Our joint BBA/MPA program is more than accounting. It’s a world-class curriculum built on the skills you need to join the ranks of savvy business leaders across the globe. First, choose any Goizueta BBA area depth. Then, select from a wide range of MPA academic pathways to maximize your career in investment banking, security analysis, consulting, corporate finance, corporate accounting, entrepreneurial enterprises, public accounting, and more!
Joint BBA/MPA
Two Degrees. Twice the Impact.
Plan Your Journey
Academic Pathways
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Consulting, Corporate Accounting/Finance
This pathway equips you with the management tools necessary to direct the best interest of the organization and further its success. Make informed decisions in planning, evaluating, and controlling an entity. -
Investment Banking & Security Analysis
Gain keen insights to assess corporate performance and how accounting metrics impact return opportunities and investment potential in business organizations. -
Public Accounting Business Analysis & Reporting (BAR)
Develop critical thinking skills to prep for the CPA exam and start your career in assurance or advisory, financial statement analysis and reporting, technical accounting, along with financial and operations management. -
Public Accounting Tax Compliance & Planning (TCP)
Tax pros gain mobility in all sectors of the economy. Prep for the CPA exam and careers in individual tax compliance and planning, personal financial planning, entity tax compliance and planning. -
Public Accounting Information Systems & Control (ISC)
Accountants are technology leaders. Prep for the CPA exam and careers in managing/analyzing big data, ensuring data security, assurance and advisory services related to business processes, information systems, and information security and governance. -
Generalist
This track allows you to design your own area of specialization. Select your own coursework with any 10 of the diverse accounting graduate electives.
Professional Credentials & Dual Certifications
Graduates of the MPA program obtain a wide variety of professional credentials to help demonstrate their level of competence and experience in leading business fields. Get started on your professional certification, receive discounted or free leading exam prep material, and even plan a course for dual certification as a CPA and CMA.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Goizueta students rank top 10 among leading U.S. business schools in first time CPA exam completion. Become licensed as a certified public accountant and carry the most recognized credential in business.
Certified Managerial Accountant (CMA)
CMAs are experts at explaining the “why” behind the numbers, not just the “what.” Their designation is globally recognized with superior wages premiums, and MPA students can receive a CMA scholarship to cover exam fees and all study materials! Plus, you can sit for the CMA before graduation.
Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)
CIAs are the globally recognized professionals in internal audit and compliance for government agencies, financial institutions, and corporations. The average CIA makes 10-15% more than non-certified auditors. Plus, you can sit for the CIA before graduation.
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
A chartered financial analyst is a globally recognized professional that measures and certifies the competence and integrity of financial analysts. It’s the gold standard in the field of investment analysis.
Certified Info Systems Auditor (CISA)
If IT systems and control is your thing, the Certified Information Systems Auditor® (CISA®) is the world-renowned standard of achievement for those who audit, control, monitor and assess an organization’s IT and business systems.
Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
Anyone can call themselves a financial advisor. Only those who have met CFP Board’s high standards for certification can call themselves a CFP® professional. Over 90% of consumers say the feel more confident working with a certified financial planner.
MPA Fall Courses
This course teaches students how to use analytics with financial data to make better, data informed decisions. This course is an overview course and is designed to expose students to the many ways data analytic tools can be used in accounting settings. To teach students how to successfully combine their understanding of accounting concepts with data analytics skills and tools, this course focuses on: (1) reframing business issues that require the use of accounting knowledge into specific analytical questions, (2) manipulating data and calculating answers to the above framed questions; and (3) communicating results with appropriate context in a meaningful and easy to understand manner. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 520) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisite: ACT 200, BUS 350, and Python Toolbox (if offered), or equivalent
Firms invest resources to glean information about future political developments and shape their disclosure practices to potentially influence political outcomes. In this class, you will learn how businesses leverage information dynamics to manage the risks and opportunities presented by political systems. We will examine government regulation of industry, activist and public interest groups, the role of lobbying and campaign contributions in the policymaking process, ethical frameworks for corporate political strategy, and related topics. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 599R) requires additional deliverables.
