Accredited by CPA and ICAA

The Master of Professional Accounting is a coursework degree, based on three or four semesters of full time study or six semesters of part-time study. The course is designed for graduates who have not undertaken a major in accounting in their undergraduate degree or who have undertaken an accounting major with an educational institution incorporated outside Australia, and who wish to become accountants. Students who have undertaken an undergraduate degree with a major in accounting with an Australian institution are ineligible for entry to the degree. The course equips students with specialist skills in accounting and associated disciplines.

Full-time domestic students in this course may be eligible for student income support in the form of Youth Allowance or Austudy.

Exit Points

• Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting
• Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting

Further Study

• Master of Professional Accounting (Extended)
• Professional Doctorate in Business Administration

See Also

• Master of Business Administration / Master of Professional Accounting

Admission Requirements

Applicants must have a degree or an award that, in the opinion of the University's Admissions Committee, is the equivalent of a three-year degree conferred by a tertiary institution recognised by the Board. There are no work experience requirements. Students who have undertaken an undergraduate degree with a major in accounting with an Australian institution are ineligible for entry to the degree.

Course Requirements

36 credit points from the following subjects, including at least 12 credit points at PG level.

• 6221 Accounting for Managers G
• 6222 Accounting Systems & Practices G
• 6223 Auditing PG
• 6224 Business Finance PG
• 6225 Business Law G
• 6227 Company Accounting PG
• 6228 Contemporary Issues in Accounting PG
• 6231 Corporate Law & Practice G
• 6234 Economics for Managers G
• 6253 Management Accounting PG
• 6275 Statistical Analysis & Decision Making G
• 6279 Taxation Law & Practice G

Typical Course Structure

Unit Overviews - Core Units

6221 Accounting for Managers G: The financial accounting section includes basic and generally accepted accounting concepts and principles so that students have a good understanding of internal and external financial reporting and are able to analyse and interpret financial statements for decision-making and communicating financial information with other managers. The management accounting section emphasises cost concepts and cost-volume-profit analysis, principles of working capital management, short-term decision making, long-term and capital decision making, budgetary control and planning techniques, responsibility centre accounting, product costing, and internal performance evaluation.

6222 Accounting Systems & Practices G: This subject deals with the accounting cycle and the concepts, principles and practices for measuring, recording and reporting financial events.  Principles of risk management and internal control are also considered, as well as the benefits and limitations of accounting and spreadsheet software for transaction processing and decision support.

6223 Auditing PG: Auditing PG provides students with an introduction to the concepts and practices of financial statement audits.  Syllabus topics include the structure of the auditing profession, ethics associated with auditing, legal liability of auditors, audit reports, accepting and planning an audit, audit risks, control and substantive testing, audit sampling, and completing an audit.

6224: Business Finance PG: Business Finance PG aims to provide students with analytical techniques for the efficient financial management of business. These techniques are developed within the framework of modern theories of finance like portfolio theory and CAPM. Topics include the goals and functions of finance, corporate financial strategy, financial mathematics, methods of valuation, project appraisal, risk analysis, capital structure, methods of financing operations and role of financial markets, dividend policies, and derivative and convertible securities. Students should emerge from the subject with a thorough appreciation of the roles of debt, risk and performance measures in financial management.

6225 Business Law G: The subject aims to provide students with an understanding of the basis of many kinds of commercial transactions and of some commercial entities, namely, the law of contract.  The subject commences with a study of the nature and kinds of contract and the elements essential to contract formation, the legal effect of representations surrounding the formation of a contract and those made by the parties during the course of a contract, as well as the impact of the Trade Practice Act 1974 and the Sale of Goods legislation on contracts.

6227 Company Accounting PG: This subject is designed to extend the introductory material presented in previous accounting subjects, and examines the practice and theory of company accounting.

6228 Contemporary Issues in Accounting PG: This unit provides a study of contemporary issues in financial and management accounting, logic and theory development, perspectives on accounting regulation, and public sector accounting, as well as providing a critical analysis of extant and alternative accounting systems.

6231 Corporate Law & Practice G: This subject familiarizes students with the law affecting the main types of commercial organisations used by the private sector.  Partnerships and corporations are examined, with most attention being given to the latter.  The practical and theoretical aspects of the law relating to the internal structure and the external relations of these organisations will be studied.  The topics in relation to corporations will include incorporation, the constitution of the company, share capital and loan finance, issues to the public, the rights, duties and liabilities of directors, other officers and shareholders, the accounts and audit requirements, corporate finance, company liquidations, takeovers and securities regulation.

6234 Economics for Managers G: The content of this subject is especially designed for graduate students and provides an examination of economic principles and theories essential to an understanding of current economic problems and economic policy analysis. The syllabus includes both microeconomics and macroeconomics. The essentials of microeconomics are examined including the theory of market systems and the price mechanism, consumer demand theory, resource allocation and the theory of the firm concentrating on production and cost analysis principles. The macroeconomics component examines the inter-relationship between the main economic variables. Microeconomic reform and fiscal and monetary policy measures are examined and related to Australia 's economic problems of unemployment, inflation and slow economic growth.

6253 Management Accounting PG: This subject addresses fundamental management accounting techniques together with more recent developments in the field.  An essential part of the subject is a focus on management planning and control.  Product costing, activity-based costing, target costing, financial and non-financial performance measurement systems and a review of balanced scorecard approaches to organisational performance and management will form the framework for the subject.

6275 Statistical Analysis & Decision Making G: This subject is intended mainly for students in business administration and management science and deals with the ways in which statistical techniques can be used to analyse quantitative information in those disciplines. Topics include populations and samples; the presentation and interpretation of data; measures of central tendency and variability; index numbers; simple linear regression and correlation; basic time series; basic probability; the binomial, Poisson and normal distributions; estimation and hypothesis testing. Analyses will use Microsoft Excel.

6279 Taxation Law & Practice G: The object of this subject is to provide students with a basic understanding of the income taxation system in Australia and the law and concepts that determine liability for taxation.  It examines concepts involved in determining liability for tax of a variety of tax significant entities and in particular the concepts of income and deductible expenses.

Note: Information provided as a guide only. Consult the UC Handbook for the year of commencement for official course rules. Units are not offered in all semesters.