MS Acct.

CPA Program
For New Fall 2010 MS in Accounting Students Important Information About:
Your Official Program of Study
Course Waivers (p.2) DegreeWorks Degree Audit System; Ignore It (p.3) Switching from MS to MBA, Accounting Major (p.3) Notes & Alerts About Registration (closed classes, etc., p. 3 - 4) Scheduling Your Courses (p.4) o The Accounting & Tax MASTER SCHEDULE (p. 9) Full-Time Student Guidelines (p.5) Part-Time Student Guidelines (p.6) o Prerequisites for Accounting & Tax Courses (p.7) o o o o

CPA Requirements (p.8) Who to Contact (p.8) General Business Courses: Waiver Criteria (p.10) Welcome On behalf of the Baruch College accountancy faculty and the Office of Graduate
Academic Services, welcome to Zicklin and the MS in accountancy (CPA Program). This document focuses on your program requirements and scheduling your courses. Additional important information about the Advanced Business English (ABE) Program, QuickStart pre-term modules, spring registration, Orientation, international student information, English language waiver exam, etc., is found on the Graduate Admissions Fall 2010 New Student Website: http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/admissions/grad/. Click on New Student Website in lower left corner of Graduate Admissions Homepage: login name = Baruch, password = zicklin.

Registration
is online through e-SIMS beginning July 7th; you must submit immunization documentation in order to register; go to http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/admissions/mmr.htm for immunization instructions.

Your Official Program of Study (OPS)

You will receive two copies of your OPS. It lists the courses you must take and includes any course waivers for which our review of your previous coursework indicated you were eligible.

Please sign one copy and send it back to Graduate Academic Services in the envelope provided, keeping the second copy for your records. We send a copy to the Registrar. Please note. When you apply for graduation near the end of your program, the Registrars Office will compare the courses you have taken with your OPS (not with the DegreeWorks degree audit system) to determine whether you have met your program requirements.

About Course Waivers

A waiver is the elimination of one of the courses normally required for the MSA on the basis of previously completed coursework. Preliminary and General Business course waivers can be based on courses taken at any regionally accredited business program. Accounting and tax course waivers can only be based on courses taken as part of AACSB-International accredited programs. Students with many waivers must remember that, to be eligible to receive the MSA: - At least 30 credits must be taken at Baruch, including, - At least 24 credits of accounting and tax. Waivers are included on your OPS and are listed on your transcript. [However, waivers of one or more of the 3 electives (9 credits) listed at the bottom of the General Business courses on the OPS are not listed on the transcript, nor is the total credits required for the degree. Currently those are only included on the OPS.]

Calculus and the General Business Waivers. - No time limits on previous coursework completed prior to enrollment. - Grades must have been B-or higher. - Waiving LAW 9800 (Business Law) and/or STA 9708 (Statistics) each requires two semesters (6 credits) of previous relevant coursework to waive. Waivers of the calculus and all the other General Business courses can be based on one equivalent course. See p. 10 for each courses waiver criteria.

Accounting and Taxation Waivers. - Only courses taken within the three years prior to enrollment at an AACSBInternational accredited school can be courted toward waivers (ACC 9811 allows 5 years); Grades must have been B (not B-) or higher; ACC 9112 (Financial Accounting: Intensive) requires completion of two financial accounting courses, one basic and one intermediate, both at least 3 credits; Previous accounting majors eligible for many waivers must take at least 24 credits of accounting and tax. If they waive more that 10 of the 34 credits of required accounting 2

and tax courses they must take additional courses to get them above that 24 credit minimum. If you believe you may be eligible for waivers that are not authorized on your OPS, send information regarding the content of the related course(s) to Graduate Academic Services (contact information, p. 8). Please note: If you wish to take a waived course because you feel you need to cover that material again, please contact the Office of Graduate Academic Services.

DegreeWorks Degree Audit System is available, but is not yet accurate for accounting programs.
You may have seen this new system on the website. It will eventually be very helpful in listing the overall requirements and tracking whats been completed and whats left in your accounting program, as it does already for most other programs. However, do not look for your program requirements there. Your OPS is the document you should be using to keep track of the courses you have completed and those you still need.

Switching from MS in accountancy to MBA accountancy major? Decide soon!

MS students with very few waivers are advised to consider the MBA accountancy major, a very similar program. Since students would be taking most of the courses anyway and the MBA has somewhat more impact as a credential, it is often the better choice. (The MS makes more sense for students with many waivers since they can complete the CPA requirements and take the exam more quickly.) A complete discussion of the pros and cons is available on the Zicklin School, MS in accountancy website. Students switching programs should do so before they register, but no later than November 1, 2010. Contact Zicklin Graduate Admissions or Graduate Academic Services for the necessary form and directions.

