Accounting


Faculty Honors Advisors

Carol Liu
David Shields

About this opportunity

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.

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.

Thesis

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.

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. For general college information on W. P. Carey thesis projects, including how to obtain permission to enroll in thesis credit, click here.

Academic Preparation

Examples of work typically completed in the first semester include: Assessment of Academic Journals and Literature Review, Develop Research Question(s) and Project Objectives, Complete training (if needed) for responsible Research Practices, complete Research Methodology Design Plan, Preliminary Data Collection, Proposal Presentation and Personal Reflection.

Examples of work typically completed in the second semester include:

  • Thesis Inventory
  • Additional Data Collection
  • Data Analysis
  • Final Draft ApprovalThesis Defense.

Recommended Timeline

The typical timeline is for the student to begin their project by recruiting a Thesis Director in the late spring semester of their junior year. Once the prospectus has been developed, the fall semester of the Senior year is spent on conducting appropriate research, the spring semester is then devoted to analyzing the results of the research, writing the thesis and presenting the results to the committee members and other attendees.

Other Honors Opportunities

W. P. Carey is proud to offer a specialized honors version of core business curriculum. This honors version, offered in Fall and Spring semesters, takes a deeper dive into course material and allows students to engage on a higher level with their faculty and peers. Students of all business majors are able to access these courses:

  • ACC 261 Honors Fundamentals of Financial Accounting covers ACC 231/232
  • ACC 271 Honors Fundamentals of Managerial Accounting covers ACC 241/242
  • CIS 236 Honors Information Systems covers CIS 105 & 236
  • ECN 231 Honors Business Statistics covers ECN 221
  • FIN 303 Honors Finance covers FIN 300/302
  • MKT 303 Honors Marketing Theory & Practice covers MKT 300/302
  • MGT 303 Honors Organizational Strategies/Leadership covers MGT 300
  • SCM 303 Honors Global Supply Operations covers SCM 300

College

W.P. Carey School of Business

Campus

Tempe

Academic Unit

School of Accountancy