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Accounting Leadership Online Graduate Certificate

Fast facts

Fact 1

Credit Hours

12

Fact 2

Per Credit

$730

Fact 3

Duration

8 Months

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Program Benefits

  • No GRE/GMAT required
  • Digital Badging for all Graduate Certificate Courses
  • 12 Credits towards Certified Public Accountants (CPA) licensure earned.
  • Hours for courses can be applied to the time needed to sit for the CPA exam.
  • Apply for classes today: classes start 8/21/22
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HomeOnline ProgramsAccounting Leadership Certificate

Looking to Jumpstart your Career in the Business and Financial World?

Our Accounting Leadership certificate program makes it easy to comfortably take your first steps toward success. This program provides rigor and expertise from anywhere in the world through online courses. Perfect for professionals currently working in the accounting field and looking to advance their careers into management-level roles that need leadership experience to do so.

Gain Complex Accounting Leadership Skills

Take your next step towards a successful career in accounting with the Accounting Leadership certificate program through Saint Mary's. With established courses and qualified faculty already in place, you will find everything you need in one rigorous program designed to help you elevate your potential. Our low-cost-per-credit courses make it easy for you to balance your personal responsibilities without a heavy financial burden.

Our program delivers a unique level of training in the art of financial communication and remains relevant in regard to emerging topics and trends within the financial industry. Our courses are specifically designed to provide students with the most up-to-date and reliable resources, and qualified and dedicated faculty are established and committed to student success. Make the most of your certificate and continue on with the opportunity to complete a Master of Science in Accounting by taking only 6 more courses after the Certificate program completion.

Accounting Leadership Certificate Curriculum/Courses

These courses are formulated to provide you with the right tools to build on the skills needed for an accounting management role. The novelty of the certificate is in developing financial communication skills and the ability to stay on top of emerging issues. By completing the four courses in the certificate, you have an opportunity to finish the master's degree in accounting taking only six more courses. 

Saint Mary's Accounting Leadership Graduate Certificate Courses

These courses were created to provide graduate-level, transcribable, courses of study to help you achieve your educational and career goals quickly. You can use the skills you've learned to design a custom learning experience by using your additional certificates to create a powerful graduate degree experience. You will also be awarded a course-level badge upon the successful completion of each of the graduate course offerings and will also be awarded the graduate certificate badge upon the successful completion of all coursework required for the Accounting Leadership graduate certificate. 

Increase Your Interactions and Engagement

Now you can share your accomplishments with your professional network using our digital badging for each course completed throughout your course of study in the Accounting Leadership graduate certificate program. Learn More

Digital badges are an excellent way for you to verify and visually showcase specific leadership knowledge and skillsets you've gained through each of Saint Mary's certificate programs for

  • Current and potential employers
  • Credentialing programs
  • Admissions offices
  • Other colleagues

ACCT680 Contemporary and Emerging Issues (3 credits)

This course identifies developing areas in accounting and encourages students to research the issues, think critically, evaluate alternatives, and communicate conclusions orally and in writing. The course addresses the role of the contemporary accountant, international accounting standards, the future of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (F.A.S.B.), standard setting and regulation, ethics, and other developing issues.

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:

  1. Examine and summarize the role that the accountant plays as a strategic business partner.
  2. Analyze the historical and current accounting standard setting process.
  3. Compare International Standards to US GAAP.
  4. Research and summarize current accounting emerging issues.
  5. Analyze the current Congressional business tax rulings.
  6. Communicate conclusions with clarity and coherence.

ACCT600 Financial Communication (3 credits)

This course provides students with an understanding of how accounting and other information necessary to assess a firm’s economic status is created, packaged, and disseminated to a company’s management team and external users such as investors, customers, analysts, and the financial media. The course also covers academic writing used in the program and information literacy required for research.

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:

  1. Evaluate methods used to communicate complex accounting concepts.
  2. Interpret how effectively annual reports communicate an organization’s objectives.
  3. Develop different communication strategies for all stakeholders.
  4. Employ multimedia, hypermedia, and electronic literature resources to gather and distribute accounting and business knowledge and information.
  5. Employ clear writing and speaking skills appropriate to the audience.
  6. Capture ideas, data, and relationships visually.

ACCT610 Leadership and Ethics (3 credits)

This course covers how accounting leaders assist a company in making strategic financial decisions and explores the relationship between ethics and leadership. Students learn behaviors to accelerate high performance and create an ethical environment.

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:

  1. Develop a definition of ethical leadership that encompasses social responsibility and civic engagement.Use tools for conflict resolution, managing diversity, and building teams.
  2. Use tools for conflict resolution, managing diversity, and building teams.
  3. Evaluate team strategies to enhance team productivity.
  4. Analyze organizational theories to manage strategically.
  5. Assess the congruence between personal norms and ethical principles.
  6. Demonstrate respectful engagement with others’ ideas, behaviors, and beliefs.
  7. Apply diverse frames of reference to decisions and actions.
  8. Resolve issues based on evidence weighed against relevant criteria.

ACCT645 Data Analytics for Accounting (3 credits)

This course uses data analytic processes and models to identify, translate, test, and communicate financial information. Students learn to identify data quality and reliability and to explore problem solving through statistical data analysis.

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:

  1. Explain why data analytics matters to accountants.
  2. Apply and translate accounting data.
  3. Analyze and visualize data sets of an organization.
  4. Develop and interpret results of KPIs and financial analysis.
  5. Interpret and evaluate using the IMPACT approach.
  6. Prepare text mining and sentiment analysis on financial statement data.
  7. Communicate financial reporting data in a professional and engaging manner.

What You'll Learn

  • Be well-versed in emerging and global accounting issues, the art of ethical decision-making, and the skills needed to communicate complex financial information. 
  • Earn 12 credits towards Certified Public Accountants (CPA) licensure.
  • Earn 12 credits towards a Master’s Degree in Accounting at Saint Mary's.

Strategize and Navigate Your Team in the Complex Business World

The skills and knowledge learned in the online Accounting Graduate Certificate program are essential to those looking to immerse themselves into the workforce after graduation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can expect the following from a career in the accounting and auditor field:

  • From 2020 to 2030 a 7% increase employment rate1
  • Average of 130,000 openings each year1 
  • $73,560 median pay1

In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also projects the following potential roles and wages:

  • Budget Analyst: $78,970 median pay2
  • Financial Management: $134,180 median pay2
  • Personal Financial Advisor: $89,330 median pay2

Certificate Completion/Admission Requirements

  • Complete in as little as 8 weeks; designed to be completed in less than a year
  • No GRE/GMAT required- Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university required
  • Scholarships are available

For more information about the online graduate certificate in Accounting Leadership, contact us or call 877-308-9954 to speak to an enrollment counselor.