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The Professional Accounting Certificate

Course Requirements for the Certificate: 30 units

This certificate is limited to declared CSU, Chico Business Administration Accounting Option students.

The following courses are required of all candidates for this certificate. All courses counted toward the Professional Accounting Certificate must be completed with a grade of C or better. No Professional Accounting Certificate coursework (300 level or higher) may be transferred in from any institution outside of CSU, Chico. Various courses in the certificate have prerequisites courses where a minimum grade is required. Not including ACCT 451, an accounting student may be enrolled in a maximum of 3 accounting courses per semester. The Accounting Department does not allow accounting students to re-enroll in an upper level (300, 400, and 500 level) accounting course in which they are currently enrolled until after grades are posted for the current term. An academic advising meeting with the Department Chair is required before an accounting student may enroll in the same accounting course a third time. The courses below can not be double-counted with the Accounting Option.

Ethics Component: 9 units

2 courses required:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
ACCT 558 Accounting Ethics   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 320, ACCT 325, ACCT 326, BADM 300 all with a grade of C or higher.
This course is designed to raise students' ability to recognize and respond to ethical issues facing the accounting profession and accounting professionals. Course learning objectives include improving students' moral reasoning and ethical decision making, understanding accountants' professional responsibilities, overviewing areas of accounting practice abuse, and developing students' communication and critical thinking skills. AICPA, IMA, and U.S. Treasury Department codes of conduct for financial accountants, auditors, management accountants, and tax accountants are emphasized along with professional responsibilities that are tested on professional certification exams. 3 hours lecture. (021180)
ACCT 568 Forensic Accounting   3.0 FS  
Prerequisite: ACCT 421 (may be taken concurrently).
This course covers key forensic accounting concepts including fraudulent financial reporting, misappropriation of assets, income reconstruction, money laundering, litigation (emphasis on damages), and business valuation. The course is designed to apply analytical accounting and communication skills to identify and present financial discrepancies and improper acts for criminal proceedings and/or civil litigation. 3 hours lecture. (021284)

1 course selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
BLAW 418 Commercial Law   3.0 FS  
Prerequisite: BLAW 302.
This course is designed to provide students with sufficient knowledge and wisdom to identify and manage legal, ethical, and managerial issues pertaining to property, financial, and commercial transactions. International, federal, and state legal landscapes are examined. Significant areas of focus include the law of property (including intellectual property), federal securities law, provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code relating to sales, commercial paper, secured transactions, the law of bankruptcy, and antitrust law. Knowledge of the concepts covered in this course will help prepare students for the Uniform CPA examination. 3 hours discussion. (021556)
PHIL 328 Business Ethics and Social Policy   3.0 SP  
An examination of ethical issues that arise in business decisions and the formulation of social policy involving business, e.g. employee rights, consumer and environmental protection, advertising, and affirmative action. Moral theory and alternative conceptions of justice will also be discussed. 3 hours lecture. (007226)

Accounting Component: 21 units

21 units selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
ACCT 359 Directed Mentorship   3.0 FS  
Prerequisite: Accounting Faculty Course Coordinator Permission.
Mentorship designed to augment accounting knowledge and improve communication skills while providing service. This course does not count as an elective within the Accounting Option. 1 hour discussion, 4 hours activity. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. Credit/no credit grading. (000085)
ACCT 363 International Accounting   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 201, ACCT 202, ACCT 325 all with a grade of C or higher.
Accounting concepts, standards, and procedures for the international business environment. Topics include International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), accounting for foreign currency translations, hedging foreign exchange risk, translation of foreign currency, financial statements, accounting for changing prices, international consolidation of financial statements, segment reports, international taxation and transfer pricing, performance evaluation, international auditing, and corporate governance. 3 hours lecture. (000086)
ACCT 365 Not-for-Profit Accounting   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 201, ACCT 202, ACCT 325 all with a grade of C or higher.
Concepts, principles, and problems of fund accounting for government and non-profit organizations. The design of accounting systems for hospitals, educational institutions, and community organizations. Emphasis is on the role of accounting in making decisions in government and non-profit organizations. 3 hours lecture. (000088)
ACCT 389 Accounting Intern/Cooperative Education   1.0 -6.0 INQ  
Prerequisites: Junior standing, Accounting faculty permission.
This course is an internship offered for 1.0-6.0 units. You must register directly with a supervising faculty member. For students who wish to gain practical work experience with participating firms/organizations. See accounting faculty advisor for performance requirements, assignments, and methods of evaluation prior to undertaking the internship. This course does not count as an elective in the Accounting Option or the Minor in Accounting. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. Credit/no credit grading. (000090)
ACCT 399 Special Accounting Problems   1.0 -3.0 INQ  
Prerequisite: Permission of supervising Accounting faculty member.
This course is an independent study of special problems offered for 1.0-3.0 units. You must register directly with a supervising faculty member. Working with the student, the instructor plans, directs, and assesses the scope of work to be performed. This course does not count as an elective within the Accounting Option. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. Credit/no credit grading. (000093)
ACCT 420 Cost Management Accounting II   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 320 with a grade of C or higher.
Continuation of ACCT 320. See ACCT 320. Recommended for Certified Management Accountant. 3 hours discussion. (000094)
ACCT 422 Accounting Controls and Asset Management for Small Business   3.0 FS  
Prerequisite: ACCT 202, MINS 301; ACCT 325 or MGMT 450.
Examination of internal controls and asset management issues for small businesses. Conceptual accounting issues and problems are emphasized. Students use software to illustrate accounting applications. 3 hours lecture. (020328)
ACCT 451 Simulation Accounting Laboratory   1.0 -6.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 421 and Accounting Faculty Course Coordinator permission.
Laboratory experience with accounting simulation programs. The student interacts with a simulated environment via computer facilities or other laboratory situations. This course does not count as an elective within the Accounting Option. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. Credit/no credit grading. (000091)
ACCT 499H Honors Seminar in Accounting   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: Faculty permission.
This 3-unit course consists of a comprehensive research study and paper dealing with business policy and strategy, and the integrative and international aspects of business operations, especially as they pertain to the fields of accounting, auditing, or systems. A final written report and a public presentation of findings are both requirements of this course. Business Honors Program students must receive at least a B in this course for Honors credit. 9 hours supervision. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. (000111)
ACCT 521 Advanced Accounting Information Systems   3.0 INQ  
Prerequisites: ACCT 326 with a grade of C or higher.
Detailed analysis of corporate and information technology governance, including the COSO and COBIT standards; requirements analysis, construction and advanced statistical analysis of large scale accounting data warehouses; investigation of accounting information systems fraud and associated breaches of professional ethics and related methods of prevention and detection. 3 hours discussion. (020338)
ACCT 530 Planning, Control, and Performance Evaluation From An Enterprise Resource Planning Perspective   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 320, ACCT 326 both with a grade of C or higher.
This course provides students with an in-depth view of an enterprise wide planning and control system. A comprehensive case study is created by student teams representing the value chain areas of procurement, production, and sales. Coverage includes concepts of responsibility centers, product costing, product prices, and performance reporting. 3 hours seminar. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. (000104)
ACCT 551 Information Technology Auditing   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 421 with a grade of C or higher.
An applied approach to attest and assurances services of IT auditors. The course emphasizes the assessment of internal and computer controls in order to identify key risks within accounting cycles. Students gain knowledge of appropriate data processing methods as well as segregation of incompatible IT functions in the system. Within several accounting cycles, students test, application, security, and general controls to identify key audit concerns and focus audit effort on "most important assertions." The assessment of application controls involves a review of input, processing, and output controls. Students assess factors that contribute to IT fraud, identify seeded fraud schemes, and respond to seeded fraud-related detected misstatements. Methods of information system maintenance and configuration for stronger controls are covered. 3 hours seminar. (000099)
ACCT 556 Accounting Theory   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: ACCT 327 with a grade of C or higher and faculty permission.
A study of theoretical considerations in asset measurement and income determination. Emphasis is placed on the conceptual basis underlying current accounting standards. 3 hours discussion. (000100)
FINA 351 Investments   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: FINA 307.
Investments from the point of view of the individual investor, security and non-security investment, analytical techniques; industry studies, and management of the personal portfolio. 3 hours discussion. (003730)
FINA 453 Estate Planning   3.0 FS  
Prerequisites: FINA 307.
To give students a basic understanding of the major methods and techniques of preserving and transmitting an individual's wealth, including gift-giving, the use of various trusts, the use of life insurance, and the proper preparation of a will. Students will be expected to be aware of the causes and consequences of an inefficient transfer of wealth and therefore must acquire a working knowledge of the institutional constraints, including the law of property, wills, and intestate distribution, the probate process, and State and Federal estate, gift, inheritance, and generation-skipping transfer taxes. 3 hours lecture. (001047)
Catalog Cycle:17