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Lerner’s Department of Accounting & Management Information Systems (MIS) offers the master of science degree in accounting. You will extend your education with advanced study in each of the major areas of the field of accounting, finance and quantitative methods. The accounting program prepares you for a professional career in public accounting, consulting, information systems, industry or government.

Program Highlights

Choose Your Focus of Study

For more in-depth study, we offer majors in financial management, controllership, management information systems or analytics. Or, you may choose to complete the M.S. in accounting degree without selecting a major.

Choose Your Pace

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.

Program Requirements

In addition to required coursework, you may also be able to work for course credit on an individual study basis with a faculty member on an approved research project.

Courses (30 credits)
REQUIRED COURSES (21 credits):

ACCT 614 – Advanced Federal Taxation
ACCT 604 – Database Design & Implementation
ACCT 620 – Theory of External Reporting & Applications
ACCT 625 – Financial Statement Analysis
ACCT 683 – International Accounting
BUAD 620 – Fundamentals of Analytics
BUAD 640 – Ethical Issues in Domestic & Global Business Environments

ELECTIVES – choose a major or 3 self-selected courses (9 credits):

Analytics major
Select three from:
MISY 602 – Big Data Technologies
MISY 606 – Object-oriented Systems Analysis, Design & Implementation
BUAD 621 – Decision Analytics & Visualization
BUAD 622 – Optimization & Spreadsheet Modeling
BUAD 625 – Business Analytics Capstone
MISY 636 – Unstructured Data Analytics
MISY 641 – Data Mining for Business Analytics
MISY 675 – Dashboard Design & Storytelling

Controllership major
Select three from:
ACCT 617 – Auditing, Ethics & Professional Responsibility
BUAD 631 – Operations Management & Management Science
MISY 627 – Information Technology & Organizational Effectiveness
MISY 650 – Security & Control

Financial management major
FINC 650 – Financial Management
And select two from:
FINC 612 – Capital Markets & Financial Institutions
FINC 615 – International Finance
FINC 616 – Derivative Securities & Risk Management
FINC 619 – Financial Modeling & Valuation
FINC 630 – Fintech & Data Science for Finance
FINC 651 – Corporate Financial Analysis
FINC 652 – Investment Analysis & Portfolio Management
FINC 662 – Fixed Income Securities

Management information systems major
ACCT 606 – Object-oriented Systems Analysis, Design & Implementation
And select two from:
MISY 605 – Current Issues in Management Information Systems
MISY 627 – Information Technology & Organizational Effectiveness
MISY 640 – Project Management & Costing
MISY 650 – Security & Control
 
Accounting course descriptions

Undergraduate Prerequisite Requirements
  • Intermediate Accounting I & II (U.S. GAAP)
  • Cost Accounting
  • AACSB general skills, business, and management knowledge areas requirements outside the area of accounting
  • Economics
  • U.S. Business Law

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. 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.

STEM OPT Program

The M.S. in accounting with an analytics or MIS major is STEM-designated and provides international students 24 months of OPT (Optional Practical Training) in addition to the original 12 months.

News

Contact Us

Michael J. Jung, director of masters degree programs in accounting
mjung@udel.edu

Sarah Dix, academic program coordinator
sarahdix@udel.edu

Admissions Information

Learn more about master of science in accounting admissions requirements, deadlines, tuition and financial aid available to you.

Applying to the Program