Graduate Curriculum

General Requirements

A student's graduate coursework includes the last 30 hours of the 150-Hour Program. Each student must take at least 15 hours of coursework at the 8000-level as a graduate student; of these 18 hours, a minimum of 12 hours must be 8000-level accountancy courses. The other 6 hours of 8000-level course work may be any combination of 8000-level business courses, MBA courses, or tax courses at the Law School, as approved by the Director of the 150-Hour Program. A graduate student must maintain a graduate GPA of at least a 3.0 to avoid being placed on probation. If a student is placed on probation, the student has one semester to raise his/her GPA above a 3.0 in order to continue in the graduate level of the 150-Hour Program. To graduate, a student must have a graduate GPA of at least a 3.0. At the graduate level, nine hours is considered full-time.

Specialization Opportunities

Graduate students may use their accountancy electives and business electives to complete an emphasis in information systems or taxation. These are the two formal specialization tracks.

Upon completing the requirements listed below, a student will receive a Graduate Certificate issued from the Graduate School in either information systems or taxation.

The Information Systems Certificate requires that a student complete 18 hours of information systems courses (of which a mimimum of 12 hours must be in graduate courses). Examples of graduate-level courses that qualify as information systems courses are:

Accountancy 8358 Systems Analysis & Design
Accountancy 8414 Information Systems Assurance and Control
Accountancy 8438 Forensic Accounting 
Accountancy 8448 Emerging Issues in Accounting Information Systems
Management 8100 Exploring the Digital Globe
Management 8420 Decision Support Systems

The Tax Certificate requires that a student complete 15 hours of courses in taxation (of which a minimum 12 hours must be in graduate courses), including an undergraduate tax course.

The required accountancy courses include:

Accountancy 8373 Taxation of Business Entities (or Accountancy 4373)
Accountancy 8423 Tax Research & Judgment
Accountancy 8453 Tax Issues & Analysis

The additional 3 hours of graduate-level taxation coursework may be taken at the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School by utilizing the graduate business electives. Examples of courses offered at the Law School are:

Law 5325 Advanced Topics in Taxation
Law 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation
Law 5465 Corporate Taxation
Law 5555 Estate Planning and Taxation
Law 5675 International Taxation
Law 5815 Partnership Taxation
Law 5915 Tax Research
Law 5916 Taxation of Property Transaction

A student is not required to pursue a certificate in information systems or taxation. A student may choose to take courses in both areas. Students may also utilize their business electives to obtain an emphasis in an area of business such as management, marketing, or finance. If a student is interested in taking MBA finance courses, the prerequisite for these courses is Finance 4010 or 7410 and 7420. If a student is interested in taking MBA marketing courses, the prerequisite for these courses is Marketing 4000 or 7460 and 7470.

Courses to Consider Taking at the Graduate Level

Accountancy Courses
Here is a list of accountancy courses, along with their descriptions, for students to consider taking at the graduate level. Keep in mind that this list may change each semester, depending upon enrollments and faculty availability.

Required Courses:

7365 Governmental Accounting and Budgeting (3). Introduction to government and not-for-profit accounting. Concepts and principles of fund accounting, budgeting, auditing, and financial reporting in government and not-for-profit entities. Prerequisite: 3326.

7384 Auditing Theory and Practice I (3). Introduction to the auditing profession, assurance function, and generally accepted standards for conducting audits. Prerequisites: 3328 and 3346.

8450 Accounting and Business Strategic Analysis (3). Capstone course in the Master of Accountancy program. Emphasis on case analysis to develop critical thinking and analytical skills in the use of accounting reports for broad-based business analysis. Prerequisites: 3346 or equivalent and graduate standing.

Accountancy Electives:

7940 Professional Accounting Internship (3-6). Provides full-time professional accounting work experience. See Director of 150-Hour Program for requirements to receive credit. Graded on S/U basis only.

8358 Systems Analysis and Design (3). The systems development process, including modeling, diagramming, controls, and implementation, with emphasis on business process modeling, REA (Resources, Events, Agents) modeling, and creating an enterprise resource planning (ERP) prototype. Prerequisite: 2258. CECS 1040 (or 1050) is also recommended (Spring semester).

8373 Taxation of Business Entities (3).  Federal income taxation of corporations and shareholders, partnerships, and S corporations.  Prerequisite:  4353 or 7353.

8404 Internal Audit (3).  Review of the entire internal audit process including annual audit and engagement planning, fieldwork, reporting, and management communication.  Other topics include internal controls, enterprise risk management, and key behavioral skills.  Prerequisite: 4384 or 7384. (Spring semester)

8414 Information Systems Assurance and Control (3). A combination of control theory, concept application, demonstration of actual practice, and student research to develop an understanding of the concepts and practices used in the design, development, or assurance (auditing) of information systems (IS) controls. Prerequisites: 3328 and either 4384 or 7384 (Spring semester).

