Bachelor of Science in Accountancy

Our Accountancy program provides students with expert-led courses throughout our innovative program. Upon completion of our program, students will have knowledge in some of the most in-demand fields of accountancy including tax, financial accounting, audit, and management accounting. In other words, our students become a ‘jack of all trades’ in the world of accounting with the option to specialize in a specific field if they stay for our graduate program.

Additionally, students will complete general education requirements that help shape them into more critical and mindful individuals as they take on new challenges. They will also complete the Business Core that helps our students develop a full understanding of how all areas of business interact to better take on these challenges.

So let an Accountancy degree from Gies be the ticket to your future!

Required Courses

For descriptions for these courses, click here. To see a sample plan for the major, click here.

Course Number	Course Name	Credits	Prerequisites
ACCY 301	Atg Measurement & Disclosure	3	ACCY 202 or equivalent
ACCY 302	Decision Making for Atg	3	ACCY 202 or equivalent; BADM 210 or concurrent enrollment or equivalent
ACCY 303	Accounting Institutions and Regulation	3	ACCY 301; FIN 221
ACCY 304	Accounting Control Systems	3	ACCY 301; ACCY 302
ACCY 312	Principles of Taxation	3	ACCY 202 or equivalent
ACCY 405	Assurance and Attestation	3	ACCY 304
Choose one of the Following:
ACCY 410	Advanced Financial Reporting	3	ACCY 303 or consent of department
ACCY 451	Advanced Income Tax Problems	3	Senior standing; ACCY 312
Optional Electives:
ACCY 419 (Spring only)	Financial Accounting for Governmental and Nonprofit Entities	3	ACCY 301 or consent of department
ACCY 398	Practical Problems in Atg	0 - 16	Enrollment in BSA or MAS programs; Consent of the Department
ACCY 449 (Spring Only)	Tax in Action - VITA	1 - 2	ACCY 312; Junior or Senior Standing

Frequently Asked Questions

What order should I take these courses in?

Most students will follow this sequence as they get into their major coursework:

1st Semester in ACCY major: ACCY 301 & 302
2nd Semester: ACCY 303, 304, and 312
3rd Semester: ACCY 405
4th Semester: ACCY 410 or 451

It is important to note that this is not always the sequence students follow so you will want to work with an ACCY advisor to determine when you should take these courses and if you would benefit from taking one or both of the ACCY electives we offer.
How strictly are prerequisites enforced?

Strictly.

When planning out your future semester here, please pay attention to the prerequisites to avoid any issues with registration. This is one of the reasons we advise students meet with an ACCY advisor to plan out future semesters because missing a prerequisite may affect your graduation date.
Is there any way to get experience as a student before graduating?

Juniors and Seniors who are looking for experience before graduating may want to take ACCY 449 - Tax in Action - VITA. This program helps residents of Champaign-Urbana file their tax returns. It is a vital service to provide to community members and is great experience for all our ACCY students. If you are considering going into tax, this is a course you would want to consider taking for hands-on experience.

Outside of this course, we always encourage student to speak to the Office of Career and Professional Development to help them find internships and other work opportunities prior to graduation.
Should I take ACCY 410 or 451?

Short answer, it depends.

Longer answer, often this comes down to personal preference. Students will get their first exposure to tax in our curriculum when taking ACCY 312. Students then use this course to gauge whether they would want to take the advanced tax course (ACCY 451) or the advanced financial reporting course (ACCY 410). In a similar line of reasoning, if students prefer ACCY 303, they then typically plan to take ACCY 410 since it is the prerequisite course.

Other times this choice is dependent on if the student wants to go into the MAS program but at that point, we would recommend discussing this with an ACCY advisor because depending on what concentrations you choose to go into, this will affect your choice between ACCY 410 and 451.
Can I study abroad while majoring in ACCY?

It depends. While studying abroad, you cannot take ACCY courses which can cause issues when planning for future semesters. This is because our prerequisites are strictly enforced for our courses. So to make sure there will be no issues with graduation, talk with an ACCY advisor and they will help determine if you have room in your schedule for it. Your academic advisors also help with planning your study abroad courses so it is important to meet with them for this as well.

As a quick note, sometimes students just cannot work a study abroad semester into their course plan. Because of this, we encourage them to look at some of the shorter abroad experiences offered over the Summer, Winter, and Spring break. For more information on these, click on this link here and look under the "Explore" tab to see short term study abroad programs.
Should I take ACCY 201 and 202 here or can I transfer them in?

For student considering the ACCY major, we always encourage them to take our ACCY 201 and 202 since our introductory level ACCY courses best prepare you for the rest of our major coursework. However, it is not required you take the introductory courses here.
How does the ACCY major course content translate to the CPA?

Since many of our students are interested in becoming a Certified Public Accountant following graduation, we have provided this information on our CPA Resource Page.