Tennessee is known for its beautiful scenery and its moderate climate. What makes it an excellent choice for earning an accounting degree or for finding employment as an accountant is its business climate. The state is listed in the US News and World Report listing of the best states for business as a respectable number 23, and the state legislature is looking for ways to make it more attractive to industry. Tennessee’s legislature has passed tax and other incentives to attract and retain manufacturers, including improving the transportation infrastructure. It also is working on legislation that would motivate Tennessee residents to pursue higher education, especially at the graduate level.
Students who want to earn graduate degrees in accounting have many excellent options for finding accredited degree programs in Tennessee. Accreditation is vital to the value of a graduate degree. Most universities have institutional accreditation, and most have accreditation for their business and accounting degrees because that credential assures students and prospective employers that the degrees meet standards of excellence. These standards are set by organizations of accounting professionals to make certain that graduates of the programs are competent, that the programs set and meet appropriate goals and that they are financially responsible.
See our ranking of the Top 35 Online Master’s in Accounting Degree Programs.
East Tennessee State University
College of Business and Technology
This school is a public research university. The US News and World Report ranks it as #231 of National Universities, and it is listed by the Princeton Review as a Best Value College. The university was founded in 1911 as East Tennessee State Normal School. It adopted its present name in 1963. There are more than 11,000 undergraduates enrolled at East Tennessee State. The College of Business and Technology houses the Bureau of Business and Economic Research which partners with regional businesses to identify and resolve business problems.
Master of Accountancy (MAcc)
This accredited master’s program in accounting requires applicants to have mastery of several foundational skills before admission to the program. The program consists of 33 semester hours including seven core courses, three courses in the concentration and a capstone. The courses cover six areas of accounting practice: financial and managerial accounting, auditing, taxation, regulation and international accounting. This degree may be earned with one of four concentrations including Taxation, Audit, Controllership or Generalist. Students also have several options for the capstone requirement. They can complete readings and research in preparation for the culminating exam, conduct special approved studies, do an internship or participate in an auditing or consulting engagement.
Accreditation
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Higher Learning Commission
- Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Contact
East Tennessee State University
College of Business and Technology
Johnson City, Tennessee, 37615
423-439-4432
burkette@etsu.edu.
Lipscomb University
College of Business
Lipscomb University was founded in 1891 as the Nashville Bible School. It contained a seminary but was actually a liberal arts college. The university has an enrollment of more than 4,600 students. The US News and World Report ranks it as #18 of Regional Universities South. The College of Business states that it prepares students for careers in accounting in a “faith-based environment.” Every full-time student is required to take Bible courses. The emphasis of all programs is the converging of business with technology. Class sizes in the business school average twenty students.
Master of Accountancy (MAcc)
Classes in this accredited accounting degree program are held Mondays, Tuesdays and/or Thursdays from 5:50 pm to 9:30 pm. They are offered in eight-week terms. There are fifteen hours of required courses, twelve hours of course in the concentration and three hours of electives. The program is presented in a cohort format. Sample courses include Advanced Auditing and Forensics, Auditor Communications and Managerial Accounting and Finance. Students can “fast track” into the MAcc program by attending one of the University Summer Accounting Bootcamps.
Accreditation
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- Accrediting Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
Contact
Lipscomb University
College of Business
One University Park Drive
Nashville, Tennessee, 37204-3951
615-966-1833
onedegreeaway@lipscpmb.edu
Middle Tennessee State University
Jennings A. Jones College of Business
This public, coeducational university was founded in 1911 as Mid Tennessee State Normal School, which was a teacher’s college. In 1925, the school began awarding four-year degrees. The name was changed to its present form in 1965 when it became a university. More than 80 majors are offered through 35 departments in eight undergraduate colleges. The College of Graduate Studies awards degrees in more than 40 programs. The Jennings A. Jones College of Business is ranked as #39 by the US News and World Report for Master of Accountancy programs.
Master of Accountancy (MAcc)
This program focuses on preparing students to take and pass the CPA exam. Students cite the caring faculty as the primary reason this accredited graduate accounting program is so successful. In addition, classes are small. The degree is offered as a generalist program, but students who want a specialization can complete twelve credit hours of taxation courses as part of the 30 hours that comprise the degree program. There are 13 credit hours in required core courses like Current Legal Topics in Corporate Governance and Risk Management and Fraud. Seventeen hours of electives are also required. The capstone course is Advanced Financial Accounting and Reporting Problems.
Accreditation
- Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Contact
Middle Tennessee State University
Jennings A. Jones College of Business
1301 East Main Street
Murfreesboro, Tennessee 3713-0001
615-898-2038
jeannieHarrington@mtsu.edu
Rhodes College
Department of Business
This private liberal arts college is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It was founded in 1848 In Clarksville, Tennessee as the Masonic University of Tennessee. It became Rhodes College in 1984. The school is small, with approximately 2,000 students and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1. Classes average 14 students. There are 18 departments in the college and 13 interdisciplinary programs that award degrees in more than 50 majors. The Princeton Review rated the school as having the most beautiful campus in America in 2017, and Newsweek ranks it as #1 in service-oriented schools. The US News and World Report ranks Rhodes College as #51 of National Liberal Arts Colleges.
