Top 15 Bachelor of Accounting Degree Programs (Campus)

If you’re search­ing for a promi­nent busi­ness career that pro­vides long-term job secu­ri­ty and excel­lent salary poten­tial, account­ing could be the answer. Accoun­tants are skilled finan­cial pro­fes­sion­als who hold at least a bachelor’s degree to expert­ly han­dle the cash flow for small to large orga­ni­za­tions. Bud­get­ing, audit­ing, book­keep­ing, and tax­es are all with­in an accountant’s robust wheel­house. Advanced posi­tions go to Cer­ti­fied Pub­lic Accoun­tants who can legal­ly file reports with the Secu­ri­ties and Exchange Commission.

We formed our rank­ing by nar­row­ing down the busi­ness schools accred­it­ed by the Asso­ci­a­tion to Advance Col­le­giate Schools of Busi­ness (AACSB). Each prospec­tive uni­ver­si­ty had to offer an account­ing degree or con­cen­tra­tion that sig­nif­i­cant­ly broad­ened stu­dents’ indus­try knowl­edge. We con­sult­ed with the U.S. News and World Report to deter­mine the best under­grad­u­ate busi­ness schools based on pres­tige. Extra brown­ie points were giv­en to those men­tioned in the Pub­lic Account­ing Report. The aver­age annu­al net price was record­ed from the NCES to judge afford­abil­i­ty. Oth­er impor­tant fac­tors were finan­cial aid, spe­cial­iza­tions, glob­al oppor­tu­ni­ty, reten­tion, class size, intern­ships, and recruitment.

Here are the Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Programs:

1. University of Pennsylvania

Found­ed in 1740 by the Found­ing Father Ben­jamin Franklin as one of America’s colo­nial col­leges, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia is a pri­vate, non-sec­tar­i­an insti­tu­tion pio­neer­ing a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary teach­ing mod­el. With the country’s ninth high­est endow­ment at $10.1 bil­lion, Penn edu­cates approx­i­mate­ly 10,400 under­grad­u­ates from a 302-acre urban cam­pus in Philadelphia’s Uni­ver­si­ty City dis­trict. Grad­u­at­ing the most bil­lion­aires nation­wide, the AACSB-accred­it­ed Whar­ton School of Busi­ness was the Unit­ed States’ first. The U.S. News and World Report ranked UPenn as the eighth Best Uni­ver­si­ty with the #1 Best Under­grad­u­ate Busi­ness Degrees. Col­lege Fac­tu­al placed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia first for a “high earn­ings boost.” Aca­d­e­m­ic Rank­ing of World Uni­ver­si­ties (ARWU) named Penn the 18th Best Col­lege World­wide over­all too.

Renowned for rig­or and rel­e­vance, the cam­pus-based Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion pro­gram offers UPenn stu­dents an Account­ing Con­cen­tra­tion. Taught by 225+ accom­plished pro­fes­sors rather than teach­ing assis­tants, the inno­v­a­tive cur­ricu­lum trains stu­dents to imple­ment cre­ative, effi­cient solu­tions to fis­cal mat­ters. Sev­er­al instruc­tors have won the Lind­back Award for Dis­tin­guished Teach­ing. Ide­al for those plan­ning to take the CPA exam, the cours­es will range from tax plan­ning to cor­po­rate val­u­a­tion. Under­grad­u­ates can select from over 20 Whar­ton study abroad options from Chi­na to Italy. Its col­lab­o­ra­tive envi­ron­ment also fos­ters cut­ting-edge research expe­ri­ence through the Joseph Whar­ton Schol­ars (JWS) pro­gram. Account­ing majors ben­e­fit from join­ing clubs like the Penn Inter­na­tion­al Impact Con­sult­ing and Black Whar­ton Under­grad­u­ate Association.

Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion with Account­ing Concentration

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­ni­a’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

2. New York University

Attract­ing more than 57,200 diverse stu­dents, New York Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, non­prof­it RU/VH research insti­tu­tion divid­ed into 20 schools, includ­ing the AACSB-accred­it­ed Leonard N. Stern School of Busi­ness. Rec­og­nized among the most sus­tain­able on EPA’s Green Pow­er Chal­lenge, NYU’s 230-acre urban cam­pus occu­pies Green­wich Vil­lage in Low­er Man­hat­tan with exten­sions in Brook­lyn, Wall Street, Shang­hai, and Abu Dhabi. Accord­ing to the U.S. News and World Report, this Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ties (AAU) mem­ber is the nation’s 36th Best Uni­ver­si­ty with the fifth Best Under­grad­u­ate Busi­ness Degrees. The Prince­ton Review placed New York Uni­ver­si­ty #4 for “Col­lege City Gets High Marks.” Thom­son Reuters Corp. also not­ed NYU for the Most Improved inter­na­tion­al rank­ing to 30th globally.

Con­fer­ring a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence (B.S.), the Under­grad­u­ate Pro­gram in Account­ing at NYU cap­i­tal­izes on the Stern School’s resources on busi­ness man­age­ment enter­pris­es. Stu­dents pre­pare for today’s pro­fes­sion­al mar­ket by per­fect­ing their finan­cial analy­sis skills. High­ly prized by cor­po­rate recruiters, the 120-cred­it pro­gram ensures grad­u­ates can pro­vide use­ful fis­cal reports for man­age­ment deci­sion-mak­ing. Although there’s a gen­er­al account­ing focus, elec­tives branch off into state­ment fraud, enter­tain­ment account­ing, acqui­si­tions, inter­nal con­trols, and more. There’s also an accel­er­at­ed B.S./M.S. in Account­ing to ful­fill New York’s 150-hour CPA require­ment in five years. Majors could join the active Beta Alpha Psi Hon­or Soci­ety chap­ter, attend the NYU Account­ing Sum­mer Camp, and net­work with 105,000+ glob­al alumni.

Under­grad­u­ate Pro­gram in Accounting

Learn more about New York Uni­ver­si­ty’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

3. Carnegie Mellon University

Named for the wealthy steel indus­tri­al­ist who estab­lished it in 1900, Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty edu­cates over 6,300 under­grad­u­ates. Hold­ing AACSB accred­i­ta­tion, the Tep­per School pres­ti­gious pri­vate, non-sec­tar­i­an research insti­tu­tion affil­i­at­ed with 19 Nobel lau­re­ates. With satel­lites in Sil­i­con Val­ley and Qatar, Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty encom­pass­es a B43-acre urban cam­pus in Pennsylvania’s of Busi­ness has its own $113 mil­lion endow­ment to be America’s 17th Best Busi­ness School accord­ing to Finan­cial Times. The U.S. News and World Report not­ed CMU as the sixth Most Inno­v­a­tive Col­lege nation­al­ly with the sixth Best Under­grad­u­ate Busi­ness Degrees. Forbes also grad­ed Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty A+ for the 57th Most Grate­ful Grads.

Under­grad­u­ates with strong quan­ti­ta­tive skills could enter CMU’s B.S. in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion pro­gram to declare the Account­ing Con­cen­tra­tion. This bachelor’s option boasts small class­es that fos­ter an ide­al envi­ron­ment of high-per­for­mance ana­lyt­ics. From day one, stu­dents devel­op real-world ana­lyt­i­cal rea­son­ing skills for man­ag­ing orga­ni­za­tion­al finances. The inno­v­a­tive cur­ricu­lum fea­tures 364 units, from lib­er­al arts breadth to busi­ness core cours­es. With­in the con­cen­tra­tion, stu­dents specif­i­cal­ly study man­age­r­i­al account­ing, cor­po­rate finan­cial report­ing, and finan­cial state­ment analy­sis. Mul­ti­ple cap­stone pos­si­bil­i­ties are avail­able from Pros­eed-fund­ed projects to intern­ships. The School empha­sizes stu­dent engage­ment with Wednes­day Night Insights, Tep­per Ven­ture Chal­lenge, case com­pe­ti­tions, and more. Although tuition is high, Carnegie Mel­lon awards over $90 mil­lion in annu­al finan­cial aid.

B.S. in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion – Account­ing Concentration

Learn more about Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

4. University of Texas at Austin

Induct­ed as the South’s third Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ties (AAU) mem­ber, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin is the system’s flag­ship pub­lic space-grant insti­tu­tion with research expen­di­tures exceed­ing $550 mil­lion. From its main 434-acre urban cam­pus just one mile from the Texas State Capi­tol, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas — Austin edu­cates more than 39,600 under­grad­u­ate Long­horns and offers 900+ stu­dent-run clubs. The Pub­lic Ivy’s McCombs School of Busi­ness is AACSB-accred­it­ed to pro­duce lead­ers like Don­ald Evans, Bill Gur­ley, and James Mul­va. The U.S. News and World Report rec­og­nized the Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin as America’s 56th Best Uni­ver­si­ty with the sixth Best Under­grad­u­ate Busi­ness Pro­grams. Poets & Quants also laud­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin for the 19th Best B‑School nationally.

Not­ed for Kiplinger’s 13th Best Pub­lic Val­ue, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin estab­lished a lead­ing-edge BBA pro­gram that offers a Finance Major with Account­ing Empha­sis. The 21-cred­it con­cen­tra­tion fol­lows a Cor­po­rate Track or Finan­cial Insti­tu­tions Track for fur­ther focus. Around 1,700 stu­dents are admit­ted annu­al­ly from 6,900+ appli­cants. This selec­tive BBA accepts under­grad­u­ates who achieve an aver­age SAT score of 1361. Degree can­di­dates learn from stel­lar fac­ul­ty to gath­er the inquiry and report­ing skills required for over­see­ing busi­ness trans­ac­tions. Rec­om­mend­ed cours­es include tax­a­tion, audit­ing, man­age­r­i­al account­ing, and finan­cial state­ment analy­sis. Each year, McCombs stu­dents ben­e­fit from attend­ing BBA Career Week for mock inter­views, net­work­ing, and eti­quette din­ners. First-gen­er­a­tion col­lege fresh­men could par­tic­i­pate in the Tar­get Your Future (TYF) men­tor pro­gram too.

BBA Finance Major with Account­ing Emphasis

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

5. University of Virginia

Cho­sen as the Unit­ed States’ first col­le­giate World Her­itage Site in 1987, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­ginia is a flag­ship pub­lic-pri­vate, research insti­tu­tion orig­i­nal­ly gov­erned by Thomas Jef­fer­son and James Mon­roe. Sit­ting proud­ly atop a 1,682-acre urban cam­pus in Char­lottesville just three miles south­east of Mon­ti­cel­lo, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­ginia enrolls over 15,600 under­grad­u­ates. The McIn­tire School of Com­merce deliv­ers top-notch, AACSB-accred­it­ed edu­ca­tion root­ed in entre­pre­neur­ial spir­it. For 2017, Vir­ginia was dis­tin­guished as America’s 24th Best Uni­ver­si­ty with the sixth Best Bachelor’s Degrees in busi­ness dis­ci­plines. Twice, Forbes crowned the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­ginia the sec­ond-high­est-rank­ing pub­lic col­lege from the Atlantic to the Pacif­ic. Only after Stan­ford, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­ginia land­ed sec­ond for “Most Sat­is­fied B‑School Grad­u­ates” also.

Cen­tered on an Inte­grat­ed Core Expe­ri­ence (ICE), the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­merce pro­gram is care­ful­ly designed for UVA under­grad­u­ates to view busi­ness from mul­ti­ple strate­gic angles. Cohorts of 40 to 45 stu­dents work togeth­er in small teams with cor­po­rate lead­ers to facil­i­tate real-world busi­ness learn­ing. Declar­ing the Account­ing Major is pos­si­ble after two years for superb finan­cial exper­tise that extends from the pub­lic to non­prof­it sec­tor. It’s the per­fect spring­board for ful­fill­ing the 150-hour CPA license require­ment. McIn­tire takes class­es glob­al by offer­ing a Third-Year Core Semes­ter-Abroad pro­gram from Brus­sels to Auck­land. Those who become Glob­al Com­merce Schol­ars can com­plete an inde­pen­dent research the­sis. There’s also a 10-course Under­grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Account­ing online.

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­merce – Account­ing Major

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­gini­a’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

6. Cornell University

Estab­lished by the New York State Sen­ate on land donat­ed by Sen­a­tor Ezra Cor­nell in 1865, Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, doc­tor­al land-grant insti­tu­tion in the pres­ti­gious Ivy League. Not­ed for its large coop­er­a­tive out­reach pro­gram, Cor­nell edu­cates over 14,300 under­grad­u­ates from its sprawl­ing 4,800-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus in Itha­ca near the Fin­ger Lakes. The U.S. News hon­ored Cor­nell as the 15th best nation­al uni­ver­si­ty and 16th top val­ue with America’s ninth-best bachelor’s degrees in busi­ness. Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty had the country’s 24th best study abroad pro­gram accord­ing to the IIE Open Doors report. Grad­ed A+ by Forbes, Cor­nell also placed 18th in the Times High­er Education’s glob­al rankings.

