The Department of Accounting & Management Information Systems
Samford University’s School of Business offers both the bachelor of science and master of accountancy degrees. Students completing the master of accountancy degree meet the State Board requirements to sit for the CPA exam. The accounting major is designed for students who wish to become CPAs, auditors, corporate accountants, or other accounting professionals. This major provides both technical proficiency in accounting and an understanding of the management environment in which accounting decisions are made.
The master of accountancy (M.Acc.) program prepares graduates to succeed as advisors to organizations in today's dynamic, global business environment. Students develop technical, interpersonal, critical-thinking, and communication skills to enable them to derive and interpret information used by investors, managers, and governments. The program encourages the creation and dissemination of knowledge that is useful to those in the accounting profession through the scholarly and service activities of its faculty. The program works effectively with others to provide a network that brings together Samford students, faculty, and alumni with those in the accounting profession to facilitate career and placement opportunities for students, to assure the continued growth and financial strength of the program, and to share the skills of Samford accounting faculty with the greater community.
The accounting faculty at Samford University are well-qualified to prepare students for practice. Of the six accounting faculty, four hold earned doctorates, one a J.D. and Master of Taxation, and one an MBA. While all faculty are CPAs, individual faculty also have earned the CMA, CIA, CISA, CFM, and CFE. In addition, faculty have a wealth of practical experience.
The Department of Economics, Finance & Quantitative Analysis
Economics is the science of efficient allocation and is crucial to operating a private business or nonprofit organization. In addition economics provides guidance for both national and international policy. Today’s businesses also necessitate a strong background in sound financial principles. The application of such financial knowledge through a strong foundation in the finance discipline, can be the difference between an efficient profitable company and one that is failing. Furthermore, businesses are constantly in need of good sound statistical analysis to succeed.
Here at the Samford School of Business we group the disciplines of economics, finance and quantitative analysis together in one department, so that we can use the synergies between the fields to the student’s advantage. Thus, students will benefit from the overlap and complements between the disciplines. The department offers extensive course work in both Economics and Finance, with a substantial support from the quantitative courses.
The Department of Entrepreneurship, Management & Marketing
As businesses face increasingly complex environments, they require people with the ability to effectively manage internal and external business demands. Our curriculum focuses on helping students develop both specific skills and broad general knowledge of factors impacting a company’s success.
We offer three majors in the Department: Entrepreneurship, Management, and Marketing. Graduates completing an Entrepreneurship major will be prepared to start or find employment in new, family, or small ventures.
The major includes course work in market research, business valuation, and business plan writing, as well as several co-curricular activities such as a business plan competition. We also offer a concentration in Social Entrepreneurship, available to all business majors and a Social Entrepreneurship minor, available to non-business majors, which trains students to harness their passion for social causes to the business skills needed to effectively manage nonprofit or for-profit organizations pursuing social missions. Our Social Entrepreneurship Program is the only one in Alabama and one of the few in the Southeast that provides students comprehensive training in accounting, economics, marketing, entrepreneurship, and other critical business functions needed for leadership roles in socially focused organizations.
The Management major prepares graduates with general knowledge of core functional areas of business, equipped for immediate entry-level positions in functional areas and industries of choice, and trained for the potential long-term goal of higher level management positions. The major includes course work in leadership and human resource management.
Our Marketing major prepares graduates to pursue opportunities in advertising, sales, market research, retailing, product management, and public relations. The program focuses on marketing for products and services, occurring in for-profit as well asnonprofit organizations.
We invite you to learn more about our programs through the information on this website. If you would like any additional information, please feel free to contact us directly
