MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN ACCOUNTING PROPOSAL
Submitted to the PCC of SEBA and GPSEPC of SMC
by the Department of Accounting and Graduate Business Programs,
School of Economics and Business Administration (SEBA)
Contact:
Professor Greg Merrill, Chair, Department of Accounting, SEBA
Professor Shyam Kamath, Associate Dean for Graduate Business and Global Programs, SEBA
Proposed Implementation: Academic Year 2013-14
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SIGNATURE PAGE2
1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY4
1.1.Mission and Purpose 4
1.2.Target Group4
1.3.Program Structure4
1.4.Learning Goals and Objectives4
1.5.Impact on SEBA and the College4
1.6.Assessment Tools4
1.7.Competitor Analysis4
1.8. Financial and Action Plan5
1.9.Request for Approval5
2.MISSION AND PURPOSE6
3.TARGET GROUP AND PROGRAM DEMAND10
4. PROGRAM GENESIS AND STRUCTURE12
5.LEARNING GOALS/OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES 19
6.IMPACT ON SEBA AND THE COLLEGE25
7. ASSESSMENT TOOLS26
8.COMPETITOR ANALYSIS27
9. ACTION PLAN AND BUDGET30
10.REQUEST FOR APPROVAL33
1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1.Mission and Purpose
The mission of the Master of Science in Accounting (MSACC) program is to prepare students for professional opportunities in accounting in the public and private sector and to meet the 150-hour educational requirements set by California law. It is predicated on the College’s three-fold mission of Lasallian, Catholic and Liberal Arts at an ontological, philosophical, epistemological, practical and empirical level. It embodies the five Lasallian principles and connects to the mission of the College as embodied in the Academic Blueprint and the BOS Strategic Plan as well as the Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan of SEBA.
1.2.Target Group and Program Demand
The target groups for the MSACC program are the undergraduate accounting majors and minors who have graduated from Saint Mary’s College and any other college or university (including from outside the US).
1.3.Program Genesis and Structure
The MSACCprogram has been developed with the input of the accounting department faculty members in SEBA by a specially appointed proposal committee and has been approved by accounting department faculty, the SEBA Dean’s office, the SEBA Administrative Council and the Program Coordination Committee in SEBA. It is a 15-month program on a quarter system in which students meet two days per week in the evening. Students take two courses a quarter starting in the July quarter for a total of ten courses. The courses are financial and cost accounting, tax, audit and ethics courses that build on a student’s undergraduate study in accounting.
1.4 Learning Goals/Objectives and Learning Outcomes
The primary learning goals objectives are in the areas of deepening of critical thinking skills and demonstrating an understanding of accounting principles, theories and concepts;deep understanding of professional responsibilities and ethics;development of communication skills; awareness of the profession and proficiency in technology and information systems. The detailed program goals, objectives and traits for outcomes assessment are under finalization in line with similar documents prepared for AACSB and WASC in SEBA for the EMBA and MS-FAIM program (provided in this proposal).
1.5Impact on SEBA and the College
The MSACC program is structured to be a seamless continuation of the undergraduate program in Accounting and we expect the program to have no significant negative impact on SEBA or the College. The positive impacts in terms of enrolling additional graduate students, reaching out to a new target student population, meeting state accounting education needs and generating additional revenue and net contribution for SEBA and the College are significant.
1.6 Assessment Tools
Exams, quizzes, projects, and homework assignments are the primary avenues for assessing the effectiveness of individual courses. In addition, the program as a whole will be assessed using a comprehensive end-of-the-program examination and surveys of students, alumni and employers. SEBA has substantial experience in the assessment of majors, specializations and courses in accounting and finance in the undergraduate program, the MS-FAIM program and our MBA programs, which experience and assessment tools will be modified to assess the MSACC program.
