Accountancy

Get The Best Preparation from a Comprehensive Curriculum

The accountancy curriculum at Thomas More College is unique, blending a sound liberal arts foundation with exceptionally strong accountancy studies. In fact, the number of accountancy courses required at Thomas More far exceeds the usual number required at other schools. Through these courses, you'll learn essential accounting principles and theories as well as how to put them into practice in real-world situations. Rest assured the curriculum meets and surpasses the course requirements recommended by professional organizations and mandated by many State Boards of Accountancy.

Why Thomas More for Accountancy?

Experienced, Dedicated Faculty
Full-time faculty members bring over 40 years of combined experience from diverse accounting backgrounds to the classroom. Each is either a Ph.D./CPA or a MBA/CPA, and some continue to practice public accounting. All faculty members are strongly dedicated to ensuring the success of their students and are readily available to students outside the classroom.

Cooperative Education
All accountancy majors at Thomas More can put their classroom knowledge to work by participating in the cooperative education program. This program offers work opportunities in public accounting or in the accounting departments of businesses or nonprofit organizations. In addition to being paid for their work, co-op students can also earn academic credit (up to 15 credit hours) for their efforts. Frequently, co-op students are offered full-time positions with their co-op employer after graduation.

Flexible Options for CPA Preparation, Including an Accelerated MBA Program
The accountancy program offers several ways to accumulate the required 150 credit hours to sit for the CPA exam. Possible options include:

• Enrolling in Thomas More's accelerated MBA program upon graduation.
• Selecting a second major field of undergraduate study. Business administration, economics, and computer information systems are recommended second majors.
• Pursuing one or more associate degrees.
• Choosing any combination of elective courses leading to 150 credit hours. Note that credit earned in the co-op program also counts toward the 150 credit hours.

Traditional Day and Adult Evening Programs
In addition to its traditional day program, the Department of Accountancy also offers an evening program tailored exclusively to the working adult student. All accountancy courses in this program are offered in an intensive eight week format. By attending only one class meeting a week, adult students can complete two accountancy courses in one semester.

Dual Degree Option For Working Adult Students
Working adult students pursuing a bachelor's degree in accountancy can also earn a baccalaureate degree in business administration by entering Thomas More College's TAP program. Prior to TAP admission, students must: complete all accountancy courses (36 credit hours), ECO 105, and GEC 096 (if necessary); earn at least 48 semester credit hours; and possess significant employment experience. Current TAP students may also pursue an accountancy degree upon completion of the baccalaureate TAP business curriculum. Students interested in either dual degree option should contact the Chairperson of the Department of Accountancy for further details.

Associate Degree
Students can earn an associate degree in accountancy by completing four additional accountancy courses beyond the introductory accounting course sequence. This degree may be especially attractive to business students with a finance emphasis, economics majors specializing in finance, and computer information system students.

The VITA (Volunteers in Income Tax Assistance) Program
All accountancy students at Thomas More can gain valuable practical experience and, at the same time, help the community by participating in VITA. Students in this program prepare income tax returns for low income-individuals and the elderly.

Outstanding Job Placement
Graduates of the accountancy program have secured highly sought positions at Big 4 CPA firms, national, regional and local CPA firms, and major corporations. Also, because of the excellent reputation of the program, employers often directly contact the Department seeking recruits.

Be Part Of A Strong Team

As a testament to the accountancy program's strength, Thomas More's Tax Team ranked among the top 20 finalists in each of the final six years of the Arthur Andersen Tax Challenge, competing against more than 100 teams from schools such as Brigham Young, the University of Michigan, The Ohio State University and the University of Southern California.

For More Information

R. Steven Flynn, Ph.D., CPA
Department of Accountancy
Thomas More College
859-344-3316
steven.flynn@thomasmore.edu