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Accounting

  • Bachelor of Science
  • Minor

As evidenced by the strong demand in recent years for SVC accounting graduates, the marketplace has clearly seen the value of an degree in accounting. An undergraduate major in accounting offers a student not only the specific skills needed to begin a career in accounting, but also provides a broad overview of all areas of a business enterprise. Students will be prepared to sit for the CPA upon graduation if they choose the route of public accounting.

Undergraduate Programs

What Can I Do With a Degree in Accounting?

The McKenna School undergraduate curriculum in accounting offers a student not only the specific skills needed to begin a career in accounting, but also provides a broad overview of all areas of a business enterprise. Our accounting majors have the unique ability to enter the public accounting profession after completing their undergraduate studies.

  • Curriculum strengths include auditing, taxes, not-for-profit accounting, cost accounting, accounting information systems with SAPinfusion and international accounting.
  • The McKenna School offers SAP Business One certification. SAP’s comprehensive business software suite is utilized by thousands of prominent world class companies such as Kennametal Inc., Heinz Corporation, KPMG, Latrobe Specialty Steel Co. and Siemens.

Curriculum Requirements

  • Requirements for a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting

    All Accounting majors must take College and Business Core Classes.

    Business Core (44 credits)
    BA 100 Financial Accounting I (freshman year) - 3 credits
    BA 170 Organizational Behavior (freshman year) - 3 credits
    BA 220 Principles of Marketing (2nd semester freshman year) - 3 credits
    BA 265 Management Information Systems (sophomore year) - 3 credits
    BA 305 Business Ethics (junior year preferred) - 3 credits
    BA 320 Corporate Finance I (sophomore year) - 3 credits
    BA 340 Business Law (junior year) - 3 credits
    BA 350 Statistics I and BA 350A Excel Lab (sophomore year) - 4 credits
    BA 351 Statistics II and BA 351A Excel Lab (sophomore year) - 4 credits or
    EC 360 Econometrics (sophomore year) - 3 credits
    BA 495 Business Policy and Strategy (senior year) - 3 credits
    EC 101 Principles of Microeconomics (freshman year) - 3 credits
    EC 102 Principles of Macroeconomics (freshman year) - 3 credits
    PS 100 Principles of American Politics - 3 credits
    MA 109/111 Calculus I (freshman year) - 4 credits
    BA 00P ePortfolio Requirement (semester of graduation--pass/fail)

    Accounting Major Requirements (27 credits)**
    BA 101 Financial Accounting II (freshman year) - 3 credits
    BA 200 Intermediate Accounting I - 3 credits
    BA 201 Intermediate Accounting II - 3 credits
    BA 300 Cost Accounting I - 3 credits
    BA 310 Taxes I - 3 credits
    BA 405 Auditing - 3 credits
    BA 470 International Accounting - 3 credits

    Choose two courses from the following:
    BA 301 Cost Accounting II - 3 credits
    BA 311 Taxes II - 3 credits
    BA 325 Analysis of Financial Statements - 3 credits
    BA 400 Advanced Accounting - 3 credits
    BA 406 Forensics Auditing - 3 credits
    BA 420 Accounting Information Systems - 3 credits
    BA 440 Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting - 3 credits

    Additional courses
    BA 304 SAP Financial and Accounting Applications - 2 credits
    BA 312 Tax Lab - 1 credit

    **Total credits required for the business administration accounting major is 70 credits. After completing this major and the college core, you will have 6 credits for electives.

  • Requirements for a Minor in Accounting

    Accounting Minor: Required Courses 
    BA 100 Financial Accounting I - 3 credits 
    BA 101 Financial Accounting II - 3 credits
    BA 200 Intermediate Accounting I - 3 credits 
    BA 201 Intermediate Accounting II - 3 credits 

    In addition to the above, choose any two of the following:
    BA 150 Managerial Accounting - 3 credits or BA 300 Cost Accounting I - 3 credits
    BA 301 Cost Accounting II - 3 credits 
    BA 310 Taxes I - 3 credits 
    BA 311 Taxes II - 3 credits
    BA 325 Analysis of Financial Statements (Corporate Finance majors may not count this course) - 3 credits 
    BA 400 Advanced Accounting - 3 credits 
    BA 405 Auditing - 3 credits 
    BA 406 Forensics Auditing - 3 credits 
    BA 420 Accounting Information Systems - 3 credits 
    BA 440 Government and Not-For-Profit Accounting - 3 credits
    BA 470 International Accounting - 3 credits

Job Placements and Careers

  • Job Placements and Internships

    Our students have secured jobs and internships in several areas of accounting and related fields. Some include:

