence to render an audit opinion. This course will also cover certain requirements imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, including auditing internal control over financial reporting. Throughout the course, the focus will be on critical judgments and decision-making processes followed by auditors which will enable an auditor to be more effective in today’s dynamic audit environment. PREREQUISITES: M131A, M131B (COMPLETION OR IN PROGRESS)
MBA Core Classes
203A Financial Accounting for Management
The course introduces the financial reporting system that business enterprises employ to describe and measure business activities and communicate their financial performance to external users, such as shareholders, creditors, financial analysts, credit rating agencies, regulators, and others. Such parties naturally know less about firm performance and strategies than managers inside the firm; moreover, managers can have incentives that do not necessarily lead to financial reports that fully reflect the firm’s economic performance. The primary objective of this course is to equip students with accounting concepts, conventions, and analytical skills needed to become intelligent and sophisticated users of firms’ financial reports to better utilize the reported accounting information to make informed decisions about firm value and managerial stewardship
203B Managerial Accounting for Management
Involves developing and using financial and non-financial information to help organizations make planning, budgeting, control, operating and performance evaluation decisions. Topics include strategic cost management, tactical decisions (e.g., outsourcing, adding or deleting a product line, pricing), links strategies to performance measures, how the design of management accounting and control systems affect human behavior in organizations. PREREQUISITES: 203A.
MBA Electives
231A FSA- Earnings Quality and Asset Analysis
Develops an initial set of skills essential to using financial statements for business analysis by examining earnings management, revenue recognition, the reporting of assets, and how financial reporting is related to the business environment and managerial incentives. The course builds student skills to forecast financial statements in preparation for use as inputs to valuation models. PREREQUISITES: 203A.
231B FSA- Liability and Equity Analysis
Extends financial statement analysis to the reporting of liabilities and stockholders’ equity and their interaction with managerial incentives and the business environment. The course continues to build student skills to forecast financial statements in preparation for use as inputs to valuation models. Useful to anyone with interests in equity, business, or financial analysis, investment and commercial banking, accounting, and consulting. PREREQUISITES: 203A
232 Federal Taxation
Methods of researching federal laws governing income taxation of individuals and corporations and provisions for a tax-exempt status. An introduction to the theory and practice of federal income taxation of individuals, with emphasis on statutory materials; special attention to deferred compensation plans, employment relations, personal and business deductions, production of income and current topics with tax planning techniques. PREREQUISITES: 203A.
234 Financial Statement Analysis
Develops an initial set of skills essential to using financial statements for business analysis. Topics include financial information “quality”, earnings management, revenue recognition, forecasting financial information, and equity valuation. This course is designed to prepare students to interpret and analyze financial statements for investment and credit granting decisions. The course extends the core financial accounting and reporting skills by introducing detailed methods of fundamental financial analysis of business entities and valuation methods. The analyses will be carried out from the perspective of both internal and external financial statement users (CEOs, CFOs, shareholders, corporate financial analysts, security analysts, investors, lenders, etc.). The course is divided into four parts: accounting analysis, financial analysis, business strategy, and valuation. PREREQUISITES: 203A.
235 Advanced Managerial Accounting
Design of cost information and systems used to plan and control organizational activities; procedures used to account for unit, process, and program costs; cybernetic evaluation of costing procedures; cost estimation, analysis, and accounting via computers. PREREQUISITES: 203B.
290 Taxes & Business Strategy
The course develops a student’s ability to identify, understand, and evaluate tax-planning opportunities. The focus is on tax planning concepts and the effects of taxes on business decisions. The course develops a conceptual framework for evaluating how tax rules affect financial decisions, and applies it to various types of financial decisions, such as savings vehicles, business entity choice, financial statement analysis, executive compensation, capital structure, mergers and acquisitions, estate and gift tax, and international tax planning. PREREQUISITES: 203A and 203B.
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