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Contact MSA
MSA Office
320 Wohlers Hall
1206 South 6th Street
Champaign, IL 61802
USA
Phone: 217-244-9201
Fax: 217-244-9022
Email: ms-accy@illinois.edu
MSA Program of Study
The MSA program begins in June. The MSA degree requires 32 semester hours of graduate course work. There is a program core of five accounting courses that focus on U.S. accounting standards. The core consists of the following:
| Accounting Analysis I (Accountancy 501) |
Reviews the accounting process, surveys U.S. accounting principles with emphasis on investments, and introduces participants to special topics relating to U.S. reporting and the financial accounting environment. |
| Accounting Analysis II (Accountancy 502) |
Covers the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements for corporate financial reporting with emphasis on liabilities and equity. |
| Managerial Accounting (Accountancy 503) |
Introduces managerial accounting as part of the firm's information system, in terms of modern cost accounting and budgetary systems for planning and controlling business operations. |
| Auditing (Accountancy 504) |
Provides in-depth coverage of U.S. auditing standards and an overview of the logic and hypothesis-generation methods that form the foundation for audit testing. |
| Tax Accounting (Accountancy 505) |
Addresses the underlying principles of individual and corporate income taxation in the United States, a particularly important area of study for those who plan to take the Uniform CPA Examination. |
Students may be required to take any or all of the core courses, depending on their backgrounds and goals. The student's adviser will substitute advanced accounting courses for the core courses if the student is admitted to the advanced accounting option. Electives are available in business, economics, and finance.
In addition, students with TOEFL scores below 613 (paper-based), 257 (computer-based), or 103 (internet-based) are required to take the English Placement Test (EPT) when they arrive on campus. Depending on the results of the EPT, students may be required to take a Business English course (ESL 505). The language course does not count toward the 32 hour degree requirement.
MSA students may also participate in the CPA Preparation course at the University of Illinois. This course is taught by professors who specialize in the disciplines tested by the CPA exam. MSA students may receive up to 10 semester hours of credit for the CPA Preparation course, which can help meet the Illinois Board of Examiners requirement for taking the CPA examination. These credits, however, do not count toward the MSA degree. MSA students may take the CPA Preparation course at no additional cost.