    All-Covered (SAP)
    Baker Tilly
    BDO
    Be One Slutions Americas
    Bestborn Business Solutions
    Binkley Kanavy
    BNY Mellon
    Carclo
    Carpenter Technologies
    DeBlasio Group
    Deluzio & Company
    DG Sisterson
    EG Conley
    ERB
    Ernst & Young
    FamilyLinks
    Federated Investors
    First Financial Services
    Frazier Sandzimier Company
    General Electric
    Grant Thornton
    Herbein and Company
    Highmark Health
    Holsinger P.C.Grossman, Yanak & Ford
    Kencove Farm Fence Supplies
    Kennametal
    Lally & Co.
    LBSi
    Limpach
    Master-Lee Energy Services
    Navigator (SAP)
    Optum; Blckout Tinting
    Philips Respironics
    PNC
    Practical Administrative Solutions
    PricewaterhouseCoopers
    Privatey Industry Council
    Regulatory and Quality Solutions
    Schneider Downs, Maher Duessel
    Silver Creek Services
    Standard Bank
    Stellar One (SAP)
    TechSpec
    Thomas Automotive Family
    U.S. Department of Defense
    UPMC
    Westmoreland County Controller’s Office

     

  • Career Options

    There are many career options in accounting including:

    Account Processor
    Auditor
    Financial Analyst
    Private Accounting
    Public Accounting
    Retail Staff Accountant
    Graduate School

  • Graduate and PhD Programs

    Masters Programs:

    University of Pittsburgh, MS in Accounting
    Notre Dame, MS in Accounting
    Saint Vincent College, MSMOE

Accreditations and Affiliations

The McKenna School of Business has seven undergraduate programs and one graduate program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). They are: Accounting, Business Education Information Technology, Business Economics, Finance, International Business, Management,
Marketing and the Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence graduate program. Three programs in Business Data Analytics (launched Fall 2020), Sports Management (launched Fall 2021) and Business Administration (launched Fall 2021) are in candidacy for accreditation.
ACBSP Accreditation

 

The Economics, Politics and Criminal Justice programs are not accredited through the ACBSP; however, all programs in the McKenna School have regional accreditation through the Middle States Association. The ACBSP is one of the two premier accrediting agencies for business schools worldwide.

Attributable to our ACBSP accreditation, students receive in depth knowledge in 12 business core competency areas: Accounting, Management, Business Ethics, Marketing, Information Systems, Business Finance, the Legal Environment of Business, Statistics, Business Policies, Economics, Quantitative Skills and Global Dimensions in Business. 

With a requirement for faculty professional development (e.g., publications and research) and courses primarily taught by faculty holding doctorates, the ACBSP is the leading business accreditation program devoted to teaching excellence and service to students.

The McKenna School is also a member of the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration.

Distinctive Features of the McKenna School Accounting Major

The newly released 2017 University Edition of the NASBA Report ranks universities according to the first time pass rate on the CPA exam. For institutions (281 universities) with 21 to 60 reported candidates, the Saint Vincent College ranked 24th in the nation. The report also lists results for “First-Time Testing Events within 1-Year of Graduation.” Fourteen recent McKenna School graduates took the CPA exam with an 84% pass rate, which places SVC #2 in Pennsylvania—Lehigh University beat us with an 84.5% pass rate. Okay, but we beat Lehigh in 2016. In this category, our pass rate surpassed every university New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. In addition only one university in each state beat us in New York, Ohio, California, and Massachusetts. I want to personally congratulate our accounting graduates and the McKenna School accounting professors: Dr. Robert DePasquale, Dr. Charles Fazzi, Professor Thomas Holowaty, Adjunct Professor Jeff Anzovino, Adjunct Professor Eva Kunkel, Adjunct Professor Anthony Mucha, Adjunct Professor Richard Williams, and Adjunct Professor Thurman Wingrove.

Our accounting job placements are exceptional. From the Class of 2017, 29 out of 29 (100%) are working in their field.

Students can complete the 150 credit hour requirement for the CPA in four years.

Faculty

Robert DePasquale
Professor of Accounting
rob.depasquale@stvincent.edu 

Thomas Holowaty
Professor of Accounting
thomas.holowaty@stvincent.edu 

Martha Fusco
Instructor, Business Administration
martha.fusco@stvincent.edu 

Christina Gibson
Adjunct
christina.gibson@stvincent.edu 

Anthony Mucha
Adjunct
anthony.mucha@stvincent.edu 

Undergraduate Programs
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