Accounting (Smeal)

The Master of Accounting allows students to complete the educational requirements to become a certified public accountant in Pennsylvania, as well as most other states. Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) conduct independent audits and provide accounting, tax, and management advisory services. The program prepares students to enter into careers in public accounting, corporate accounting, management accounting, governmental accounting, financial analysis, and law enforcement.

Admission Requirements

Applicants apply for admission to the program via the Graduate School application for admission. Requirements listed here are in addition to Graduate Council policies listed under GCAC-300 Admissions.

Admission to the program is competitive. Criteria for evaluating applicants can include: professional and academic accomplishments, GMAT scores, personal data from application forms and, possibly, interviews or examinations.

Students who apply to the program should have an undergraduate educational background equivalent to a Bachelor of Science degree from the Penn State University Smeal College of Business. Students who apply to the program should have completed the equivalent of the following Penn State University courses:

Applicants to the program from outside Penn State may be required to take an entry exam to demonstrate mastery of the material covered in these courses prior to beginning course work in the master's program.

Although the program has no fixed minimum grade-point requirement, an applicant is generally expected to have maintained a junior-senior grade-point average of at least 3.00 on Penn State's grading scale of A (4.00) to D (1.00). In addition, an applicant is expected to have maintained a grade-point average of 3.00 for the required accounting courses.

Applicants to the program are required to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). The GMAT requirement is waived for applicants with an undergraduate GPA of 3.50 or higher, or whose undergraduate degree is awarded by Penn State.

In addition to the Graduate School application for admission, the program requires a completed Smeal College of Business application for graduate study, and official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended.

Degree Requirements

Master of Accounting in Accounting (M.Acc.)

Requirements listed here are in addition to Graduate Council policies listed under GCAC-700 Professional Degree Requirements.

Students must complete a minimum of 33 credits. The 33 credits must be earned in 400-, 500-, or 800-level courses. At least 18 credits must be earned in 500- and 800-level courses, and at least 6 credits must be earned in 500-level courses.

Students must complete the following 24 required credits:

The culminating experience for the degree is the capstone course ACCTG 573.

Integrated Undergrad-Grad Programs

Integrated B.S. in Accounting and M.Acc. in Accounting

Requirements listed here are in addition to requirements listed in GCAC-210 Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate (IUG) Degree Programs.

The Department of Accounting offers an integrated program allowing students to receive a B.S. in Accounting and Master of Accounting (M.Acc.) degrees within a five-year period. Students typically are admitted into the integrated program in the spring of the second year of the undergraduate program and the program is completed in the subsequent three years.

Admission Requirements

Students must apply to the program via the Graduate School application for admission, and must meet all the admission requirements of the Graduate School and the Accounting graduate program for the Master of Accounting degree, listed above. Students shall be admitted to an IUG program no earlier than the beginning of the third semester of undergraduate study at Penn State (regardless of transfer or AP credits accumulated prior to enrollment) and no later than the end of the second week of the semester preceding the semester of expected conferral of the undergraduate degree, as specified in the proposed IUG plan of study.

To apply for the program, students must be enrolled in the Smeal College of Business or the Division of Undergraduate Studies, and intend to complete the entrance-to-major requirements prior to completing 59 cumulative credits at Penn State.

Although the program has no fixed minimum grade-point requirement, an applicant is generally expected to have grade-point average of at least 3.20 on Penn State’s grading scale of A (4.00) to D (1.00).

In addition, the Department may request an interview with an applicant, or require a GMAT exam or other exam. Admissions decisions will be based upon the student’s application, undergraduate record, SAT scores and, if applicable, interviews and examination results.

Admitted students must have completed ACCTG 211 with superior performance by the end of the spring semester in which they apply for admission to the program.

In consultation with an adviser, students must prepare a plan of study appropriate to this integrated program, and must present their plan of study in person to the head of the graduate program or the appropriate committee overseeing the integrated program prior to being admitted to the program. The plan should cover the entire time period of the integrated program, and it should be reviewed periodically with an adviser as the student advances through the program.

Degree Requirements

Students must fulfill all degree requirements for each degree in order to be awarded that degree, subject to the alterations and double-counting of credits as outlined below. Degree requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Accounting are listed in the Undergraduate Bulletin. Degree requirements for the Master of Accounting degree are listed above. Students must sequence their courses so all undergraduate degree requirements are fulfilled before taking courses to count towards the graduate degree. If students accepted into the IUG program are unable to complete the M.Acc. degree, they are still eligible to receive their undergraduate degree if all the undergraduate degree requirements have been satisfied.

Students must complete the requirements for a B.S. in Accounting with the following alterations. Some of prescribed courses for the B.S. must be taken in sections that are available only to students enrolled in the program. These prescribed courses, which all count toward the undergraduate degree in accounting, are:

The student need not satisfy the requirement that 6 credits be completed from the following list of courses:

The following courses cannot be used to satisfy the degree requirements of the integrated B.S./M.Acc. program:

Up to 12 credits may be double-counted towards the degree requirements for both the graduate and undergraduate degrees; a minimum of 50% of the double-counted courses must be at the 500 or 800 level. Credits associated with the culminating experience for the graduate degree cannot be double-counted.

Student Aid

Refer to the Tuition & Funding section of The Graduate School’s website. Students in this program are not eligible for graduate assistantships.

Courses

Graduate courses carry numbers from 500 to 699 and 800 to 899. Advanced undergraduate courses numbered between 400 and 499 may be used to meet some graduate degree requirements when taken by graduate students. Courses below the 400 level may not. A graduate student may register for or audit these courses in order to make up deficiencies or to fill in gaps in previous education but not to meet requirements for an advanced degree.

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