Master of Science in Accounting

Curriculum – Prior Accounting Degree

Program Overview

Prior Accounting Degree

Prior Non-Accounting Business Degree

Prior Non-Business Degree

Faculty Experts

Your Path to Being an Accounting Professional Begins at Merrimack

Core Courses (18 credits) 

GMGT5140: Effective Managerial Communication (2 cr.)
GMGT5130: Professional Skills (2 cr.)
GACC5500: Taxation of Business Enterprises (4 cr.)
ACC5410: Accounting Analytics (4 cr.)
GACC5100: Contemporary & Emerging Issues in Accounting (4 cr.)
ACC5225: Ethics in the Accounting Profession (2 cr.)

For additional course detail, please view our Graduate Catalog.

Electives: (14 credits)

Fraud and Forensic Accounting: (12 cr) 

GACC5360: Forensic Accounting (2 cr.)
GACC5310: Accounting Information Systems (2 cr.)
ACC5350: Criminal Tax Investigation (2 cr.)ACC5450: Fraud Examination (2 cr.)

Taxation: (12 cr)

GACC5330-OA: Tax Research, Procedures & Ethics (4 cr.)
ACC5350: Criminal Tax Investigation (2 cr.)
ACC5550: Advanced Flow-Through Tax Entities (2 cr.)

Choice of (2):

ACC5420: Personal Tax Planning (2 cr.)
ACC5430: Estate & Gift Taxation (2 cr.)
ACC5560: International Tax InBound (2 cr.)
ACC5570: International Tax OutBound (2 cr.)

Open accounting elective (2 cr) – Students can choose from a variety of accounting electives.

To read further about our Concentrations, please advance through this page.  For course description detail, please view our Graduate Catalog.

For an undergraduate Accounting major, Merrimack’s MSA program provides a pathway towards becoming a CPA. Merrimack’s MSA program stands out by providing a format that takes into consideration the knowledge you’ve acquired as part of your past academic experience.  Your advisor will then help you create a custom path based upon your goals as you work towards building your overall accounting and business knowledge. Our MSA degree is further enhanced with concentration options that you can choose from depending on your career focus:

Concentrations / Certificates* Available to MS in Accounting Students

For those with an Accounting undergraduate degree, Merrimack’s MSA program includes 18-22 required credits, while offering students 10-14 elective credits, which can be applied toward individual elective courses or focused in one of our concentrations.  For those who have already completed a master’s degree, those who are unsure they want a master’s degree but still want to advance their skillset, or those who want exposure to graduate classes that may be transferrable into a master’s program, our MSA and MSM concentrations are available as credit bearing, stand-alone certificates.

The Business Analytics concentration, endows students with introductory knowledge and skills in extracting decision-guiding insights out of data and synthesizing the resultant insights with related theoretical and experiential knowledge. Students are introduced to core elements of data management, preparation, analysis, visualization, and result interpretation and communication, in a theory + application context. Analytics has also recently been identified by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) as one of the key areas of growth in the accounting industry and is being integrated as part of the revisions to the Uniform CPA exam.

Understanding and comprehending how to identify Fraud when conducting an audit is part of the investigative action accountants take to help pinpoint deception or criminal activity.  By completing the Fraud & Forensic concentration, students are introduced to topics around fraud examination, cyber security and tax fraud. The skills acquired will equip students with the tools needed to identify inaccurate reporting and fiscal malfeasance that can occur in organizations.

Taxation is a key sector in the accounting industry. Organizations are always looking for strategic ways to maximize revenue and minimize tax. By completing the Taxation concentration, students are introduced to advanced topics in taxation, and have the option to gain more specialized insight into either personal tax or corporate tax. The course content is focused on issues related to Tax Research, Procedures and Ethics, International Taxation, Estate & Gift Taxation, Personal Tax Planning, Advanced Flow-Through Tax Entities, and Criminal Tax Investigation. Students will learn valuable tax planning and tax return preparation skills that will equip them with the knowledge to excel within a variety of industries.

