Curriculum

Body

Curriculum

The Master of Science in Accounting 15-month part-time program is delivered in a hybrid (online and in-class) format that allows participants to work full-time while attending classes.

The part-time hybrid format classes meet via live web conferencing in the evenings for two hours on Mondays/Wednesdays or Tuesdays/Thursdays. Additionally students meet face-to-face on Saint Mary’s campus in Moraga on alternate Saturdays.

Course Descriptions

The first part of this course provides a review of the accounting for business combinations. The rest of the course covers new material on accounting for multinationals and foreign currency transactions, segment reporting, corporate liquidation and reorganizations, and partnerships – formation, operations, changes in ownership interests, and liquidation.

This course examines the legal implications of business transactions, particularly as they relate to accounting, auditing and financial reporting. In addition, students are required to apply the knowledge gained to evaluate the economic substance of client transactions, including purchase agreements, loans and promissory notes, sales contracts, leases and commitments. Oral and written communication skills and professional research skills are emphasized.

This advanced course focuses on how managers generate and use accounting information within their organizations for planning and controlling operations, making short and long-term decisions, and evaluating and rewarding personnel. The content includes topics such as C-V-P analysis, budgeting, variance analysis, and differential cost analysis.  A variety of pedagogical techniques, including cases, projects, and student presentations are used to discuss real world managerial accounting issues.

Data has proliferated in business and managers and accountants need to understand the implications for decision-making and tap into the data to provide better insights into a firm/client/customer/supplier, etc. This course is intended to provide students with an understanding of data analytic thinking and terminology as well as hands-on experience with data analytics tools and techniques. Students should leave this course with the skills necessary to translate accounting and business problems into actionable proposals that they can competently present to managers and data scientists. The focus of this class is on concepts as well as various data analysis tools such as Advanced Excel, Weka, Tableau/Power BI, IDEA Audit Software, iXBRLAnalyst, Structured Query Language (SQL) using SAS, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, Excel 2016, and MySQL, and Python, and more.

This course focuses on the accounting and financial reporting issues of governmental units, not-for-profit organizations, colleges and universities, and some health care entities. The course covers fund accounting and financial reporting for state and local units under GASB Statement No. 34 and not-for-profit accounting principles.

This course examines the concepts and laws related to federal taxation of individuals, trusts, estates, and gifts.  It is also designed to give students the tools and techniques to identify, understand and evaluate tax planning opportunities.   Oral and written communication skills are emphasized.

This course focuses on advanced topics related to the auditing standards promulgated in the U.S. for audits of public companies, private companies, governmental entities, not-for-profit entities and employee benefit plans. In addition, the course focuses on the standards promulgated by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the differences between these standards and U.S. auditing standards. It also focuses on the application of accounting and auditing skills to detect financial discrepancies and the presentation of fraud cases for criminal proceedings and litigation.

The Advanced Accounting Information system course will focus on IT architecture components and the use of cloud-based models for IT infrastructure, platforms, and services. In addition, the course will focus on the business processes they enable and controls over processing integrity. The course will also cover System availability and IT change management.

This course examines the concepts and laws related to federal taxation of partnerships, C corporations, S corporations, and tax-exempt organizations.   It is also designed to give students the tools and techniques to identify, understand and evaluate tax planning opportunities.  Oral and written communication skills are emphasized.

This capstone course focuses on identifying, researching and appropriately resolving situations that might be unethical or a violation of professional standards. Oral and written communication skills and professional judgment are emphasized.