With­in the AACSB-accred­it­ed Charles E. Dyson School, Cor­nell under­grad­u­ates could earn a B.S. in Applied Eco­nom­ics and Man­age­ment with an Account­ing Con­cen­tra­tion. Rat­ed #3 in Bloomberg Busi­ness­Week, this on-cam­pus bachelor’s has a selec­tive admis­sion rate of sev­en per­cent. Stu­dents ben­e­fit from Cornell’s 100-year lega­cy pro­duc­ing busi­ness lead­ers who resolve their industry’s most sig­nif­i­cant prob­lems. Under­grad­u­ates become “Big Red” ener­gized with world­wide con­nec­tions and choic­es of 4,000+ cours­es. At least 15 cred­its are con­cen­trat­ed in inter­me­di­ate account­ing, assur­ance, tax­a­tion, and finan­cial mod­el­ing. Stu­dents can par­tic­i­pate in the CALS Exchange Pro­gram in over 70 coun­tries. Account­ing majors could also become Hunter R. Rawl­ings III Cor­nell Pres­i­den­tial Research Scholars.

B.S. in Applied Eco­nom­ics and Man­age­ment — Account­ing Concentration

Learn more about Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

7. Indiana University — Bloomington

Endowed for $1.97 bil­lion, Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty Bloom­ing­ton is the Hoosier State’s largest flag­ship pub­lic, co-edu­ca­tion­al research insti­tu­tion enrolling over 32,600 under­grad­u­ates. Rest­ing on a bed of Salem Lime­stone, Indiana’s 1,937-acre urban cam­pus in Mon­roe Coun­ty was named one of the most beau­ti­ful in Trav­el + Leisure mag­a­zine. The U.S. News and World Report dis­tin­guished Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty — Bloom­ing­ton as the 86th Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 36th Top Pub­lic Col­lege with the ninth Best Under­grad­u­ate Busi­ness Edu­ca­tion. Wash­ing­ton Month­ly select­ed Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty — Bloom­ing­ton as the 77th Top Uni­ver­si­ty for Civic Engage­ment. Not­ed for alum­ni like Mark Cuban and John Cham­bers, the AACSB-accred­it­ed Kel­ley School of Busi­ness is includ­ed in Prince­ton Review’s “Best 295 Busi­ness Schools.”

Unlike most schools on our list, Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty Bloom­ing­ton offers a spe­cial­ized Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Account­ing that’s high­ly struc­tured for CPA prepa­ra­tion. Stu­dents devel­op the analy­sis, plan­ning, and inter­nal con­trol skills required to suc­ceed in finan­cial ser­vices. The major begins in the fresh­man year with a basic account­ing skills sem­i­nar. Course­work then pro­gress­es through audit­ing, account­ing infor­ma­tion sys­tems, cost account­ing, tax­a­tion, and mon­e­tary deci­sion-mak­ing. The Under­grad­u­ate Career Ser­vices Cen­ter arranges intern­ships with busi­ness lead­ers, includ­ing Big Four firms. More than 90 per­cent of Kel­ley grad­u­ates are employed with­in six months. Join­ing Beta Alpha Psi or the Stu­dent Account­ing Soci­ety can add to the well-round­ed cur­ricu­lum. Stu­dents could also accel­er­ate towards CPA with a 3/2 MBA pro­gram in Account­ing or Finan­cial Analysis.

