The Curriculum


The goal of the accounting curriculum is to provide a broad liberal arts education with an emphasis on development of a strong foundational understanding of accounting theory and practice.  In addition to the General Education requirement, completion of the Economics/Accounting major requires the following:

  • Core Requirement in Accounting (three courses)
  • Core Requirement in Economics (three courses)
  • Statistical Skills Requirement (one course)
  • Economics/Accounting Electives: Four additional courses in Accounting.  At least two of these courses must be chosen from among Level Two accounting electives (see below).  Elective courses are arranged in two categories: Economics 151-152 are Level One electives; Economics 149 and 153-159 are Level Two electives.
  • Senior Thesis


Accounting Core Courses

  • Econ 86. Accounting for Decision Making
  • Econ 150. Asset and Income Measurement (Intermediate Accounting I)
  • Econ 191. Business Law


Economics Core Courses

  • Econ 50. Principles of Economic Analysis
  • Econ 101. Intermediate Microeconomics
  • Econ 102. Intermediate Macroeconomics


Statistical Skill Requirement (one of the following)

  • Econ 125. Econometrics
  • Econ 134. Corporate Finance


Elective Courses

  • Econ 149. International Accounting, Taxation, and Transfer Prices
  • Econ 151. Strategic Cost Management
  • Econ 152. Tax Planning
  • Econ 153. Corporate Governance Systems
  • Econ 154. Financial Statement Analysis
  • Econ 155. Valuation and Reporting of Financial Liabilities and Equity (Intermediate Accounting II)
  • Econ 156. Advanced Topics in Financial Accounting
  • Econ 157. Design of Adaptive Management Systems: Management as a Liberal Art
  • Econ 158. Auditing
  • Econ 159. Accounting Theory and Research


Senior Thesis Requirement

Consideration for honors in Accounting requires that the student's senior thesis be about a topic in accounting and be directed by a member of the accounting faculty.  Topics vary widely and include both exploration of the theory of accounting and empirical studies based on accounting and related data.  Recent theses by our students delved into diverse issues such as underfunded pension plans, corporate governance, ethics, inflation accounting, intellectual capital, tax shelters, internal controls, and real estate investment trusts.  Students with dual or double majors may opt to complete a thesis in their other major if they are not interested in pursuing honors in Economics/Accounting.