1.7 Competitor Analysis
A competitor analysis of the market place indicates that there is significant demand for a MS in Accounting program in the Bay Area both from Saint Mary’s accounting students as well as accounting students from other colleges in the area looking to fulfill the new 150-hour requirement.An analysis of competitor programs in the Bay Area reveals that there is no other program currently in existence or planned to meet the new accounting education requirements, though there are two programs with the potential to convert to these requirements. One is a Masters in Accounting program at San Jose State University that is currently not compliant with the new requirements but can convert to them.Competitive intelligence indicates that another program at Sacramento State University is currently going through the approval process and is targeted at meeting the new accounting education requirements.
1.8Action Plan and Budget
A phased timeline and action plan targets for the new accounting program to start in July 2013. The MSACC program provides positive financial results and a positive net contribution to the College in the very first year of operation.
1.9Request for Approval
Based on the data and information presented in the proposal, it is requested that provisional approval for the establishment of a Master of Science in Accounting (MSACC) program be granted so that the program can be launched by July 2013.
2.MISSION AND PURPOSE
The mission of the MS in Accounting (MSACC) program is to prepare students for professional opportunities in accounting in the public and private sector and to meet the 150-hour educational requirement set by the new California law.
This MSACC program mission is predicated on the School of Economics and Business Administration’s mission:
Built upon the Lasallian, Catholic and Liberal Arts traditions of Saint Mary's College, the School of Economics and Business Administration strives to develop business and community leaders with global and responsible perspectives.
We prepare our graduates to be professionally skilled, culturally aware, socially responsible and ethically principled.
As teachers, scholars and mentors, we offer students a rigorous, innovative and diverse learning experience by leveraging on our practice-relevant, pedagogical and discipline-based research.
SEBA embodies this mission in two strategic foci that encapsulate the guiding principles that drive the development of new programs: “Think Globally. Lead Responsibly.” The strategic foci capture the four aspects of a business education in SEBA: A focus on developing global management perspectives and an abiding concern for inculcating responsible business perspectives through a Quadruple Bottom Line approach (People, Ethics, Planet and Profit) in our students and graduates. The MSACC program provides a rigorous accounting education while providing participants with global perspectives through an understanding of the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS) that is slowly replacing Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (gap) all over the world. It incorporates a focused course on International Accounting (MACC 204) in addition to incorporating international issues in many of the other courses. Similarly, the responsible business perspective is embedded through focused courses in Professional Ethics and Responsibilities (MACC 209) and Government and Non-Profit Accounting (GMAN 203) in addition to incorporating these issues in the majority of classes in the program. The professional development program sessions (see below) and the master’s colloquium (also below) will also provide opportunities to delve deeply in to these areas.
History and Rationale of the 150-Hour Requirement
Since the 1950s there have been calls by academics and professional accountants for the need for improving accounting education. The Carnegie Foundation created the Commission on Standards and Experience for Certified Public Accountants that produced a report in August 1956 favoring the requirement of a graduate degree for accountants. At the time, this was a fairly drastic recommendation as only three states, Florida, New Jersey and New York, required CPA candidates to have graduated from college.
At that time, one of the main reasons given for this change was that the undergraduate accounting curriculum was about to “burst” because of pressure coming from five sources:
1.Students are expected to be more broadly educated in general as well as in the tool areas of management.
2.The enormous increase in the amount of authoritative accounting literature that students must learn.
3.The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business’ revised sequence of accounting courses, which forced students to take more accounting courses in their junior year.
4.The CPA examination has changed from an examination on which knowledge of actual practice situations played an important role in passing the examination to an examination that is much more textbook-oriented and to one based primarily on one’s knowledge of authoritative literature in auditing, accounting, and taxation.
5.The increasing presence of the computer in business and society.
The Commission on Professional Accounting Education argued in favor of legislating the 150-hour requirement. Their July 1983 report stated: “The sole purpose of a legislated education requirement is to add to the degree of assurance of competent services provide to the public. If the education of CPAs is left to a free market solution, the public cannot be assured that the production of auditing services will be adequate.”