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Accounting

Learn more about Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty — Bloom­ing­ton’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

8. University of Notre Dame

Affil­i­at­ed with the Con­gre­ga­tion of Holy Cross, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Notre Dame is a pri­vate, co-edu­ca­tion­al research insti­tu­tion estab­lished by Father Edward Sorin CSC in 1842. This Catholic school car­ries a $10 bil­lion endow­ment to edu­cate over 8,400 under­grad­u­ates from its vast 1,250-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus in South Bend, Indi­ana. Notre Dame splits into five col­leges, includ­ing the AACSB-accred­it­ed Men­doza Col­lege of Busi­ness. Pub­lic Account­ing Report placed Notre Dame fourth nation­al­ly. The U.S. News and World Report rec­og­nized the Uni­ver­si­ty of Notre Dame as America’s 15th Best Col­lege and 25th Top Val­ue with the ninth Best Bachelor’s Busi­ness Degrees. Notre Dame has the 24th high­est mid-career medi­an salary at $110,000 accord­ing to PayScale.

Fol­low­ing a holis­tic, val­ue-added approach, the Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Account­ing pro­gram allows Notre Dame stu­dents to devel­op their deci­sion-mak­ing vision. Under­grad­u­ates go beyond mak­ing spread­sheets and ledgers to fos­ter the skills required for chang­ing the busi­ness world. Small class­es are taught by engaged fac­ul­ty devot­ed to inno­va­tion in ana­lyz­ing eco­nom­ic activ­i­ties. BBA stu­dents who trans­fer AP cred­its and take course over­loads could sat­is­fy the 150-hour Cer­ti­fied Pub­lic Accoun­tant require­ment. Unique oppor­tu­ni­ties include the Tax Assis­tance Pro­gram (TAP) where majors help low-income cit­i­zens reap prof­itable refunds. Stu­dents could also become induct­ed in Beta Alpha Psi, study abroad in 40+ loca­tions, and minor in Inno­va­tion & Entrepreneurship.

Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Accounting

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Notre Dame’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

9. Washington University in St. Louis

Devot­ed to “Strength through truth,” Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis is a pri­vate, non­prof­it research insti­tu­tion that’s employed 25 Nobel lau­re­ates since its incep­tion in 1853. Enrolling approx­i­mate­ly 7,300 under­grad­u­ates, WashU encom­pass­es 2,312 urban acres in Missouri’s inland port on the Mis­sis­sip­pi Riv­er. Endowed for $213 mil­lion itself, the John M. Olin Busi­ness School holds AACSB accred­i­ta­tion for Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s fourth-best BSBA. The U.S. News and World Report laud­ed Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis as America’s 19th Best Col­lege and 10th Best School for Vet­er­ans with the 14th Top Bachelor’s Degrees in Busi­ness. The Prince­ton Review also ranked Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis #15 for “Best Qual­i­ty of Life” countrywide.

Heav­i­ly recruit­ed by Big Four firms, the BSBA with Under­grad­u­ate Major in Account­ing is designed for high-poten­tial Olin stu­dents to edge out the intense mar­ket com­pe­ti­tion. Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis stu­dents are trained to become glob­al change lead­ers with hands-on expe­ri­ence turn­ing account­ing the­o­ry into prac­tice. The 123-cred­it cur­ricu­lum empha­sizes course­work in income tax, finan­cial report­ing, cost analy­sis, audit­ing, and man­age­r­i­al account­ing. Stu­dents could add the Mas­ter of Account­ing (MAcc) for CPA licens­ing in five years. There’s even an Ear­ly Admis­sion 3+2 MBA pro­gram con­cen­trat­ed in account­ing. Aca­d­e­m­ic cred­it is extend­ed for semes­ter-long cor­po­rate intern­ships. Stu­dents could also ben­e­fit from close ties to Boc­coni Uni­ver­si­ty in Milan and FGV in Sao Paulo. Ambi­tious learn­ers may be nom­i­nat­ed for the two-semes­ter Hon­ors Pro­gram in Management.

BSBA with Under­grad­u­ate Major in Accounting

Learn more about Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty in St. Louis’ Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

10. Emory University

Belong­ing to the NAICU, Emory Uni­ver­si­ty is Georgia’s sec­ond-old­est pri­vate, non­prof­it RU/VH research insti­tu­tion main­tain­ing a close affil­i­a­tion with the Unit­ed Methodist Church. Ide­al­ly sit­u­at­ed on a 631-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus of Span­ish Saltil­lo tile in Druid Hills out­side Atlanta, Emory sees enroll­ment sur­pass 14,500. The AACSB-accred­it­ed Goizue­ta Busi­ness School stands out among Emory’s nine divi­sions for the 15th Best BBA Nation­wide in Bloomberg Busi­ness­Week. Accord­ing to the U.S. News, Emory Uni­ver­si­ty is the country’s 20th Best Uni­ver­si­ty with the 15th Top Busi­ness Pro­grams. With an A+ finan­cial grade, Emory was dis­tin­guished for the 79th most grate­ful grad­u­ates. The Prince­ton Review also select­ed Emory for the #4 “Best Col­lege Dorms.”

