Accounting

Undergraduate Program

Bachelor of Arts

Major, Minor

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Why This Program?

Built to prepare you for your CPA exams.

Accounting is about much more than crunching numbers. A bachelor of accounting degree from Briar Cliff will provide you the opportunity to develop a broad overview of the accounting system and exposure to the subfields of microeconomics and macroeconomics, cost accounting, managerial accounting and tax accounting. This program is built to be career-focused, efficient, and flexible.

Outcome Focused: Our program is designed to prepare you for the most important test you will ever take - the Uniform Certified Public Accountant examination. There are many different career options an accountant can pursue without becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). However, the CPA is the most globally recognized certification for accounting majors. Becoming a CPA is a long-term commitment requiring dedication over several years, and opens up almost every door in the business world.
Real Experience: Specialized courses taught by experienced faculty who bring their real-world perspective into the classroom. As an accounting student at Briar Cliff, you'll help with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program; helping low-to-moderate income families and elderly individuals in the community file their taxes. It is a chance for you to truly make a difference, while learning skills to become a successful accountant! We also help students find internship opportunities, ensuring you graduate with real world experience.
Efficient: Our program is organized to easily accommodate traditional undergraduate, transfer, and continuing education students. You will work with your advisor to ensure you graduate within the timeline that makes sense for you.
Flexible: Briar Cliff offers a range of online degree programs and provides you customized content that you can read, listen to, watch, and interact with based on whatever way you learn best.

We pride ourselves on helping you fit your education into your busy lifestyle to help earn your degree and be eligible and ready for the CPA exams as quickly as possible. This degree will enable you to help businesses run more efficiently. It will transform you into a socially responsible problem-solver who helps organizations run with honesty and integrity.

More About the Program

This program is designed to deliver a quality education and develop individuals who can provide leadership in a changing global environment, within an ethical and socially responsible framework. This is accomplished through a broad education using business theory and practice and based upon a liberal arts foundation. Our expert faculty employ a variety of teaching techniques, including lectures, cases, role-playing, seminars, directed study, internships and computer team simulations to emphasize not only technical competence but also the ethics of professional service. This approach seeks to foster sensitivity and responsiveness to social responsibilities, as well as the ability to identify and pursue personal opportunities.

The curriculum in accounting is designed with the principal goal of developing a level of technical competence necessary to prepare students for a career as a professional accountant. The required coursework provides the student with the minimum educational requirements to sit for the Uniform Certified Public Accountant examination and other similar professional accounting certifications. This program has also been designed to provide the student with a broad educational background which emphasizes social responsibility and professional service. Course work has been designed to build on the student's liberal arts foundation coursework that emphasizes reading, writing, mathematics, research, critical thinking and problem-solving skills to accomplish these objectives.

Upon graduation, students majoring in accounting will be able to demonstrate competencies in the core areas of research, problem solving, statistical analysis, computer skills, mathematics, oral communication and writing, apply ethical reasoning to decision making and demonstrate personal and team leadership skills, exhibit knowledge of the legal, regulatory, ethical and technological issues inherent in the global environment of business today, demonstrate skills necessary to progress in a career and/or pursue advanced studies, demonstrate an overall perspective of the basic elements of accounting theory, concepts and applications, and apply fundamental knowledge of economics, finance, information systems, accounting research, law, management and international business to decision making.

Career Options

Every business needs accounting support to exist. In the last three years, our program graduates have gone on to work for a wide variety of private and corporate companies including: