Undergraduate Concentrations

The Accounting for Finance and Consulting Concentration builds on the CSOM core curriculum and is a great complement to many other concentrations, including Finance, Marketing and Operations. Students with this concentration can pursue a wide variety of careers in business, including financial analysis, investment banking, consulting, marketing and management training programs. Skills learned in this concentration position students for greater upward mobility in their career paths; the need for managers with an understanding of financial statements and financial reporting is evergreen.

Objectives

The objectives of the Accounting for Finance and Consulting Concentration are:

1) Expand and deepen your knowledge of external financial reporting and choices that managers make in preparing information for SEC filings. This knowledge is critical for both those who plan to use financial statements to value companies and those whose jobs require an understanding of how business decisions affect financial statements.

2) Provide an understanding of the accounting data and information managers use for internal decision-making. For students interested in marketing or consulting, this knowledge enables you to accurately assess the true costs of producing a product or service and to identify the relevant information for make-versus-buy decisions. You will develop skills needed to accurately forecast revenues, expenses and product demand. You will also understand how to set important organizational controls.

3) Provide students with the financial tools and accounting savvy needed to converse with upper level management about the operations of the firm.

Guidelines and Courses

This concentration requires four courses (12 credits): one intermediate accounting course, one required elective in either managerial cost or financial statement analysis, and two other electives from a set of approved electives in accounting, finance, operations, or economics.

Required: 

3 credit-hours in

AND at least 3 credit-hours from one of the following

Other Accounting Department Electives

 AND at least 6 credit-hours from two of the following**

Course #	Course Name
ACCT3307 OR ACCT3351	Managerial Cost Analysis OR Financial Statement Analysis
ACCT4405	Federal Taxation
ACCT6601	FAST III
ACCT6618	Accounting Information Systems
ACCT6623	Fair Value Accounting and Measurement
ACCT6635	Forensic Accounting
ACCT6640	Dive, Disect & Decide w/ Big Business Data
OPER3384	Predictive Analysis
OPER66060	Forecasting Techniques
ECON2228	Economic Methods
MFIN2235	Investment Banking (fulfills Finance ‘Bucket’ elective)
MFIN6616	Investment Banking (fulfills Finance ‘Other’ elective)

*ACCT3301 FAST I will be accepted as a substitute for ACCT3321, but then you must also take ACCT3302 FAST II as one of your electives.

** A maximum of one elective can count towards the requirements of two different concentrations.

Employers continually emphasize the value of graduates who understand both business and the information system (IS) that supports it.  While IS professionals develop competence in the design and implementation of business information systems, accountants have a broad understanding of the business process and controls, and how the systems are used to generate information for decision making.  Having the two skill sets is invaluable.

Students fulfilling this concentration will satisfy all of the requirements for the IS concentration and also obtain a background in Accounting.  The curriculum entails six courses (five required and one Accounting elective), and is designed for students interested in careers either with the consulting divisions of professional service firms, such as major accounting firms, IS departments of companies, or as IS auditors. Students are advised to see a faculty advisor in selecting an appropriate Accounting elective.

This concentration is administered jointly by the Accounting Department and the Information Systems Department.

Required: 15 credit-hours in

Course #	Course Name
ACCT3301	Financial Accounting Standards and Theory I
ISYS2157 OR CSCI1101	Introduction to Programming for Management
ISYS3257	Database Systems and Applications
ISYS4258	Systems Analysis and Design
ACCT/ISYS6618	Accounting Information Systems

 AND at least 3 credit-hours in one of the following

Course #	Course Name
ACCT3302	Financial Accounting Standards and Theory II
ACCT3307	Managerial Cost & Strategic Analysis
ACCT3309	Audit & Other Assurance Services
ACCT3351	Financial Statement Analysis
ACCT6640	Dive, Dissect & Decide with Big Business Data

The concentration will end with the class of 2021. Students presently enrolled will have the option of completing the concentration, or switching to the new Accounting for Finance and Consulting concentration.