Boast­ing an aver­age start­ing GPA of 3.65, Emory’s Goizue­ta Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion cur­ricu­lum offers a pri­ma­ry depth area in account­ing. Under­grad­u­ates build a sig­nif­i­cant foun­da­tion of finan­cial report­ing and con­cep­tu­al think­ing skills for var­i­ous careers, even invest­ment bank­ing. Stu­dents have the free­dom to select the Finan­cial Account­ing and Analy­sis Con­cen­tra­tion or Pro­fes­sion­al Account­ing (CPA) Con­cen­tra­tion. Func­tion­al knowl­edge on busi­ness dis­ci­plines is sup­ple­ment­ed with at least sev­en account­ing elec­tives. Course­work will span from entre­pre­neur­ial account­ing to glob­al cap­i­tal mar­ket man­age­ment for key insights on cor­po­rate trans­ac­tion struc­ture. Emory Uni­ver­si­ty places account­ing majors 15 min­utes from For­tune 500 com­pa­nies like Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines. Expe­ri­en­tial research is also avail­able at the Cen­ter for Alter­na­tive Investments.

Goizue­ta Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Accounting

Learn more about Emory Uni­ver­si­ty’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

11. University of Illinois Urbana — Champaign

Not­ed for America’s sec­ond-largest library after Har­vard, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois Urbana-Cham­paign is a pub­lic, land-grant, and sea-grant RU/VH research insti­tu­tion with expen­di­tures over $640 mil­lion. The Big Ten Con­fer­ence mem­ber edu­cates over 32,800 under­grad­u­ates from its sprawl­ing 4,522-acre urban cam­pus on the bor­der between Urbana and Cham­paign. For 2017, the U.S. News and World Report hon­ored the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois Urbana — Cham­paign as America’s 44th Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 10th Top Pub­lic Col­lege with the 15th Best Under­grad­u­ate Busi­ness Edu­ca­tion. The respect­ed, AACSB-accred­it­ed Col­lege of Busi­ness was acclaimed by Crist | Kold­er Asso­ciates as the #1 source of Chief Finan­cial Offi­cers in For­tune 500 firms. Illi­nois Urbana-Cham­paign also ranked 20th Nation­al­ly for pro­duc­ing Peace Corps volunteers.

Housed in Wohlers Hall, the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence (B.S.) in Accoun­tan­cy pro­gram at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois Urbana-Cham­paign grad­u­ates entry-lev­el accoun­tants ready to enter pub­lic, pri­vate, or non­prof­it sec­tors. The COB’s active learn­ing envi­ron­ment places great empha­sis on devel­op­ing meth­ods of inquiry, judg­ment, and finan­cial analy­sis. Begin­ning in the sopho­more year, stu­dents are intro­duced to busi­ness across its func­tion­al dis­ci­plines. Accoun­tan­cy cours­es are inte­grat­ed to pre­pare stu­dents for dis­sem­i­nat­ing accu­rate finan­cial records. The 21-cred­it major offers spe­cial­iza­tions like man­age­ment account­ing, tax­a­tion, and account­ing infor­ma­tion sys­tems. Fac­ul­ty men­tors in the Busi­ness Career Ser­vices Depart­ment pair UIUC stu­dents with two intern­ship cours­es at com­pa­nies like State Farm Insur­ance and Boe­ing. Adher­ing to the Illi­nois Accoun­tan­cy Hon­or Code is required.