The State of California only recently passed the 150 hour requirement. The requirement was brought about by one important factor – to make California law compatible with that of other states in the country so as to provide an opportunity for students from California to practice in any state. Other factors include: the expansion of client services, the growing application of information technology (electronic data processing), the increase in accounting pronouncements, the recognition of the value of formal education over informal experience, and the desire for the recognition of accounting as a profession at least as demanding as law, engineering and architecture.
Effective January 1, 2014, SB-819 requires candidates seeking the CPA designation in California to complete 150 hours of college education (undergraduate or graduate) with at least 68hours in accounting, auditing, business, law, finance or tax subjects with at least 30 of the hours in accounting subjects acceptable to the California State Board of Accountancy. In addition, a candidate is required to have 10 semester hours of ethics courses work including a minimum of 3 hours in accounting ethics.With these changes, California will conform to the national education standard of 150 credit hours and one year of public accounting experience—in addition to the successful completion of the CPA exam—before the granting of a CPA license.For a Saint Mary’s student, this would mean an additional 30 semester hours of graduate study after completing the Bachelor’s degree at Saint Mary’s College (approximately 120 semester hours). Saint Mary’s College, like many other colleges and universities in California and across the country, will provide the 30 additional semester hours of graduate study through the granting of a MS in Accounting degree.
Objectives of the M.S. in Accounting Program
The specific objectives of the MS in Accounting program are:
- Meet the 150-hour educational requirements promulgated by the new California statute SB-819
- Develop technical competency in Accounting
- Develop effective critical thinking, problem solving and analytical skills
- Develop ethical awareness – the ability to recognize and appropriately respond to ethical questions encountered in the practice of accounting
- Develop effective oral and written communication skills
- Help students pass the CPA Professional exam.
The students accepted to the MSACC program at Saint Mary’s College will be focused on a career in accounting. Accordingly, the program will facilitate and encourage CPA exam preparation for those students who aspire to become a CPA. The program will foster professional skills including communication, presentation, interviewing, leadership and analytical competence.Students in the MSACC Program will participate in professional development workshops that will provide them with key management skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to be well-rounded and managerially skilled accounting professionals. In the capstone colloquium,student groups will make presentations on current issues in the profession to faculty, outside professionals and regulators.
Saint Mary’s College Mission and the M.S. in Accounting Program Mission
The MSACC program fits in well with the threefold mission of Saint Mary’s College of a Lasallian, Catholic and Liberal Arts education. Firstly, through the activities of the Accounting Association and programs such as the VITA program that provides free tax help for low-income individuals and families, the Accounting program seeks to create a “Lasallian community” whose members support one another and the less privileged members of our society in line with the Lasallian principles of concern for the poor and social justice, respect for all persons and inclusive community through a high quality education program and community outreach. Secondly, the MSACC program is structured to promote ethical behavior and professional conduct in its students. Through a specific course in Ethics as well as throughout the program, students are educated and trained to understand and uphold the ethical standards of the profession as well as develop a value system that helps guide their behavior in difficult professional situations. This is consistent with the Catholic mission of the College that affirms and fosters the Christian understanding of the human person. Finally, the content and pedagogy of the proposed program is consistent with the “liberal learning” mission of Saint Mary’s College. The program is focused on developing students’ intellectual skills of analysis, criticism, and synthesis – aspects fundamental to the purposes of a liberal education. Each one of these issues is discussed below.
The Lasallian tradition of the College is embodied in the following approach:
-“to create a student-centered educational community whose members support one another with mutual understanding and respect.”
A key objective of the new program is its focus on the student-participant. SEBA and Graduate Business have always striven to create participant-centered educational programs and learning communities. The fruits of this approach have been borne out by the tremendous sense of ownership and belonging that SEBA and Graduate Business program participants have felt for the classes and programs that they have attended (this is based on both formal and informal feedback from Graduate Business program participants). BY adopting the credo of Learn, Network and Serve, our Graduate Business programs have provided a learning community that learns in a collaborative and supportive environment; networks with the internal program and external EMC and business and civic communities through its student advisory bodies and alumni council activities; and serves the local, regional and global community through its community outreach activities and specialized projects and programs such as the Social Services Management (SOSERVMAN) program that was specially cited in President Obama’s Honor Roll of Community Service Institutions selection of Saint Mary’s College among the Top 17 College’s in the country. We hope to continue to bring this commitment to building vibrant and life-long educational communities in the MSACC Programthat we will be launching.