* For students who would prefer a general accounting option, as opposed to one of the specific tracks above, you can select open electives from these tracks. Note: Courses may have prerequisites.

Accounting Leaders

START HERE

Your Path to Being an Accounting Professional Begins at Merrimack

Core Courses (18 credits) 

GMGT5140: Effective Managerial Communication (2 cr.)
GMGT5130: Professional Skills (2 cr.)
GACC5500: Taxation of Business Enterprises (4 cr.)
ACC5410: Accounting Analytics (4 cr.)
GACC5100: Contemporary & Emerging Issues in Accounting (4 cr.)
ACC5225: Ethics in the Accounting Profession (2 cr.)

For additional course detail, please view our Graduate Catalog.

Electives: (14 credits)

Fraud and Forensic Accounting: (12 cr) 

GACC5360: Forensic Accounting (2 cr.)
GACC5310: Accounting Information Systems (2 cr.)
ACC5350: Criminal Tax Investigation (2 cr.)ACC5450: Fraud Examination (2 cr.)

Taxation: (12 cr)

GACC5330-OA: Tax Research, Procedures & Ethics (4 cr.)
ACC5350: Criminal Tax Investigation (2 cr.)
ACC5550: Advanced Flow-Through Tax Entities (2 cr.)

Choice of (2):

ACC5420: Personal Tax Planning (2 cr.)
ACC5430: Estate & Gift Taxation (2 cr.)
ACC5560: International Tax InBound (2 cr.)
ACC5570: International Tax OutBound (2 cr.)

Open accounting elective (2 cr) – Students can choose from a variety of accounting electives.

To read further about our Concentrations, please advance through this page.  For course description detail, please view our Graduate Catalog.

For an undergraduate Accounting major, Merrimack’s MSA program provides a pathway towards becoming a CPA. Merrimack’s MSA program stands out by providing a format that takes into consideration the knowledge you’ve acquired as part of your past academic experience.  Your advisor will then help you create a custom path based upon your goals as you work towards building your overall accounting and business knowledge. Our MSA degree is further enhanced with concentration options that you can choose from depending on your career focus:

Concentrations* Available to MS in Accounting Students

For those with an Accounting undergraduate degree, Merrimack’s MSA program has 18-22 required credits, while offering students 10-14 elective credits, which can be used towards individual elective courses or one of our concentrations:

The Business Analytics concentration, endows students with introductory knowledge and skills in extracting decision-guiding insights out of data and synthesizing the resultant insights with related theoretical and experiential knowledge. Students are introduced to core elements of data management, preparation, analysis, visualization, and result interpretation and communication, in a theory + application context. Analytics has also recently been identified by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) as one of the key areas of growth in the accounting industry and is being integrated as part of the revisions to the Uniform CPA exam.

Understanding and comprehending how to identify Fraud when conducting an audit is part of the investigative action accountants take to help pinpoint deception or criminal activity.  By completing the Fraud & Forensic concentration, students are introduced to topics around fraud examination, cyber security and tax fraud. The skills acquired will equip students with the tools needed to identify inaccurate reporting and fiscal malfeasance that can occur in organizations.

Taxation is a key sector in the accounting industry. Organizations are always looking for strategic ways to maximize revenue and minimize tax. By completing the Taxation concentration, students are introduced to advanced topics in taxation, and have the option to gain more specialized insight into either personal tax or corporate tax. The course content is focused on issues related to Tax Research, Procedures and Ethics, International Taxation, Estate & Gift Taxation, Personal Tax Planning, Advanced Flow-Through Tax Entities, and Criminal Tax Investigation. Students will learn valuable tax planning and tax return preparation skills that will equip them with the knowledge to excel within a variety of industries.

* For students who would prefer a general accounting option, as opposed to one of the specific tracks above, you can select open electives from these tracks. Note: Courses may have prerequisites.

Accounting Leaders

START HERE

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