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Accountancy

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois — Urbana’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

12. University of Minnesota — Twin Cities

Clas­si­fied as an R1 pub­lic doc­tor­al-grant­i­ng research insti­tu­tion with land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant sta­tus, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta Twin Cities car­ries a $3.2 bil­lion endow­ment to serve over 28,900 under­grad­u­ates. With sis­ter loca­tions from Crook­ston to Rochester, UMN Twin Cities occu­pies over 2,730 urban acres in the major hub of Min­neapo­lis and Saint Paul. The Big en Aca­d­e­m­ic Alliance mem­ber is ranked the country’s 71st Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 26th Top Pub­lic Col­lege with the 15th Best Busi­ness Bachelor’s Degrees by the U.S. News and World Report. Rank­ing #1 region­al­ly for Nation­al Mer­it Schol­ars, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta Twin Cities was crowned Sci­en­tist magazine’s “Patent Pow­er­house.” The Carl­son School of Man­age­ment achieved AACSB approval and a top 100 Poets & Quants ranking.

Attract­ing around 550 fresh­men year­ly, the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness pro­gram offers a Carl­son advan­tage for UMN Twin Cities stu­dents seek­ing an Account­ing Major. Each stu­dent forges a per­son­al jour­ney chart­ing their career in the pro­fes­sion­al are­na of finance. Small class­es engage stu­dents to weigh in on inno­v­a­tive dis­cus­sions on the “lan­guage of busi­ness.” Under­grad­u­ates trans­form into pro­fes­sion­al lead­ers on orga­ni­za­tion­al man­age­ment teams to deter­mine smart mon­ey deci­sions. The 39-cred­it major spans from con­tract law to fed­er­al income tax to ensure strong CPA prepa­ra­tion. Stu­dents sharp­en their skills through the Con­sult­ing Enter­prise Chal­lenge and Carl­son alum­ni have found suc­cess with KPMG, Cargill, Bak­er Tilly, and more with a 97 per­cent job place­ment rate.

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness with Account­ing Major

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta — Twin Cities’ Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

13. Ohio State University

As the Unit­ed States’ third-largest pub­lic, land-grant research insti­tu­tion, Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty pro­vides over 51,200 under­grad­u­ates with “Edu­ca­tion for Cit­i­zen­ship.” Based on a main 1,765-acre urban cam­pus in the Buck­eye State’s cap­i­tal of Colum­bus, OSU oper­ates region­al loca­tions in Woost­er, Newark, Mans­field, Mar­i­on, and Lima. Boast­ing 1,000+ stu­dent-run clubs, Ohio State is deemed America’s 54th Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 16th Top Pub­lic School with the 19th Best Busi­ness Bachelor’s Pro­grams. The “Pub­lic Ivy” holds AAU mem­ber­ship as the 90th Top Glob­al Uni­ver­si­ty accord­ing to Times High­er Edu­ca­tion. With AACSB accred­i­ta­tion, the Fish­er Col­lege of Busi­ness was cit­ed in The New York Times for a 170 per­cent return on investment.

Offered sole­ly in Colum­bus, the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Account­ing pro­gram at Ohio State allows on-cam­pus stu­dents to learn busi­ness skills to ensure finan­cial well-being. Under­grad­u­ates are trained to sum­ma­rize finan­cial data, devel­op bud­gets, deter­mine tax­es, audit records, inter­pret eco­nom­ic activ­i­ty, and more. Fresh­men begin the four-year pro­gram as pre-majors to ful­fill gen­er­al edu­ca­tion. Some may com­plete the Man­age­ment and Indus­try Explo­ration Pro­gram first. The B.S. requires 121 total cred­its, includ­ing a senior account­ing sem­i­nar and cap­stone. Over 85 per­cent of OSU stu­dents earn intern­ships that could segue into full-time employ­ment. Hon­ors stu­dents may qual­i­fy for the Busi­ness Schol­ars Pro­gram for added team-build­ing. Grad­u­ates’ aver­age start­ing salary for 2015 was $50,978.

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Accounting

Learn more about Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

14. University of Arizona

Char­tered in 1885 by the “Thiev­ing Thir­teenth” leg­is­la­ture under the Mor­rill Act, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona is a flag­ship pub­lic land-grant research insti­tu­tion that’s edu­cat­ing approx­i­mate­ly 40,600 Wild­cats. Locat­ed on a 380-acre urban cam­pus in Tuc­son with­in Pima County’s famous Sun Cor­ri­dor around 108 miles from Phoenix, UA grants over 330 pro­grams of study. The U.S. News and World Report rec­og­nized Ari­zona as the 124th Best Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty, 60th Top Pub­lic School, and 19th Best Busi­ness Edu­ca­tion provider. Accord­ing to the Coun­cil for Aid to Edu­ca­tion, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona pro­vides the 24th Best Finan­cial Sup­port. The AACSB-accred­it­ed Eller Col­lege of Man­age­ment was picked 58th glob­al­ly by the Mex­i­can mag­a­zine Expan­sion.

