Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Accounting Certificate


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This certificate program is designed to prepare individuals, who already possess an undergraduate degree in another field of study, for a career or graduate study in accounting.

Program Requirements


The certificate program consists of 15 credit hours in accounting; plus up to 10 credit hours of Non-Accounting Core and up to 6 credit hours of Accounting Foundation courses. The certificate is open to individuals 1) who possess an undergraduate degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.33 or 2.) a master’s level (or above) degree.

Career changers who already have completed an undergraduate course of study will have earned, at the completion of the certificate program, 135 or more hours of the 150-hour requirement to sit for the CPA exam. Individuals wishing to sit for the CPA exam should also take BUS 280 - Legal Environment of Business . Those who need additional credits to meet the 150-hour requirement, and who do not wish to enter a graduate degree program, may take additional accounting electives and/or other business or undergraduate courses of interest to meet the credit-hour requirement to sit for the CPA exam. Matriculated undergraduate students are not eligible to obtain this certificate.

Required Non-Accounting Core (up to 10 credits)*


*Courses are a prerequisite to one or more of the Accounting Certificate Core courses. Required Non-Accounting Core may be waived on a case by case basis. Students entering the Certificate in Accounting program prior to the Fall 2017, are grandfathered and are not required to complete the Non-Accounting Core.

Accounting Foundation Courses (up to 6 credits)**


**The foundation courses (six credits) are prerequisites to one or more of the Accounting Certificate Core courses.

Required Accounting Core Courses (15 credits)


Courses must be taken in the order required by the prerequisite structure in effect. Enrollment in specific courses is based on eligibility criteria and availability of space in the courses. Enrollment in some courses may be restricted or prohibited in any given semester due to high demand from degree students. Admission into the certificate program does not guarantee admission into any other USM program or enrollment in any specific course. Students must complete the required 15 credit hours within four years after the application date and must earn a minimum 2.33 cumulative GPA (with a minimum grade of C- in each course) to obtain the certificate. Students may be able to apply earned certificate course credit toward an undergraduate business degree at USM with an accounting major if the minimum GPA requirements are met.

Students who have completed required coursework elsewhere, prior to admission to the certificate program, may petition to substitute up to three credits (one course) of another 400-level ACC course for one of the required courses (a grade of C or better in the course taken elsewhere is required). Non-matriculated students enrolled in this certificate program will not be eligible for financial aid.

Course Sequence


Level 1


Level 3


Level 4


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