AC501: Financial Accounting and Reporting

This course provides a comprehensive, international perspective on accounting and financial reporting systems. Financial accounting and reporting issues are viewed from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Topics include, but are not limited to, the factors that managers and executives must consider as they confront complex and important financial accounting and reporting issues including traditional issues, such as revenue recognition, valuation allowances, and leases, and contemporary issues, such as pensions, stock options, and financial derivatives.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC502: Business Law for Accountants

This course will advance your knowledge of business law as it applies to accounting. You will be introduced to the major legal requirements that will be encountered by the professional accountant. Topics include, but are not limited to, the Uniform Commercial Code, contracts, and the legal liability and responsibilities of agencies and accountants.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC503: Advanced Auditing

This course addresses the examination of financial statements and systems from the viewpoint of an independent auditor. Emphasis is on the application of auditing techniques and the professional standards that direct audit performance and reporting. Topics include, but are not limited to, external audit services, audit reports, auditor and management responsibilities, professional standards of external auditors, and how information technologies enhance internal control and procedures used to audit through a computerized system.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC504: Ethical Issues in Business and Accounting

This course examines moral development and ethical choices within the framework of business and accounting. Psychological, social, and other theories used to predict human choices are introduced and applied to the current practice and environments of public and corporate accounting. A review of the development of the post-Sarbanes-Oxley ethical environment in the U.S. is included. The dilemmas commonly encountered by accounting professionals and their accepted solutions are also examined.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC505: Advanced Managerial/Cost Accounting

This course focuses on the role of cost accounting as a tool for managerial decision making and the application of these skills to the overall operation of a business. Topics include, but are not limited to: budgeting, cost-volume-profit analysis, job order costing, absorption costing, differential analysis, and capital budgeting.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC507: Corporate Tax Decisions and Strategies

This course will emphasize the effect of the federal income tax on business, the federal income tax structure, and the concept of taxable income as it relates to business. Business transactions are influenced by the rules of taxation. Examples of particular interest include, but are not limited to: buying and selling business assets, mortgages, liquidating or reorganizing a business, and transactions between a business and an employee.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC550: Accounting Information Systems

This course is focused on the development, design, and implementation of accounting information systems with an emphasis on internal control. You will examine how to develop new information systems or modify existing systems. Identifying and using controls to uncover security strengths and weaknesses will be a major emphasis.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC551: Accounting Research

This course focuses on research methods used to assess the impact of accounting information on business and business decision making. In this survey of research on accounting theory, students learn how to assess empirical studies and initiate and develop research projects through research paper discussions and replicating and extending existing research studies. This course is devoted to the analysis of current financial reporting issues.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC552: Business Reorganizations and Restructuring

This course is designed to provide a general understanding of financial restructuring and reorganization techniques. Topics include, but are not limited to, corporate governance, the legal framework, accounting and taxation, and valuation methods and practices. Also addressed are takeover and restructuring strategies, including hostile takeovers and defenses, LBOs, international bankruptcy reorganization, and IPOs.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC554: Enterprise Risk Analysis and Planning

This course explores the evolving nature of risk, expectations about its management, and the pressure it has placed on previous working practices. Risk management has traditionally been segmented and carried out in silos. Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a response to the sense of inadequacy caused by using a silo-based approach to manage increasingly interdependent risks. You will gain an understanding of the interdependencies between risks and how risks in one business area may increase the impact of risks in another business area.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC555: Fraud Examination

This course provides an overview of fraud examination, which includes the introduction of techniques for obtaining documentary evidence, interviewing witnesses and potential suspects, writing investigative reports, testifying to findings, and forensic document examination. You will learn to apply prevention, detection, and investigative strategies to determine why and how occupational fraud is committed. You will analyze human behaviors such as greed, deception, and cheating.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC556: Government and Not-For-Profit Accounting

This course examines the financial and managerial accounting concepts peculiar to the planning and administration of public and quasi-public organizations, such as governmental units, educational institutions, and charitable organizations. Topics include, but are not limited to, budgeting, financial reporting, and governmental auditing standards.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC557: Internal Control Design, Development, and Evaluation

This course provides an in-depth examination of internal control systems from a design, development, and evaluation perspective. Students will gain an understanding of the control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication systems, and monitoring activities. Emphasis is placed on designing, implementing, and assessing the effectiveness of internal controls for safeguarding assets, improving the reliability of financial reporting, promoting efficient operations, and ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC558: International Accounting Standards and Global Financial Reporting

This course focuses on the accounting issues related to international business. Topics examined include, but are not limited to, accounting diversity, the history of global financial reporting, an in-depth look at International Financial Reporting Standards, and translation of foreign currency. In addition, a review of the accounting systems of five of the world's largest economies is provided.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC559: International Tax Planning and Issues

This course focuses on U.S. income tax on foreign-earned income and the taxation methods of other countries. The effect of U.S. taxation on international transactions and its impact on multinational businesses will be examined and discussed. The tax laws of other countries will be surveyed with emphasis on the treatment of capital gains, dividends, and depreciation. Various tax treaties will be identified and discussed.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC560: Tax Research and the IRS

This course introduces students to the concepts, processes, and information sources relevant to tax research. The Internal Revenue Code, treasury regulations, and federal and state tax cases are examined. Topics include, but are not limited to, interpretations of the tax code, ethical considerations, sources for research, and appropriate presentation of results.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC561: Taxation of Estates and Trusts

This course is a study of the federal estate and gift taxes and the impact of income tax. Topics will include an introduction to interstate succession, the drafting and enforcement of wills, living trusts, gifts, marital property, and the avoidance of probate. The course covers the preparation of fiduciary income tax returns with an emphasis on unique tax issues such as income of a descendent, distributable net income, and fiduciary accounting.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: None

AC599: Graduate Capstone in Accounting

This capstone course builds on the concepts of all the courses taken within the Master of Science in Accounting and provides students with an opportunity to integrate their previous coursework in a meaningful review of their learning and to assess their level of mastery of the stated outcomes of their degree program.

Quarter Credit Hours: 4 | Prerequisite: Last term or permission from the Dean