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Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s in Accounting

The Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s (ABM) in Accounting provides exceptional undergraduate students the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree at an accelerated pace.

Accounting majors applying for the Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s program must meet the Graduate School requirements for the program. ABM students may count up to 12 credit hours of graduate course work towards both the undergraduate and graduate degrees.

The program is designed to allow students to complete the Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and the Master of Accounting (MAcc) degree in five years.

Requirements

Requirements for acceptance into the program are:

  • Completed at least 90 credit hours
  • Completed at least 30 credit hours at USA
  • An overall GPA of 3.0 (Cumulative and Accounting)
  • Two letters of recommendation.

Once admitted into the ABM program, students must maintain at least a 3.0 GPA and remain in good standing in order to stay in the program.

To gain admission, students must complete a degree plan (typically during their junior year) that is approved by their undergraduate advisor and the MAcc Faculty Director. Interested students are encouraged to discuss their plans with their undergraduate advisor and the MAcc Faculty Director as early as possible.

Program Procedures

ABM students may begin taking graduate courses after completing at least 90 hours of undergraduate credit.

During their senior undergraduate year, students can take up to 6 graduate credits per semester while also taking undergraduate courses. Twelve graduate hours can count toward both degrees (bachelor’s and master’s) if the courses are completed with grades of at least a B. Courses with a grade of C can count toward the undergraduate degree but not the graduate degree.

ABM students may count up to 12 credit hours of graduate course work towards both the undergraduate and graduate degrees. The graduate courses counting toward both the Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Master’s of Accounting degrees are:

  1. ACC552: Advanced Auditing and Analytics (3 hours).
    1. ACC552 is the equivalent of ACC452 (3 hours).
  2. ACC532: Tax of Partnerships and Corps (3 hours).
    1. ACC532 is the equivalent ofACC432 (3 hours).
  3. ACC561: Acc for Gov and NFP (3 hours).
    1. ACC561 is the equivalent ofACC461 (3 hours).
  4. ACC510: Forensic Accounting (3 hours).
    1. ACC51O is the equivalent ofACC4lO (3 hours)

Upon review and approval by the MAcc Faculty Director, additional graduate level Accounting courses that apply to the Master’s degree may be counted as a part of the Accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s degree program curriculum.

Completion of the Master’s in Accounting degree requires successful completion of all requirements, including at least 30 graduate credit hours. Graduate credit taken while an undergraduate, and is completed with at least the grade of B, is transferred into the Master’s program upon acceptance into the program and applied toward the 30 hours required for the Master in Accounting degree.

A student who withdraws or is dismissed from the ABM program may not count graduate coursework towards both degrees. Graduate courses for which an undergraduate student did not earn an “A” or “B” grade, may not be counted towards the graduate degree. An ABM student must be a full-time student and must complete all degree requirements for the master’s within three semesters of the semester in which they were admitted to the Graduate School. An exception for a fourth semester may be granted where an additional semester is required for final revisions to and submission of a defended thesis. Exceptions to the ABM policy are at the discretion of the Dean of the Graduate School.

To qualify for a baccalaureate degree a student must complete a minimum of 120 approved semester hours, meet the university’s general education requirements, meet the requirements of the major, and meet any specific requirements of the college or school. To qualify for a master’s degree a student must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of credit in an approved program of study.