Master of Science in Accounting
This degree program contains 32 credit hours of coursework. There are 28 required credit hours in the accredited graduate accounting program such as Seminar in Financial Accounting Theory and Research and Systems Auditing. One elective course is required. The program builds on the undergraduate skills and knowledge of the student introducing more complex theories and practice issues. It addresses the legal issues of business and business ethics. Sample courses are Accounting Research and Accounting Theory and Methodology. The program also stresses effective oral and written communication skills.
Accreditation
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Contact
Rhodes College
Department of Business
2000 North Parkway
Memphis, Tennessee 38112
901-843-3920
Church@rhodes.edu
Southern Adventist University
School of Business and Management
This school is affiliated with the Southern Union Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. It was founded in 1892 as Graysville Academy. In 1944, it was designated Southern Missionary College, but the name was changed in 1996 to Southern Adventist University because there seemed to be a negative association with the word “missionary.” Most classes at the school have less than twenty students, and the student-to-faculty ratio is 16:1. There are 81 undergraduate degree programs as well as master’s programs in business, computer science, education, psychology, nursing, religion and social work. The US News and World Report ranks the school as #68 in Regional Universities South.
MBA, Accounting Emphasis
This degree is presented on campus one evening a week and online. The accounting emphasis is completely online. Students complete the degree part-time in two or three years. Full-time students can finish in a year. There are some graduate assistantships available to help with tuition. The accredited degree, with its accounting emphasis, consists of 24 business administration courses such as Management in a Changing World. There are 12 credit hours in the accounting emphasis. The program integrates faith with business practice.
Accreditation
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE)
Contact
Southern Adventist University
School of Business and Management
Collegedale, Tennessee, 37315
423-236-2659
mdoucoumes@southern.edu
Strayer University
Online Degrees
This large school is a private, for-profit institution. More than three-quarters of its students earn their degrees online. The university was founded in 1892 as Strayer Business College and attained university status in 1998. It has more than 36,000 students online. In 2011, the school acquired the Jack Welch Management Institute. It offers a fully-online MBA.
Master of Science in Accounting
The selling -point of this accredited master’s in accounting program is that it is 100 percent online and students work at their own pace. The school website says one focus of the program is to “apply technical concepts to real-world domestic and global business operations.” There are four areas of emphasis to choose from: Corporate Accounting, Forensic Accounting, Public Accounting and Taxation. Students can take up to 59 months to complete the program. The degree path contains ten courses in the major and three in the concentration. Two of the courses in the major are: Commercial Law and Law, Ethics and Corporate Governance.
Accreditation
- Middle States Commission on Higher Education
- Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
Contact
Strayer University
Jack Welch Management Institute
2303 Dulles Station Blvd., Suite 100
Herndon, VA. 20171
877-445-7180
Email through website, or use live chat feature.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
College of Business Administration
The University of Tennessee is a public university in Chattanooga. It was founded in 1886 as the private-and-whites-only Chattanooga University. It went through a number of changes and finally became the f University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The school, ranked by the US News and World Report as #57 of Regional Universities South, has a student body of more than 10,000. The business school is ranked as #111 for its part-time MBA program and #85 for the online MBA. There are four colleges, an honors college and a graduate school containing 28 departments between them.
Master of Accounting, Professional Accounting
This accredited master’s level accounting degree program prepares students to take the CPA exam. The four-plus-one program allows undergraduates to earn their bachelor’s degree and their master’s degree in five years of study. The degree program contains 31 credit hours including 19 in the core and 12 credit hours of electives. Two of the core courses are: Advanced Accounting Information Systems and Financial Accounting Theory and Issues. Students can earn the degree in one of two tracks. The General Track involves taking twelve of the elective credits in accounting courses and the remaining from business administration, accounting, finance, marketing or management. Students in the Forensic Data Analysis Track take Business Database Systems Management, Data Mining and Analytics and Advanced Data Analytics in the elective component.
Accreditation
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges,
- Association fr the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Contact
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
College of Business Administration
615 McCallie Ave.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37403
423-425-4313
Elizabeth-Bell@utc.edu
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Haslam College of Business
UTK is a public, sun-and-land-grant school founded in 1794. There are more than 21,800 undergraduate students at the university and almost 6,000 graduate students. It awards degrees through nine undergraduate colleges and eleven graduate colleges. The university is ranked by the US News and World Report as #103 of National Universities and #41 of Public Institutes of Higher Learning. The Haslam College of Business has seven departments and houses nine centers and institutes. There are four masters programs and six EMBA programs. The college enrolls more than 600 students.