Important Notes & Alerts Regarding Registration

English Proficiency waiver exam if your native language is not English: Students
are required to take English language course work, which can be waived by exam: log on to the New Student Website and click on Important Pre-Term Programs.

If you need a course that has closed: - See also Advice and Registration Information for Flex-Time MS Degree Program
You may put your name on an on-line wait list if you are closed out of ACC and TAX courses, CIS 9000, MKT 9703, STA 9708, ECO 9708, ECO 9709, TAX 9862, and LAW 9800. For other courses, please contact Graduate Academic Services (see p. 7).

To access the wait list go to: https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/registrar_appt/waitlist/index.jsp (PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL REQUESTS)
-Enter your Student ID (Social Security #) and PIN number -The PIN number will be your date of birth in the format YYMMDD unless you changed it to something else. [You can log in after your registration appointment time] -Now you can add courses by selecting Add Courses to My Wait List. Select a discipline and click Add Me to add the class to the wait list.

-The course timings do not match exactly with those shown on eSims. You can register for the class that is closest to the time slot which you need.

Pay your tuition by the due date on your eSIMS account or you will be dropped from your courses shortly thereafter.
Pay your tuition for current courses by the due date on your eSIM, even if you plan to adjust your schedule at a later date. - Go to: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/registrar/documents/fall2010InfoandAcaPolupdated.pdf for information on tuition payment, deferred payment, etc. - Contact the Bursars Office if you need to discuss tuition payment: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/bursar/

Scheduling Your Courses

The MASTER SCHEDULE of accounting and tax courses [see last page]. Every effort is made to offer these accounting and tax courses - and LAW 9800 according to this same schedule each fall and spring semester. Having the schedule should help you work around the fact that only one section of most of these courses can be offered each term, and only LAW 9800 is available in the summer as well as fall and spring. (See the sample full-time and part-time term-byterm schedules below.) ACC 9901 Special Topics (Forensic Accounting) and ACC 9826 (Internal Auditing) are listed on the schedule but are not part of the MS in accounting requirements unless you were an undergraduate accounting major who is eligible to waive several accounting courses. Such students need additional accounting credits. Please review your OPS carefully and note that there are no accounting or tax electives in the MS program without the waivers of at least 3 or 4 accounting/tax required courses.

Guidelines for scheduling your courses.

The following guidelines emphasize the accounting and tax course requirements. Students who need preliminary and/or general business courses should take them concurrently with the accounting/tax courses.

Course Scheduling Limitations:

-

Preliminary and General Business courses; 4

o MTH 8001 is given in the summer and January Intersession only. It is not a prerequisite for other courses and, if not waived, it may be taken at any point in your program. (A waiver exam and study guide is available at http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/ogs/gas/forms/waiver.pdf/view; a study guide is available in the Office of Graduate Academic Services. Students must take the waiver exam before their final semester.) o ECO 9708 and 9709 are given in fall and spring, as well as January and summers. o Many General Business courses are given in the summer, but usually not CIS 9000 and STA 9708, o LAW 9800 is usually given in fall, spring and summer.
-

Accounting and tax courses o Are not given in the summer, o ACC 9804 Financial Accounting I & II is the most challenging course in the program for most students. The scheduling guidelines encourage limiting the number of accounting courses taken with it in the same term.

Sample Schedules.
If you take ACC/TAX/LAW courses in combinations that are not reflected in the sequences below, you risk course conflicts. Carefully review the master course schedule on page 9 (and course prerequisites on page 7), to avoid conflicts.

NOTE:

Full-Time Student Sample Schedules (12 or more credits)

If ACC 9112 was not waived: Fall 10*
ACC 9112, TAX 9862, LAW 9800 and 1 or 2 required general business courses

Spring 11* Fall 11

ACC 9804 ACC 9811 TAX 9878 ACC 9805 ACC 9821 ACC 9816

Spring 12
ACC 9807
[May also be taken the previous term.]

* Important Note for F-1 visa students with waivers: If you have many waivers and will be taking no general business courses in these first two semesters, the accounting, tax and law courses only add up to 11 credits and you are normally required to take at least 12. The prerequisite and scheduling constraints make it impossible to take more of these courses than this schedule indicates. The International Student Services Center (ISSC) must be notified that the program structure necessitates your taking less than 12 credits this term. Contact Graduate Academic Services (see p. 8) to request that the appropriate notice be sent to ISSC.

If ACC 9112 was waived: Spring 10

ACC 9804, TAX 9862 & ACC 9811 or 2 required general business courses

Fall 10
ACC 9805 ACC 9816 LAW 9800

Spring 11
ACC 9807 ACC 9821 TAX 9878

Any required preliminary and general business courses should be taken throughout the program, depending on the course-load with which you are comfortable.

For additional guidance in scheduling your courses, please see the accounting Master Schedule on p. 9 and the Prerequisite Requirements on page 7. It is possible for good students (usually with some accounting courses in their background) who are only required to take the accounting, tax and law courses to complete the program in two semesters with special permission. ACC 9804, 9816, TAX 9862 and LAW 9800 (16 credits) are taken in the first term. If a GPA of at least 3.4 is obtained for those courses, permission to take ACC 9807 (afternoon section), ACC 9805, 9821, 9811 & TAX 9878 (19 credits) in the second term is available from Graduate Academic Services (see p. 8). However, students should normally allow for two full-time semesters plus one part-time semester of study.

Part-Time Student Sample Schedules (less than 12 credits)

General guidelines. You should to take ACC 9112 (if waived, take ACC 9804) in your first semester because it is wise to get started on your accounting courses and these two are important prerequisites for most of those courses. - ACC 9804 is a very challenging and intense course and part-time students should not take it with any other accounting courses, if possible. Required preliminary and general business courses should be taken concurrently with the accounting and tax courses. Some of them are offered in the summer terms. 2 vs. 4 days/week: The suggested schedules below minimize the number of terms where students who want to take two courses per semester would have to attend class four rather than two evenings a week.

Sample part-time schedules two accounting/tax courses per term:

If ACC 9112 was NOT WAIVED: Fall 10 ACC 9112 TAX 9862 Spring 11 ACC 9804 Fall 11 ACC 9811 LAW 9800 Spring12 ACC 9805 ACC 9821 Fall 12 ACC 9816 TAX 9878 Spring13 ACC 9807

If ACC 9112 was WAIVED:

Fall10 ACC 9804

Spring11 ACC 9805 TAX 9862

Fall11 ACC 9811 TAX 9878

Spring12 ACC 9816 LAW 9800

Fall 12 ACC 9807 ACC 9821

Accounting, Tax & Law Course Prerequisite Requirements.

Below is a listing of the prerequisite requirements for the advanced accounting, tax and law courses. Please note that these prerequisite listings are correct and that some courses may be taken in the same term that the pre/corequisite is taken. I. No Prerequisites ACC 9112 TAX 9862 LAW 9800 II. Prerequisite ACC 9112: ACC 9804 ACC 9811 ACC 9816 III. Prerequisite ACC 9804: ACC 9805 ACC 9821 VI. Pre- or Corequisite ACC 9805: ACC 9807

V. Other: TAX 9862 is the pre- or corequisite for TAX 9878; they may both be taken together.

CPA Requirements Overview

Anyone applying for CPA licensure in NY State must have completed at least 150 credit hours of undergraduate and/or graduate course work. Included among those courses must be AT LEAST 33 credits of accounting and taxation (GPA 3.0 needed in these courses), 36 credits of general business.

[NY State CPA education requirements no longer include specific or general liberal arts and sciences coursework.] Zicklins MSA program is a registered NY State CPA qualifying program. Graduating from this program guarantees that the CPA academic requirements have been met. The MSA and CPA GPA requirements: In addition to the 3.0 OVERALL GPA which Baruch requires to receive an MSA, you must also have at least a 3.0 GPA for all graduate ACCOUNTING AND TAX courses to meet the NY State CPA requirements. PLEASE NOTE: NY State has separated applying to take the CPA exam from the broader requirements for CPA licensure. Once candidates have completed 120 semester hours (credits) of college coursework that includes at least one course each in financial accounting, managerial or cost accounting, external auditing and taxation they are eligible to take the CPA exam. Passing the exam and completing the remaining requirements listed above make them eligible to receive the CPA license. The Baruch accounting faculty urges students to complete at least the full range of accounting and tax courses before taking the CPA exam. For complete information about NY State requirements to take the CPA exam and to become certified go to the NY State Education Department Office of the Professions website at http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/cpa/cpalic.htm.