​Prerequisites: None
This course will expose you to state-of-the-art research and valuable frameworks on the optimal use of accounting information for forecasting and on the identification of market inefficiencies in using accounting information for equity valuation. You will identify relevant research, access appropriate databases, and use effective tools for performing analyses to distinguish between the fundamental value versus investor sentiment components of stock prices. Using these accounting signals will therefore aid in identifying mispriced stocks. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 599R) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
This course covers the internal generation and interpretation of information for strategic and operational decision-making purposes, which is of paramount importance for decision-making in organizations. You will learn how to identify information that is relevant for decision-making, cost and revenue behavior, different costing techniques, profit planning, customer profitability analysis, and how to evaluate performance against plans. This course is especially useful if you are interested in consulting and will prepare you for your interviews with consulting companies.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
Sustainability is about taking care to preserve and protect our planet and people. This course focuses on how companies can tell their ESG story with meaning, relevance, context, and success. We will discuss how a company can tell an effective sustainability story, whether sustainability reports add value to a stakeholder, what they should measure, and how meaningful they are, especially absent a common required framework. We will also discuss the standards the company should follow, company ESG ratings, especially in the context of the SEC’s call for greater disclosure about climate change. The graduate level version of this course (ACT599R) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: None
This course examines the foundations of financial accounting and reporting. We will examine accounting issues from the point of view of the preparer of the financial statements as well as from the perspective of the auditor and users of financial statements. We will review the accounting cycle and cover US and international financial reporting standards for the reporting of cash, receivables, inventories, and long-lived tangible and intangible assets. We will take an analytical and critical approach to the preparation and use of financial reports, particularly to assessing the “quality of earnings” reported in the financial statements. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 612) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
This course provides a fundamental knowledge of taxes for individuals, corporations, partnerships, and S corporations. Topics include the types of taxes, the role of the federal income tax, tax planning for income and deductions, income measurement, tax accounting, business expenses and losses, depreciation and cost recovery, passive activity gains and losses, taxation of property transactions, non-recognition transactions, tax credits, and the alternative minimum tax. We will lay the foundation for understanding the federal tax policy and basic concepts that are common to most tax provisions. This course should enable you to understand the role of taxes in decision-making and risk management.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
In this course, you will learn how to report and analyze mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and affiliate holdings, noncontrolling interests, goodwill and bargain purchases, intercompany transfers of inventory and long-lived assets, foreign currency transactions, derivative financial instruments and hedging transactions, investments in foreign subsidiaries, operating segments, discontinued operations, and equity carve-outs and spin-offs. Throughout the course, you will analyze the effects of these transactions on the financial performance of well-known firms operating around the world.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
MPA Spring Courses
This course covers financial reporting and analysis of government and nonprofit organizations. We will cover topics related to governments, including fund accounting, general and special-purpose funds, and government-wide financial statements for both Federal and state/local organizations. We will also cover topics related to nonprofits, including tax exempt status, Form 990, unrelated business income, private foundations, contributed vs. earned income, functional expenses, endowments, split-interest agreements, and mergers and acquisitions.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 and ACT 312A, or equivalent
In this course, you will develop an understanding of the assumptions, principles, procedures, and concepts underlying personal financial planning with an emphasis on developing personal and financial goals, understanding sources of income, budgeting cash flows, saving emergency funds in the short term and developing relevant objectives, managing risk through insurance, taking advantage of employer provided benefits, tackling major life transactions, filing and minimizing taxes, navigating wills, trusts, estates, advanced directives, and power of attorney, and developing a financial plan. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 530) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: None
This course focuses on how to align employee decision-making with organizational objectives, highlighting various forms of compensation and management control systems that rely on accounting and performance measurement information (i.e., internal information). This course will help students translate organizational objectives into action through the design of effective performance measurement techniques, performance-based compensation schemes, and other management control mechanisms. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 5XX) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: ACT 200, ACT 513, or equivalent
LedgerTech refers to the contemporary technologies such as Blockchain that are revolutionizing accounting. We will discuss the origins and evolution of double-entry ledgers and why they play such a critical role in today’s global economy. We will show how blockchain technology relates to and differs from traditional ledgers and why blockchain represents a disruptive technology in accounting. We will also discuss how crypto assets are inherently connected to ledger technology, how LedgerTech is changing the audit process, and issues related to reporting crypto assets, regulation, and taxation. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 599R) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: None
This course covers the internal generation and interpretation of information for strategic and operational decision-making purposes, which is of paramount importance for decision-making in organizations. You will learn how to identify information that is relevant for decision-making, cost and revenue behavior, different costing techniques, profit planning, customer profitability analysis, and how to evaluate performance against plans. This course is especially useful if you are interested in consulting and will prepare you for your interviews with consulting companies.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
This course covers how fundamental analysis, valuation models, and portfolio optimization can be used for investing, both conceptually and practically. You will learn how to design an “end-to-end” accounting-based investing system from concept to implementation, including state-of-the-art accounting-based valuation models, innovative methods such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, and the coding skills required to calibrate these models for forecasting and prediction. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 6XX) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 and FIN 320, or equivalent, and familiarity with a programing language (ideally Python, but other languages will also be sufficient)
This course builds on the foundational knowledge learned in ACT 200 and focuses on financing instruments, such as bonds, leases, and stocks. You will develop the skills and knowledge to read, understand, and evaluate the financial reporting of debt and equity on both the face of the financial statements and the detailed footnotes. We will also cover accounting for income taxes, stock compensation, treasury stock buybacks, derivatives. and earnings per share. This course will teach you about these transactions from the perspective of both the preparer and user of a company’s financial statements, using real-world examples and cases. The graduate level version of this course (ACT 625) requires additional deliverables.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
A typical business elects its legal and tax form under which it will operate: C Corporation, Partnership, or a S corporation. This course focuses on federal taxes as well as multi-jurisdictional taxes of the various business forms, both multi-state and international taxes. We will examine the operating rules that apply to C corporations, Partnerships, S corporations and the effects of various transactions on the entity and its owners. We will also discuss tax strategies for various business forms for federal, state, and international taxes.
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent
In this course, you will learn how to make professional judgments involved in providing audits and other assurance services, with a focus on audits of financial statements. You will develop a broad theoretical understanding of fundamental auditing concepts (e.g., assertions, audit risk, materiality, risk assessment, client acceptance, planning, internal control, evidence, reporting, audit quality). The course will provide you with an understanding of why auditors do the things they do (or, in some cases, why they should do the things they should do).
Prerequisites: ACT 200 or equivalent