Ave Maria University
Prepare for a career in this high-demand industry with excellent training in a rigorous course of study. You’ll build skills in financial and managerial accounting, cost accounting, accounting information systems, auditing and tax preparation. You’ll also broaden your mind through our Core Curriculum and strengthen your commitment to honesty and integrity.
Careers: Accountant, Financial Planner, Bookkeeper
An accounting degree from AMU will prepare you for employment with an accounting firm, a for-profit business or a nonprofit organization. You’ll be ready to become a Certified Public Accountant if you choose. Above all, you will distinguish yourself as a highly competent and ethical person who will be valued by employers.
Fast Fact: Our alumni work in all areas of business: analysis, sales, consulting, management, logistics, accounting, information systems, sports, and health care.
The accounting major will offer you many professional opportunities such as becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA); or working for a private firm (large or small) and perhaps becoming their Chief Financial Officer. Every for profit and nonprofit organization needs accountants. The accounting major will give you a strong background should you decide to go on to graduate school to earn a Master of Business Administration, Master of Public accountancy, or even a Doctorate.
Our students learn the basics in a way that is practical and oriented towards what is necessary to actually run a business. Our students develop and sharpen their skills in communication and analysis, in working with others and working with numbers, in seeing the big picture and in drilling down to details. Our students learn how to think – how to think better, more broadly, more flexibly – which is the best preparation for the changing world of business.
Our majors emphasize analytical thinking and tools: the intellectual equipment and critical skills needed to understand and excel in business and in most other human endeavors. Ave Maria students have the unique fortune of building on a foundation of a liberal education, an education on the basic realities about God and the world, man and his relationship with God and nature. Through our liberal arts curriculum, students learn that reality is coherent and intelligible and grow in the habit – in the essential business skill – of looking for patterns and seeing the sense in the apparent contradictions of the world that surrounds them.
The Business majors at Ave Maria aim to inspire students to become business leaders inspired by Christian ideals and governed by Christian ideas. Relying on the Catholic faith lived intensely on campus and on the general intellectual formation of the Core Curriculum, what animates the program is the Catholic view of the human person, his nature, and his ultimate destiny. The distinctive character of the program is its belief in the dignity of the human person, in the reality and importance of the common good, in subsidiarity and solidarity, in ownership as stewardship, and in responsibility for the environment. Because students learn to value human beings for what they are, not for what utility they bring, they are able to serve the Church and their society loyally and generously.
The Accounting major prepares students to become Certified Public Accountants if they choose. In the State of Florida, to be permitted to take the CPA exam for the first time, a candidate must have successfully completed at least 120 semester hours of acceptable college credit as determined by the Florida Board of Accountancy, and must have earned at least a bachelor’s degree or its international equivalent. Applicants for the examination must have completed 24 semester hours of upper division business courses, 24 semester hours of upper division accounting education courses that includes 3 semester hours of Business Law with coverage of contracts, torts and UCC. The State of Florida also requires an additional 30 hours of coursework (for a total of 150 hours) and one year of work experience under the supervision of a CPA in order to become licensed after completion of the CPA Exam. To view a full list of requirements for taking the Uniform CPA Exam in Florida, please view the Florida Board of Accountancy’s website.
Enrollment in upper-division accounting courses requires the declaration of the accounting major, the completion of 64 hours of college work with a minimum 2.5 GPA in major courses, and the completion of any course-specific prerequisites. All upper-division business courses have specific prerequisites.
Note: ACCT 201 and ACCT 202 are pre-requisites to all other ACCT courses. ACCT 300 must be taken before (or concurrently with) ACCT 302.
Faculty advisors assist B.A. students while they are completing their Core education and business courses. Students are assigned to the Business faculty for advising upon declaration of the major.
Accounting majors are highly employable. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants says
“CPAs and potential CPAs have a variety of career paths from which to choose. Within public accounting, you can work for any sized firm, ranging from a large, international CPA firm to a small local accounting practice. Within the firm, you can work in such areas as audit, tax and management consulting.
The same holds true in business and industry, where you can choose careers in companies of all sizes, working in diverse areas such as financial accounting and reporting, management accounting, financial analysis and treasury/cash management.
Within government, you can create a path to success at either the federal, state or local level. Non-profit organizations and education also offer many diverse opportunities.”
Ave Maria University is fortunate to be connected to a strong, nationally-recognized network of business managers and CEOs who are looking for the skills and the virtues that characterize Ave Maria students. We are very active in developing our students’ career potential, connecting them with suitable internships, and ensuring their success.
The Business Honor Society Sigma Beta Delta has a chapter at Ave Maria University, to which the top twenty percent of juniors and seniors are admitted.
Education: B.A., Economics, Providence College; M.S., Accounting, University of Hartford; D.B.A., Accounting, Walden University Office: Henkels 2051 Email: anne.marchetti@avemaria.edu Phone: (239) 280-2482
Career Services prides itself on providing students, alumni and employers with the opportunity to connect. No matter where you are in your career search, whether it’s deciding on a path, preparing for your first job interview or working on graduate school or fellowship applications, we can help.
The spiritual life on campus is the beating heart of Ave. Whether it’s attending Mass, receiving the sacraments, participating in retreats or getting spiritual direction, you’ll find the spiritual support you need from the priests and staff of Campus Ministry.
With AMU’s core curriculum, you’ll not only achieve breadth of knowledge, but also depth of knowledge. You’ll encounter the truth about God and His creation more completely through the dynamic interplay of all of the liberal arts, including theology and natural science.
Sunny skies, warm temperatures, a beautiful campus. What more could you want? How about a community-like atmosphere, quality instructors who care about your success, a wealth of spiritual activities, expert career guidance… and that’s only the beginning. Imagine your future at AMU. It all starts by filling out our free application today.
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