Rig­or­ous aca­d­e­mics are the cor­ner­stone to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Arizona’s Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion pro­gram, which con­fers a Major in Account­ing. Here Eller stu­dents can focus their busi­ness exper­tise on the col­lec­tion, orga­ni­za­tion, and report­ing of finan­cial infor­ma­tion for orga­ni­za­tion­al deci­sion-mak­ing. Grad­u­ates won’t sat­is­fy the 150-hour CPA require­ment yet, but they’ll qual­i­fy for becom­ing a Cer­ti­fied Man­age­ment Accoun­tant or Cer­ti­fied Inter­nal Audi­tor. The four-year plan fea­tures 15 units per semes­ter to mas­ter every­thing from micro­eco­nom­ic analy­sis to quan­ti­ta­tive finance man­age­ment. Arizona’s cours­es are avail­able on-cam­pus dur­ing tra­di­tion­al or evening sched­ules. Inter­na­tion­al per­spec­tive can be added with the Glob­al Busi­ness Pro­gram to coun­tries like Chi­na and France. Stu­dents may net­work with alum­ni through the Polaris Eller Lead­er­ship Hon­orary too.

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion with Major in Accounting

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zon­a’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

15. University of Maryland — College Park

Split into 12 aca­d­e­m­ic divi­sions, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Col­lege Park is a flag­ship pub­lic, land-grant, and sea-grant RU/VH research insti­tu­tion serv­ing the Wash­ing­ton Metro. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land — Col­lege Park is endowed for $283 mil­lion to enlight­en over 27,400 under­grad­u­ates from its 1,250-acre sub­ur­ban cam­pus of red-brick Geor­gian style just 20 miles from Fort Meade. The U.S. News and World Report picked Mary­land as the 60th Best Uni­ver­si­ty and 36th Top Col­lege for Mil­i­tary Vet­er­ans with the Unit­ed States 19th Best Under­grad­u­ate Busi­ness Degrees. Ranked #1 for Boren Schol­ar­ship win­ners, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Col­lege Park is Kiplinger’s ninth Best In-State Val­ue. Busi­ness Insid­er also con­sid­ered the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land among the “Smartest Pub­lic Col­leges in America.

The AACSB-accred­it­ed Robert H. Smith School of Busi­ness estab­lished a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Account­ing pro­gram that spans 120 cred­its over four to five years full-time. Account­ing majors are taught how to plan, con­trol, and appraise the finan­cial per­for­mance of orga­ni­za­tions from world-class fac­ul­ty. The cur­ricu­lum lays the ground­work for account­ing man­age­ment careers in pri­vate, gov­ern­ment, and non­prof­it agen­cies. Stu­dents can fol­low the Pub­lic Account­ing Track for CPA cre­den­tials or the Man­age­ment Accounting/Consulting Track for CMA des­ig­na­tion. The B.S. could also be obtained by cohorts attend­ing UMD’s Shady Grove cam­pus in Mont­gomery Coun­ty. After fresh­men com­plete the Smith­Start pro­gram, they’ll work along­side peers and fac­ul­ty through the Account­ing & Busi­ness Asso­ci­a­tion. Ambi­tious grad­u­ates could con­tin­ue into the Ph.D. in Account­ing program.

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Accounting

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land — Col­lege Park’s Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams here.

Why Get a Bachelor’s in Accounting?

Account­ing is one of the best careers accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics. Accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Insti­tute of CPAs, hir­ing in account­ing has reached a record high after 11 per­cent increase in 2012. More than 207,000 col­lege stu­dents were enrolled in account­ing under­grad­u­ate pro­grams last year to ful­fill grow­ing demand. Study­ing online isn’t right for every­one, so we’d like to rec­og­nize the Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams avail­able on phys­i­cal cam­pus­es across the Unit­ed States.

Related Links:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Accounting

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Accounting

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Accounting

10 Most Afford­able Online Bach­e­lor’s in Accounting

Top 15 Online Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Programs

The Top 15 Cheap­est Bach­e­lor Degrees in Accounting