Frequently Asked Questions

Today's exceedingly competitive global business environment elevates the importance of education, and a graduate degree is becoming more essential to career success than ever before. A graduate degree typically provides more job/career flexibility, opportunities for more responsibility, faster promotions, and higher compensation.

For individuals with an undergraduate degree in accounting and desiring to pursue a career in the accounting profession, the MAcc program of study provides more “value added” than other graduate business degrees. The MAcc immediately builds upon the undergraduate knowledge base, allowing students to better prepare for the myriad of challenges they will encounter in their professional careers. As a result, graduates of this program will likely experience long-term job flexibility, faster promotions, more responsibility and higher compensation in their professional careers.

The MAcc program at BGSU is administered by the Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems within the Schmidthorst College of Business. The Schmidthorst College of Business programs at BGSU are accredited by the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which is the highest level of accreditation obtainable by business schools. Further, both the undergraduate accounting and MAcc programs offered by BGSU have separate AACSB accreditation. This additional distinction of quality is enjoyed by very few accounting programs in the world! Thus, the BGSU MAcc program has an excellent reputation among business professionals. As a result, the "Big Four," several Fortune 500 Corporations, and numerous regional and local public accounting firms recruit our students. And, the BGSU MAcc allows students to start in the Fall semester and graduate the following Summer semester, making it a one year program.

The MAcc requires a minimum of 30 semester hours. This is comprised of a total of 10 courses: 8 required core courses, and 2 elective courses. These required core courses are described below:

ACCT 5560 (Information Systems Audit and Control- ISAC)

ACCT 6210 (Advanced Financial Reporting)

ACCT 6450 (Business Taxation for C & S Corps, Partnerships, Flow Thru’s)

ACCT 6540 (Business Assurance Services)

ACCT 6550 (Advanced Information Systems)

ACCT 6600 (Business Intelligence/Data Analytics)

ACCT 6730 (Professional & Ethical Issues)

ACCT 6750 (Current Issues in Managerial Accounting, Financial Accounting, and Auditing)

Students must have the equivalent of a United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) - based undergraduate degree in accounting to be considered for admission. In addition, a GMAT* or GRE* score must be provided. All of the candidate's application materials will be holistically considered when determining an admission decision.

*The GMAT or GRE is waived for accounting students from "Partner" universities, and for students from AACSB-accredited Business programs. For the current application year, the above standardized tests are waived.

Please refer to the Tuition and Fees for the most recent tuition and fee cost information; use the costs appearing in the "Graduate Bowling Green Campus" table. Note that course loads will be 12 semester hours (four courses) for each of the Fall and Spring semesters, and only 6 semester hours (two courses) for the Summer semester.

BGSU offers financial assistance to students admitted into the MAcc program on a competitive basis. This financial assistance is provided by tuition scholarships and graduate assistant stipends. The amount of funding awarded to MAcc students in these areas is primarily based upon the strength of the student's undergraduate academic credentials. Note that all students admitted into the MAcc program will automatically be considered for funding awards.

In addition, students enrolled in four (4) or more credit hours are eligible to apply for financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) to calculate student contribution and financial need. You may apply online at https://studentaid.gov/.

Apply Online

Making application to the BGSU MAcc program is straightforward. Note that "letters of recommendation" and "statement of purpose essays" are NOT required.

Click here for the online application: Apply online

You will be asked to upload the following documents:

1.      One transcript* from every college/university where a degree was awarded
2.      Official GMAT or GRE test scores**
3.      Most recent resume or curriculum vitae

*BGSU transcripts will automatically be forwarded to the Graduate College. 
**The GMAT or GRE is waived for accounting students from "Partner" universities, and for students from AACSB-accredited Business programs. For the current application year, the above standardized tests are waived.

Please note that the MAcc is a fall start only program. While there is no official application deadline, understand that admission and funding award decisions are made on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, it is in the student's best interest, from a competitive standpoint, to complete the online application as soon as possible.

Students will be notified of the admission decision via an electronic letter sent from the Graduate College to their email address as reported on their application.