Master's Degree in Accounting: MAcc and MBA

Learn whether an MBA or a MAcc will best suit your career aspirations.

Both an MBA with a focus in accounting and a master's degree in accounting, such as the Master of Accounting (MAcc), will prepare you for managerial positions within the field of accounting. The degrees differ, however, in that the MBA degree will give you a broad set of business skills that are transferable to other arenas while the MAcc provides greater specific accounting expertise and training for the CPA exam. It is important to note, though, that some MBA programs also offer the credit hours required to sit for the CPA exam.

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MBA With a Focus in Accounting

The MBA degree's broad curriculum teaches the client management and business strategy concepts that will help in jobs that are more geared towards management. The courses within the accounting concentration primarily emphasize the following:

Overlap between general management and business
In-depth accounting applications and concepts

MAcc (Master of Accounting)

The MAcc curriculum focuses more on preparing students for the CPA exam and the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) exam. Since some states demand a fifth year of education to sit for the CPA exam's 150 hour requirement, you'll still only be a few classes short of a master's anyway, so it provides a great reason to continue earning your MAcc. MAcc programs usually include courses dealing with the following subjects: