Student Handbook
While every effort is made to provide accurate and current information, Indiana University reserves the right to change without notice statements in the Kelley School of Business “MSA Handbook” concerning rules, policies, fees, curricula, courses, or other matters. In addition, to the extent that the handbook is inconsistent with general policies and regulations of the Kelley School of Business or Indiana University, the rules and regulations of the Kelley School of Business or Indiana University will apply.
The Kelley School of Business
The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University fosters learning about the creation, management, and continuing adaptation of organizations and enterprises in an ever-changing world. This role requires that the school engage in:
- the generation and documentation of knowledge and the sharing of that knowledge with the academic and constituent communities;
- the organization and preservation of knowledge;
- the transmission of knowledge to a broad mix of students and practicing executives; and
- the application of knowledge to benefit our many acknowledged constituencies.
The MSA Program
The MSA program requires completion of 30 semester credit hours of study. Its design follows the guidelines set forth in the report of the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) described more fully below. The program’s curriculum ensures that students entering the accounting profession possess the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required for success in accounting career paths. Prerequisites to the program ensure that students have obtained the broad foundations of business theory, including economics, finance, management, marketing, accounting and law.
The MSA program is quite flexible. The program requires that each student complete 15 hours of coursework in accounting and/or systems. The remaining 15 hours allows students to develop a broad general knowledge or concentrate in a particular area of accounting. For example, students may select courses to build an expertise in a specific area such as taxation, systems, auditing and assurance, or management advisory services. Alternatively students could select one or more courses in each area. Note also that the program enables an individual to use the remaining 15 hours to create a concentration in a nonaccounting area such as finance, marketing, management, or economics.
Students may enroll at the beginning of any semester (fall, spring, summer I or II). Under certain circumstances, students who have not completed the prerequisites to the program may enroll in graduate business courses that satisfy MSA graduation requirements. Attendance may be full-time or part-time.
Educational Objectives of the MSA Program
The AECC has outlined the educational objectives that have guided the design of this program. Portions of the AECC report are reprinted below.
The Commission defines the accounting profession broadly. It includes career paths in public accounting as practice in large, medium, and small firms, corporate accounting (including financial management, controllership, treasury, financial analysis, planning and budgeting, cost accounting, internal audit, systems, tax, and general accounting), and government and nonprofit accounting.
Desired Capabilities
Accounting programs should prepare students to become professional accountants, not to be professional accountants at the time of entry to the profession. At the time of entry, graduates cannot be expected to have the range of knowledge and skills of experienced professional accountants. To attain and maintain the status of a professional accountant requires continual learning. Therefore, pre-entry education should lay the base on which life-long learning can be built. In other words, graduates should be taught how to learn. The base on which life-long learning is built has three components: skills, knowledge, and professional orientation.
- Skills
- To become successful professionals, accounting graduates must possess communication skills, intellectual skills, and interpersonal skills. Communication skills include both receiving and transmitting information and concepts, including effective reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Intellectual skills include the ability to locate, obtain and organize information and the ability to identify and solve unstructured problems in unfamiliar settings, and to exercise judgment based on comprehension of an unfocused set of facts. Interpersonal skills include the ability to work effectively in groups and to provide leadership when appropriate.
- Knowledge
- Accounting graduates should have general knowledge, organizational and business knowledge, and accounting knowledge. General knowledge will help accounting professionals to understand the complex interdependence between the profession and society and to interact with diverse groups of people. Such general knowledge should include an appreciation of the flow of ideas and events in history, an awareness of the different cultures and socio-political forces in today's world, a broad understanding of mathematics and economics, and an aesthetic sensibility. It will lead to an improved understanding of the world-wide economic, political, and social forces affecting society and the profession.
- Professional accountants must understand the work environments found in organizations. They must understand the basic internal workings of organizations and the methods by which organizations change. Because organizations are affected by rapidly increasing dependency on technology, accounting professionals must understand the current and future roles of information technology in organizations.
- A strong fundamental understanding of accounting is necessary for successful accounting careers. This understanding includes 1) the ability to identify goals, problems, and opportunities, 2) the ability to identify, gather, measure, summarize, verify, analyze, and interpret financial and nonfinancial data that are useful for addressing the goals, problems, and opportunities, and 3) the ability to use data, exercise judgments, evaluate risks, and solve real-world problems. The focus should be on developing analytical and conceptual thinking, not on memorizing professional standards.
- Professional Orientation
- Accounting graduates should identify with the profession and be concerned with developing the knowledge, skills, and values of its members. They should know and understand the ethics of the profession and be able to make value-based judgments. They should be prepared to address issues with integrity, objectivity, competence and concern for the public interest.
- Specialized Accounting Education
- Specialized accounting education should follow only after attainment of general accounting, organizational, and business knowledge. Therefore, it should be offered primarily at the post-baccalaureate level and via continuing education. Specialized accounting programs may include advanced study in financial accounting, management accounting, taxation, information systems, auditing, government (or nonprofit) accounting, and international accounting.
- Continuing professional education may overlap considerably with specialized accounting education offered by universities. The principle of comparative advantage should govern which types of specializations are offered by universities and which by others.
