Accounting Department
Shaw-Smyser 327
(509) 963-3340
acct@cwu.edu
What is accounting?
Accountants practice accounting which is the art and science of:
Traditionally, accountants have worked with financial data and information generated by the economic transactions that organizations engage in. Accountants use that information to produce:
Accountants (known as auditors) also use their skills and knowledge to verify that an organization's financial information has been prepared in a manner that complies with certain national and international standards.
Why should I consider an accounting career?
Accounting is a demanding and stressful profession that provides accounting professionals with both economic and psychological rewards. Those who are most likely to have successful and fulfilling careers are especially attentive to the latter and choose a career path that is consistent with their personalities. Successful accountants are:
Contrary to the popular impression, accountants must enjoy working with people. Accounting is about people more so than numbers.
Because there are so many different kinds of decision makers who use an organization's financial information, there are many different career paths in accounting. Those paths are generally described as:
All accounting professionals need:
Consequently, CWU accounting majors must take a variety of courses in finance, marketing, management, and operations management and information systems. They also must take a common core of accounting courses:
They also must select from the following electives so that they have a total of 40 credit hours in upper division accounting courses (300-400).
ACCT 405, Advanced Cost Accounting; ACCT 430, Accounting for Non-Profit Organizations; ACCT 431, CPA Review of Non-Profit Accounting; ACCT 444, Tax Research and Planning; ACCT 446, Income Tax Accounting II; ACCT 450, Advanced Accounting; ACCT 461, Fraud Examination; ACCT 470, Accounting Theory; ACCT 475, International Accounting; ACCT 484, Professional Writing and Speaking for the Accountant; ACCT 485, Current Issues in Accounting; ACCT 489, Managerial Controllership; and BUS 341, Advanced Business Law.
Additional information is available in CWU's online course catalog.
In addition, accounting majors who plan to take the CPA exam must have a total of 225 quarter hour credits. CWU offers a Master of Professional Accountancy program to help majors meet this requirement.
Fortunately, accounting professionals are very proud of their profession and happy to provide potential accountants with information and guidance. The best sources of information are probably the various professional organizations that different kinds of accountants belong to, including the:
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