For More Information and/or If You Have Questions

ABOUT CONTACT

Registration timing, schedules, Graduate Academic Services deadlines Room VC 13-221 Closed classes, academic policies, (646) 312-3140 grades and grading Tuition and payment requirements Course waivers Official Programs of Study (OPS) --------------------------------------------Lorraine Sachs NY State CPA requirements. Special CPA Requirements Advisor Accounting Department Room VC 12-225 (646) 312-3076 Office Hours usually Mon. & Tues. Lorraine.Sachs@baruch.cuny.edu ----------------------------------------------

[Accounting/Tax Course MASTER SCHEDULE: next page.]

6/10/MW/EB

Graduate Accounting Courses-MASTER SCHEDULE

[For MBA, Accounting Majors & MS in Accounting Students]

FALL SEMESTERS Monday & Wednesday Day @ 2:55 Tuesday & Thursday
Day @3:45 LAW 9800 Inten. Survey/Bus. Law (Fall 10)

9804 Intermediate Financial Acct 9807 Contemp. Topics in Acct. 9112 Financial. Acct; Intensive 9804 Intermediate Financial Acct. 9805 Advanced Financial Acct. 9807 Contemp. Topics in Acct. 9826 Internal Auditing (Fall 10)*

5:40PM

9811 Managerial Acct. Theory & Pr. 9816 Acct & Audit./ Comp Systems TAX 9862 Federal Income Taxation

7:35/40

9821 Auditing TAX 9862 Federal Income Taxation

TAX 9878 Taxation Of Bus. Entities LAW 9800 Inten. Survey/Bus. Law ACC 9901 Special Topics - Forensic Acct (Fall 10)*

SPRING SEMESTERS Monday & Wednesday Day @ 2:55

9804 Intermediate Financial Acct 9807 Contemp. Topics in Acct.

Tuesday & Thursday

5:40PM

9112 Financial. Acct; Intensive 9804 Intermediate Financial Acct. 9805 Advanced Financial Acct. 9807 Contemp. Topics in Acct.

9811 Managerial Acct. Theory & Pr. 9816 Acct & Audit./ Comp Systems

7:35/40

9821 Auditing TAX 9862 Federal Income Taxation

TAX 9878 Taxation Of Bus. Entities LAW 9800 Inten. Survey/Bus. Law

*ACC 9901 and ACC 9826 cannot be part of the MS requirements unless the student has a previous accounting degree. These courses are never MBAAccounting major requirements.

MS ACCOUNTANCY: GENERAL BUSINESS COURSES WAIVER CRITERIA (for further information see course descriptions) MTH 8001: 3-credit calculus course (not pre-calculus) with minimum C- grade.
Baruch undergraduate equivalent: MTH 2006, 2205, 2206, 2207, 3010, or any other calculus.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ ECO 9708: 2- or 3-credit course in microeconomics with minimum B- grade or 4-credit economics course that
includes macro and microeconomics with minimum B- grade. Baruch undergraduate equivalent: ECO 1001.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ ECO 9709: 2- or 3-credit course in macroeconomics with minimum B- grade or 4-credit economics course that
includes macro and microeconomics with minimum B- grade. Baruch undergraduate equivalent: ECO 1002.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ CIS 9000: 3-credit course in information systems; role of information systems in business strategy; various genres
of business information systems with a minimum B- grade. A management information systems (MIS) course is not assumed to be equivalent to CIS 9000. Programming courses are not considered equivalent. Baruch undergraduate equivalent for MS-ACC students only: CIS 2200.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ FIN 9770: 3-credit financial management or corporate finance course with minimum B- grade.
Baruch undergraduate equivalent: FIN 3000 or 3610.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ LAW 9800: 6 credits (usually two courses) of undergraduate US business law course work with minimum Bgrade. Baruch undergraduate equivalent: LAW 1101 and 3102.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ MGT 9300: 3-credit basic introduction to business management course with minimum B- grade.
Baruch undergraduate equivalent for MS-ACC students only: MGT 3120 or PSY 3181.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ MGT 9700: 3-credit operations management course with minimum B- grade. (An operations research course is
not assumed to be operations management.) Baruch undergraduate equivalent: MGT 3121.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ MKT 9703: 3-credit marketing management course with minimum B- grade.
Baruch undergraduate equivalent: MKT 3000.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ STA 9708: 6 credits (usually two courses) of undergraduate statistics with minimum B- grade. Can include
econometrics, biostatistics, psychometrics, social statistics, and research methodology courses. Baruch undergraduate equivalent: STA 2000 and another STA course or ECO 4000 or OPR 3300.

Three additional business courses in areas other than accountancy or tax (courses that are were not applied towards waivers)

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