Students who wish to enter the field of finance and would like to develop a deeper and better understanding of the financial statements that underlie most financial decisions are encouraged to pursue the Corporate Reporting & Analysis concentration.  Taken together with a Finance concentration, the Corporate Reporting & Analysis concentration provides the coursework for finance majors to understand the assumptions and procedures behind the preparation of financial statements and the skill set to better understand and evaluate financial statements.

Unlike the traditional accounting concentration, the Corporate Reporting and Analysis concentration focuses solely on financial accounting and provides a valuable complement to a Finance concentration.  Most students who concentrate in Corporate Reporting & Analysis end up working for investment and commercial banks, mutual funds, and consulting and private equity firms.  This major requires five courses (15 credits): three courses in financial accounting, one elective in accounting, and one elective in economics or statistics.

Required: 9 credit-hours in 

Course #	Course Name
ACCT3301	Finanical Accounting Standards and Theory I
ACCT3302	Financial Accounting Standards and Theory II
ACCT3351	Finanical Statement Analysis

 AND at least 3 credit-hours in one of the following

Course #	Course Name
ACCT6601	Financial Accounting Standards and Theory III
ACCT6623	Fair Value Accounting

 AND at least 3 credit-hours in one of the following

Course #	Course Name
ECON2228	Economic Methods
ECON2229	Economic and Business Forecasting Methods
OPER3384	Applied Analytics
OPER6606	Forecasting Techniques

(Note – There are three majors housed in the Accounting Department; Accounting, Information Systems and Accounting, and Corporate Reporting and Analysis.  Students will not be allowed to concentrate in more than one of these three.)

Accounting for CPAs Minor

This minor is for students who are interested in working in public accounting.  Please note: to meet the CPA requirements, students will need several courses beyond the minor.

The objective of the accounting curriculum sequence is to prepare the undergraduate major for a professional career in public accounting, industry, financial institutions, government, information systems, law, or not-for-profit organizations.  The curriculum is broadly based in its scope and coverage so as to be relevant and useful for a variety of careers.  Students intending to acquire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation should choose this concentration to best satisfy its requirements.

Required Courses:

*Auditing is a requirement to sit for the CPA exam in all states and a requirement for admission to the Boston College Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) Program.

Most states require from eight to eleven accounting classes (24 to 33 accounting credit hours) in order to be qualified as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).  Because the accounting concentration requires only six accounting classes (18 credit hours), in addition to ACCT1021 Financial Accounting (3 credit hours) included in the CSOM core, a student must take additional accounting classes.  The department offers a number of accounting electives that students can take to satisfy their CPA requirements.

Accounting for Finance and Consulting Minor

The Accounting for Finance and Consulting minor leverages the critical thinking and communication skills developed in the MCAS curriculum, providing students with key skills that distinguish them from other new hires in financial services or consulting.  It also provides students with an advantage in graduate business programs.

Objectives:  The objectives of the Accounting for Finance and Consulting minor are:

• Develop your knowledge of external financial reporting and choices that managers make in preparing information for SEC filings. This knowledge is critical for both those who plan to use financial statements to value companies and those whose jobs require an understanding of how business decisions affect financial statements.
• Provide an understanding of the accounting data and information managers use for internal decision-making. For students interested in consulting, this knowledge enables you to accurately assess the true costs of producing a product or service and to identify the relevant information for make-versus-buy decisions. You will develop skills needed to accurately forecast revenues, expenses and product demand. You will also understand how to set important organizational controls.
• Provide students with the financial tools and accounting savvy needed to converse with upper level   management about the operations of the firm.

Courses: This minor requires six courses (18 credits):

Required Courses:

*ACCT3301 FAST I will be accepted as a substitute for ACCT3321, but then you must also take ACCT3302 FAST II as one of your electives.

**Electives may also include both courses from the other track.