Master of Accountancy (MAcc)
This accredited program contains 30 semester hours. Students take twelve hours each semester and six in the first summer session. There are three concentrations: Audit and Controls, Information Management or Taxation. All students in the program must pass a comprehensive written final exam.
Accreditation
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Contact
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Haslam Business College
Knoxville, Tennessee, 37996
865-974-2660
eanders2@utk.edu
Union University
McAfee School of Business
This is a private, evangelical Christian university in Jackson, Tennessee, affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. It began in 1823 as Jackson Male Academy. The school became a coeducational, liberal arts university and, in the early 1900s, changed its name to its present designation. The US News and World Report ranks the school as #176 of National Universities, and the SR Education Group lists it in its Best Online Colleges of the 2018 Guide to Online Schools. There are more than 2,000 undergraduate students enrolled at the university in more than 100 programs. Classes are small, and the student-to-faculty ratio is 10:1.
Master of Accountancy (MAcc)
This degree program contains 30 credit hours and can be completed in one year. There are six daytime accounting courses, and four business administration courses that can be taken evenings or online. It is possible for students to have a dual enrollment as MAcc and MBA by counting 12 hours of MBA classes to each degree. The accredited master’s program in accounting is available as an accelerated four-plus-one, which means students van earn the baccalaureate and the master’s degree in five years of study.
Accreditation
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business
Contact
Union University
McAfee School of Business
1050 Union University Drive
Jackson, Tennessee, 38305
731-661-5056
kcmiller@u.u.edu
University of Memphis
Fogelman College of Business
The University of Memphis is a public research university. It is ranked by the US News and World Report as #231 of National Universities. The school began in 1912 as the West Tennessee Normal School. That name was changed in 1925 to the West Tennessee State Teachers College and then to Memphis State College. It became a university in 1957 and was renamed the University of Memphis in 1994. There are 14 colleges in the university including Fogelman College of Business. The business school has about 3,000 students in its programs including almost 600 master’s students and 60 doctoral students. The school offers five different master’s degrees including: MBA, MA in Economics, MS in Accounting, MS in Business Administration and an International MBA program.
Master of Science in Accounting
This 30-credit-hour accredited accounting master’s program can be earned with one of three concentrations: Accounting, Accounting Data Analysis and Taxation. Graduation requires that students take a minimum of 70 percent of 7000 level courses. Fogelman College has a formal internship program that contains three credits but completing these credits does not count toward graduation. There are some assistantships that can help defray the cost of tuition at the school. Students can take only 15 credits per semester and may take up to eight years to graduate.
Master of Science in Accounting, Data Analysis Concentration
Students in this concentration take the general course requirements for the master’s degree (21 credit hours in accounting) but use the electives to tailor the degree with courses such as: Business Machine Learning I and II and Programming for Business. Other requisites, such as communications requisites apply as well.
Master of Science in Accounting, Taxation Concentration
As in the other concentrations, this program contains 30 hours, of which 21 must be in accounting courses. The taxation concentration requires students to take Advanced Auditing and Controllership plus any two of: Taxation/ Business Entities, Tax Research and Theory or Tax- Partnerships and Partners.
Master of Science in Accounting, General Accounting Concentration
This concentration of the Master’s Degree in Accounting requires students to take Financial Statement Analysis, Legal Accounting Aspects Entrep and Advanced Cost Accounting along with other accounting courses.
Accreditation
- Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business
Contact
University of Memphis
Fogelman College of Business
Memphis, Tennessee, 38152
901-678-2441
dspice@memphis.edu
Master of Science in Accounting, Data Analysis Concentration
Master of Science in Accounting, Taxation Concentration
Master of Science in Accounting, General Accounting Concentration
Vanderbilt University
Owen Graduate School of Management
This private research university was founded in 1873 and named after Cornelius Vanderbilt who gave the school a $1 million endowment. There are four undergraduate schools and six graduate and professional schools in the university. The US News and World Report ranks the school as #14 of National Universities. The Owen Graduate School emphasizes leadership and it is a component of every course.
Master in Accountancy MAcc)
This is an on-campus program that can be completed in one year of full-time study. The accredited accounting master’s degree can be earned in one of two tracks: MAcc Assurance or MAcc Valuation. The degree has 34 credit hours and features a paid internship. The Valuation track gives students knowledge in finance and accounting, while the Assurance track is a generalist degree. The Owen School maintains partnerships with global corporations that recruit students after graduation.
Accreditation
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
- Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
Contact
Vanderbilt University
Owen Graduate School of Management
401 21st Ave. South
Nashville, Tennessee, 37203
615-322-6509
There are several good accounting programs in this listing. Because of the state’s favorable business climate and its growing economy, as well as incentives for students seeking higher education, students will do well to consider Master’s in Accounting Degree Programs in Tennessee.
