MPAc Curriculum
All students meet with the the Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAc) Director during their first semester of graduate study. This conference is intended to assist the student in formulating a graduate program that integrates the student's background and areas of interest, and in completing the student's required Program of Study form.
The master's program requires a minimum of 30 semester hours of acceptable course work beyond a bachelor's degree. A minimum of 21 credits of course work must be taken on campus at Montana State University-Bozeman (MSU). The number of required credit hours may vary, depending on prior course work. Students with a degree in accounting generally complete their course work in one full year (two or three semesters).
Required Courses:
The following seven graduate classes, totaling 21 credits, are required, plus electives:
Fall | Cr. | Spring | Cr. | ||
ACTG 514 | Fraud Examination | 3 | ACTG 521 | Advanced Auditing | 3 |
ACTG 522 | Accounting Analytics | 3 | ACTG 526 | Advanced Taxation | 3 |
ACTG 525 | Accounting Theory & Complex Issues in Accounting | 3 | ACTG 529 | Survey of Accounting Topics | 3 |
ACTG 536 | Advanced Accounting | 3 | Elective (See list below) | 3 | |
Elective (See list below) | 3 | Elective (See list below) | 3 | ||
15 | 15 |
NOTE: The courses listed above are offered only in the fall or spring as designated above.
Approved MPAc Electives (9 credits):
Course Description | Semester of Offering | |
ACTG 531 | Tax Practicum | Spring |
ACTG 544 | Professional Accounting Issues | Fall/Spring |
ACTG 598 | Internship (max 3; P/F) | Fall/Spring/Summer |
Undergraduate Course Options | ||
ACTG 401* | Prin of Fed Tax | Fall |
ACTG 410* | Cost/Mgmt Accounting I | Fall |
ACTG 411* | Auditing I | Fall/Spring |
ACTG 415* | Govt. & Nonprofit Acct I | Fall/Spring |
ACTG 421* | Acct Info Systems II | Spring |
ACTG 431* | VITA | Spring |
ACTG 441* | Fin Statement Analysis | Fall/Spring |
BFIN 420R* | Investments | Fall/Spring |
BFIN 421* | Real Estate & Invest Analysis | Spring |
BFIN 435* | Corporate Finance | Fall/Spring |
BFIN 452* | Int’l Finance | Fall |
BFIN 456* | Fin Mgmt for the Entrepreneur | Fall |
BFIN 458* | Commercial Bank Mgmt | Spring |
BFIN 460* | Derivatives & Securities | Fall/Spring |
BMGT 405* | Supply Chain Mgmt | Fall |
BMGT 406* | Negotiation | Fall/Spring |
ECNS 403 | Intro to Econometrics | Fall/Spring |
ECNS 451 | Behavioral & Experimental Economics | Fall |
EFIN 401 | Engineering & Economic Financial Mgmt II | Fall |
EFIN 405 | R Lab Class II | Fall |
EFIN 499 | Financial Engineering Design Capstone | Spring |
EIND 434 | Project Mmgt for Engineers | Fall |
EIND 457 | Regres & Multivar Analysis | Spring, even years |
EIND 458 | Production & Engineering Mgmt | Spring |
PSYX 461 | Indust & Organiz Psych | On Demand |
PSYX 481 | Judgement & Decision Making | On Demand |
STAT 408 | Statistical Computing & Graphical Analysis | Fall/Spring |
Graduate Non-Business Course Options | ||
PSCI 525 | Non-Profit Mgmt | Fall |
PSCI 530 | Tools of Public Administration | Summer |
PSCI 555 | Human Resources Mgmt | Fall |
PSCI 560 | Ethics & Public Service | Spring |
*Cannot be used as electives or for degree requirements if the course has already been
used as part of another degree program.Maximum of 9 credit hours of approved 400-level course work may be included in the
30-credit MPAc program, if at least 6 of these 9 credit hours are ACTG or BFIN classes.Otherwise, 6 credit hours of approved 400-level course work may be included.
Academic Requirements
Students are required to achieve at least a 3.0 GPA each semester and maintain at least a cumulative GPA of 3.0 at all times while in the MPAc program. Additionally, students with provisional admittances will be required to adhere to the provisions of their admittance.
Length of Program
Students with an undergraduate degree in accounting generally complete the MPAc program
in one full year (two or three semesters).
Students with an undergraduate degree in business, but not accounting, must complete
course work equivalent to that for an undergraduate accounting degree at MSU, which
averages approximately three semesters of additional study.
Students with an undergraduate degree in a non-business area must complete a common
body of knowledge in business courses (finance, information systems, law, management,
and marketing) in addition to the undergraduate accounting courses, which averages
approximately 2.5 years of additional study.
Program Load
Nine to 15 semester credits is considered a full graduate load for a student in the MPAc program.
Financial Assistance
The Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship offers scholarships for graduate
students. Application is made during the month of November only and is an electronic application (no paper copy). Students who wish to be considered
for a scholarship should contact Beth Schmidt in the Dean's office.
A limited number of graduate teaching assistantships are also available to fully admitted graduate students and are awarded on a competitive
basis.
Graduate teaching assistant positions may be for one or two semesters. Graduate teaching
assistants (GTAs) provide teaching support to faculty and tutoring services for students.
In exchange, the GTAs receive a partial tuition waiver and a small monthly stipend.
International students: please find the admission forms, including the International Graduate Student Financial
Certificate form here.
For more details on financial aid, please see Financial Aid Services homepage.