Accounting

The School of Accountancy offers many unique opportunities to earn honors credit. The two introductory classes, ACC261 and ACC271, are dedicated honors sections which are only open to Barrett honors students. Barrett students from all W.P. Carey majors are able to take these courses, which gives you the opportunity to interact with students in other disciplines. These courses fulfill the lower division accounting requirement of every business student (i.e. ACC231/232 and ACC 241/242). Students may also earn honors credit for participating in case competitions sponsored by Big 4 accounting firms (1 credit hour achieved through an Honors Enrichment Contract) or by participating in VITA, a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program provided in the Phoenix area. The volunteer work is performed in late fall and early spring semesters and is equivalent to 3 credit hours achieved through and Honors Enrichment Contract with a sponsoring faculty member. Additionally, most upper division accounting classes offer individual honors contracts, at the discretion of the professor.

Students completing the honors thesis through the School of Accountancy may earn up to six hours of upper-division honors credit. Accountancy majors may use ACC 492 in the semester the project begins to earn up to 3 credits, and ACC 493 in the semester the thesis is defended (typically 3 credits). The prefix (ACC, CIS, ECN, FIN, MGT, MKT, etc.) of the credits will correspond to the department of the Thesis Director. Students should connect with their Thesis Director early to determine the number of credits to enroll in. The number of credits is at the thesis director’s discretion. We recommend using the standard of 1 credit is equal to 45 hours of student effort. Students should typically enroll in 3 credits for 493; however, the courses are built to accommodate additional credit if a student did not take 492. Students are limited to 6 credits between 492 and 493 for the thesis. It is based on the number of work hours the student plans to put into the project and agreed to with their Thesis Director.

We have several other programs that are not reserved exclusively for honors students, but normally include a large number of Barrett students. The School of Accountancy has a Beta Alpha Psi chapter which is an honorary accounting organization. This organization provides numerous opportunities to interact with the professional accounting community. Beta Alpha Psi sponsors technical events, workshops on how to improve interviewing skills, as well as community service projects which not only further develop your education, but also expand your networking ability.

Accountancy students are involved in a variety of honors thesis projects in a number of disciplines, including accounting. Students can choose from a wide range of topics for their accounting thesis. Some recent examples are issues associated with home owners associations, best practices for recruiting minority students into the accounting profession, how to retrofit dying shopping centers and turn them into multi-use facilities and others have developed websites that give helpful information on taxes. Most students complete their thesis in their junior or senior year. Completing an honors thesis is seen as a real accomplishment by the professional accounting community. To help you plan your thesis project, the School of Accountancy holds an informational session in the fall regarding the thesis project. If you have any questions regarding the thesis process, please contact the department's honors advisor.