8419 International Accounting (3). Introduction to accounting regulations and practices outside of the U.S., accounting regulation for foreign registrants on the NYSE and NASDAQ, international accounting standards and international management control issues. Review of cultural frameworks; transfer pricing methods, and international accounting standards. Prerequisites: 3346 and 3347 (Study Abroad Program, Spring semester).

8423 Tax Research and Planning (3). Development and application of professional tax research and planning skills.  Focus is on formulating solutions to realistic tax cases and communicating results to other tax professionals and clients.  Responsibilities of CPAs in tax practice is also covered. Prerequisites: 8373 (or concurrent enrollment in 8373). (Fall semester)

8424 Fraud Examination (3).  A study of the methods and techniques of fraud examination, particularly with regard to frauds prepetrated by the company against the public.  The ethical and professional standards that underly the accountant's responsibility for fraud detection and prevention are emphasized.  Prerequisite: 4384 or 7384 (or concurrent enrollment), Graduate standing.

8425 Accounting for Governments and Other Nonprofit Entities (3).  Builds on basic concepts discussed in beginning Governmental Accounting, analyzing governments and nonprofits in more detail.  Overview of the government and not-for-profit environment, policy issues, and standard-setting process.  role of accounting information in planning, managing, and controlling nonbusiness organizations; reporting to external parties, concepts of governmental auditing.  Prerequisite:  4365 or 7365.

8436 Financial Accounting Theory and Practice III (3). Continuation of 3346.  Addresses a series of special financial accounting topics including income taxes, pensions, leases, business combinations, consolidated statements, and foreign currency translation. Prerequisite: 3346.  (Fall semester only)

8438 Forensic Accounting (3).  Coverage of forensic accounting processes and tools used in the detection and prevention of fraud against the company.  Topics include skimming, cash larceny, check tampering, billing schemes, and others.  An emphasis of the course is on the use of forensic accounting software tools.  Prerequisite: 3328, 4384 or 7384, or department consent (Fall semester).

8448 Emerging Issues in Accounting Information Development (3). The focus of the course is on giving students an understanding of how a company implements purchased systems to manage and provide intenral controls over its business processes.  Students use an SAKP tutorial to implement parts of a company's ERP system.  As part of the process, students study how to implement good internal controls.  Prerequisite: 3328.  (Fall semester, if offered)

8453 Tax Issues and Analysis (3). At a policy level, focus is on critical evaluation of the major tax areas that are subject to current debate or reform, as well as on the research evidence regarding the impact of different tax policies.  At a strategy level, focus is on how households/firms should optimally respond to various tax policies. Prerequisite: 8373 or concurrent enrollment in 8373.  (Spring semester)

MBA Courses
The list of MBA courses changes each semester.  The following courses are offered frequently.  Usually these courses are offered only one semester each year.  In any given semester, some of these courses are only offered as 1 1/2 credit modules.  Please see the Director of the 150-Hour Program (Phyllis Moore) during pre-registration to get a list of courses that are available for accountancy students.

Management Courses:
Management 7380 Org Behavior: The Individual and Management 7390 Org Behavior: Dyadic, Group and Org Process
Management 7400 Problem Solving Using Spreadsheets (counts towards IS certificate)
Management 8100 Exploring the Digital Globe (counts towards IS certificate)
Management 8310 Advanced Human Resource Management
Management 8340 Organizational Design and Management 8345 Org Culture
Management 8410 Decision-Making and Risk (counts towards IS certificate)
Management 8420 Decision Support Systems (counts towards IS certificate)
Management 8510 Project Management

Finance Courses: (Note: To be eligible to take an 8000-level Finance MBA course, you must have taken the prerequisite, which is Finance 4010 or 7410 or 7420.)

Finance 7620 Investment Strategy of Warren Buffet
Finance 7820 Investment Fund Management (requires application)
Finance 8001 Topics in Finance
Finance 8320 Financial Markets
Finance 8340 Derivative Financial Securities
Finance 8360 Equity Securities Analysis
Finance 8370 Fixed-Income Securities Analysis
Finance 8440 Financing Multinational Business
Finance 8510 Management of Financial Institutions

Marketing Courses: (Note: To be eligible to take an 8000-level Marketing MBA course, you must have taken the prerequisite, which is Marketing 4000 or 7460 and 7470.)

Marketing 8001 Topics in Marketing
Marketing 8060 Competitive Marketing Strategy and Marketing 8070 Marketing Business Models
Marketing 8350 Business to Business Marketing
Marketing 8420 Sales Force Management
Marketing 8520 Services Marketing
Marketing 8720 International Marketing
Marketing 8750 Brand Management

Law School Courses
The list of Law School tax courses changes each semester.  The Law School sets up its list of offered courses once a year.  The Director of Masters Programs distributes a list to students each semester.  Here is a sample of the law courses that are frequently offered (most are offered only one semester a year):

Law 5325 Advanced Topics in Taxation
Law 5375 Basic Federal Income Taxation
Law 5465 Corporate Taxation
Law 5555 Estate Planning and Taxation
Law 5675 International Taxation
Law 5815 Partnership Taxation
Law 5915 Tax Research
Law 5916 Taxation of Property Transaction