Master of Business Administration: Accounting
Master of Business Administration: Accounting
Accounting Concentration in Rowan's MBA
Why an MBA Concentration in Accounting?
Reliable accounting information shapes decisions about where organizations invest, how they control resources, how they evaluate performance, and how they meet obligations to investors, lenders, regulators, boards, employees, and the public. Financial results influence budgets, financing, pricing, expansion, cost management, and assessments of organizational health. Understanding how those results are produced and interpreted gives business professionals a stronger basis for questioning assumptions, recognizing financial implications, and evaluating what reported numbers actually reveal about an organization.
Accounting brings structure and accountability to economic activity. Financial reporting establishes how transactions and results are measured and communicated. Financial statement analysis helps users assess performance, financial condition, and the business activity behind reported results. Taxation introduces its own rules, planning considerations, and economic consequences, while government and nonprofit accounting emphasizes stewardship, budgeting, public accountability, and the responsible use of resources. Accounting information systems and internal controls influence how financial information is captured, protected, verified, and made reliable. Analytics and emerging technologies create additional ways to identify patterns, exceptions, risk, and areas that warrant closer examination.
The Accounting Concentration lets students choose where to build greater depth within the broader MBA. Depending on the courses selected, students might focus on financial reporting and analysis, taxation, government and nonprofit accounting, systems and controls, or analytics and innovation. That ability to choose among different dimensions of accounting allows students to build a more focused perspective while remaining connected to the broader business questions addressed across the MBA, including finance, operations, technology, governance, and organizational performance.
Concentration Details
Requirement: 9 credits; select 9 credits from approved Accounting courses. For the STEM MBA, complete the required STEM-designated Accounting courses.
Because the concentration is elective rather than fixed, students can choose areas such as financial analysis and reporting, taxation, government and nonprofit accounting, information systems and controls, or analytics and innovation.
Concentration courses may also be taken as graduate business electives when students satisfy any listed Foundations and prerequisites.
*STEM-designated course. For degree-level requirements, see the STEM MBA.
Course Details
ACC 03507 - Government and Not-For-Profit Accounting
This financial accounting course focuses on the contemporary accounting issues of governmental and non-profit organizations. It includes financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning in the environments of local, state, and federal government, colleges and universities, hospitals, and voluntary health and welfare organizations.
Prerequisite: ACC 03500 Financial and Managerial Accounting.
ACC 03510 - Financial Statement Analysis (STEM*)
This course will take an expanded study of financial statement analysis from the point of view of the primary users of financial statements: equity and credit analysts. The analysis and use of financial statements will also emphasize the properties of numbers derived from these statements, business and asset valuation, and the importance and use of the notes to the financial statements. Expanded data analytic skills will be emphasized.
Foundations: Accounting I and II.
ACC 03511 - Introduction to Federal Taxation
This course provides an overview of Federal income tax concepts, including gross income, deductions, credits, gains and losses from dispositions of property, deferred and tax exempt transactions, assignment of income, tax accounting, and other special topics. Emphasis will be placed on interpreting the Internal Revenue Code and Regulations as well as case law. Students will be required to show evidence of scholarly research through a major writing assignment on an emerging tax issue.
Foundations: Accounting I and II.
ACC 03512 – Advanced Accounting Information Systems and Business Process Controls (STEM*)
This course is designed to give the MBA student an introduction to the important concepts related to accounting information systems, with emphasis on enterprise risk management. An overview of internal control frameworks is used to discuss pervasive, business process and application controls. A methodology for evaluating the risks and controls within a defined business process is demonstrated and applied across the major business processes. Students will gain hands-on experience with a leading Enterprise Resource Planning system and commercial computerized accounting software.
Foundations: Accounting I and II.
ACC 03516 – Innovation and Analytics in Accounting (STEM*)
This course provides the concepts and tools for understanding innovation and analytics in accounting. Specifically, the topics covered will emphasize the latest technology and emerging trends in accounting and the application of data analytics in various business-related settings. Students will develop a digital and data-driven mindset that will enable them to understand the data structure, techniques to analyze data, data transformation, and outputs of various automated tools to make useful accounting and business decisions.
Foundations: Accounting I and II.
ACC 03599 - Special Topics in Accounting
Students will study advanced topics in Accounting. By design, the specific topical course content will change with time. Contact the Business Graduate Office or the Accounting & Finance Department for details.
Foundations: Accounting I and II.
Accounting Certificate Option
The Accounting Certificate of Graduate Study provides 12 credits of focused graduate accounting study. For students who complete the COGS before entering the MBA, all 12 credits can apply to the degree across Core, Accounting Concentration, or elective requirements.
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