The Catholic tradition of the College is outlined by the following:
- “to affirm and foster the Christian understanding of the human person which animates the educational mission of the Catholic Church.”
The classes in the proposed MSACC Program are based on the fundamental tenet of humanitarianism and the desire to educate the “whole person”. We believe that human beings are capable of both pursuing their self interest but also that of compassion for and help of their fellow human beings in an ethical and dignified way as articulated in wise books like Robert Frank’s Passions Within Reason, Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments or James Q Wilson’s The Moral Sense. As a result, we have woven in ethical dilemmas and the human dimension in to all the courses in the new program, making sure that all participants understand the moral dimension of their actions, especially as accounting professionals and managers. In the classes in the program, students will discuss issues like the evils of insider trading, financial fraud, child labor, worker rights, corruption and bribery, managerial malfeasance and other aspects of unethical behavior. In all the classes where such issues are discussed, care will be taken to ensure that all the different types of arguments pro and con regarding these issues are understood before arriving at a conclusion. The ideal will be to inculcate in each MSACC programparticipant Socrates’ maxim that the unexamined life is not worth living.
Finally, the Liberal Arts tradition of the College is captured in the following statement of the College’s mission:
- “to probe deeply the mystery of existence by cultivating the ways of knowing and the arts of thinking.”
Thecritical and collaborative approach to learning embodied in the MSACC program reflects a methodological pluralism that is congruent with a multiplicity of epistemological discovery processes. A variety of pedagogical and andragogical methods will be used in the classroom such as open-ended projects, cases, role plays, group learning and negotiation exercises including on-line learning tools that allow for the development of alternative and competing theoretical approaches and their application to real-world management situations. By the use of discursive discussions, team projects and by asking fundamental and probing questions, the new program will use a collaborative learning framework where program participants learn through multiple theories, empirical evidence and personal narratives from experience. Learning is reflective, double-loop and theory of action oriented. In doing so, we hope to continue this pattern of exploration and probing of human knowledge and the mystery of existence at Saint Mary’s.
Congruence with BOS Strategic Plan and Academic Blueprint
Further, the MSACC program fits in with the Building on Strengths Strategic Plan and Academic Blueprint of the College and the Strategic Plan of the School of Economics and Business Administration to develop programs that are student focused and prepare students for successful and meaningful professional careers and lives. It builds on the strategic Foci of Responsible Business and Global Business Perspectives as adopted by the SEBA faculty in 2011. The design of the program meets the responsible perspectives focus by providing a detailed examination of the ethical and sustainability issues that underlie public accounting as reflect in the courses on Governmental and Non-Profit Accounting (MACC 203), Advanced Auditing and Forensic Accounting (MACC 205), Advanced Legal Issues and Regulatory Framework (MACC 207) and the Professional Ethics and Responsibilities (MACC 209) capstone course experience. It will be supported by the careful selection of topics in the Capstone Masters Colloquium and the Professional Development Program (PDP) seminars where topics like Ethical Issue and Practices in Accounting, the Misuse of Accounting, Responsibility Accounting, Accounting for Environment Impacts etc. will be offered. With regard to the global perspective focus, the Advanced Auditing and Forensic Accounting (MACC 203), the International Accounting (MACC 204) and the Corporate Financial Reporting (MACC 201) courses will consider all aspects of the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS), the global standard that is replacing the U.S. centered Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) on which most of current U.S. accounting is based. Global topics will also be considered in the PDP Capstone Masters Colloquium and the PDPD program with topics like Global Negotiations, Cross-cultural Organizational Issues etc.