Scranton’s Online Master’s in Accountancy Program Named Best in Nation

The University of Scranton’s online Master of Accountancy degree program was ranked No.1 in the nation in a newly published list of top accounting programs by Best Colleges, an independent online higher education resource.

According to Douglas M. Boyle, DBA, associate professor and chair of Scranton’s Accounting Department and the program’s founder, “Our initial vision for the master’s in accountancy (MAcc) program was to provide a high-quality practice degree that meets the needs of the profession in both technical accounting topics and softer skills such as ethics and communications. This recognition provides strong evidence that we have fulfilled this vision.”

James Boyle, D.B.A., assistant professor of accounting and the program’s director, credits alumni input, saying that “our successful alumni at Big 4 firms and major public and private companies continuously mentor our MAcc students and offer their real-world experience in helping to develop and refine our curriculum. As a result, our MAcc graduates are ready to excel and bring their careers to the next level in the marketplace.”

The Best Colleges website highlights Scranton’s innovative MAcc Bridge Program, which enables students who have a non-accounting bachelor’s degree to efficiently gain the necessary prerequisites which provide the foundation needed for success in the master’s program. Brian Carpenter, Ph.D., professor of accounting and the Bridge Program’s founder, said that “there is a growing demand for highly qualified accountants that projects well into the future. Providing a path for the best and brightest candidates to gain entry to our program ensures that we are graduating highly qualified professionals who also bring a very diverse skill set to the market.”

Best Colleges, according to its website, provides “independent evaluations of online colleges and degree programs based on publicly available data and research to highlight those schools that offer a high-quality, reputable education at a reasonable cost.” Best Colleges only ranks “four-year, bachelor’s degree-granting liberal arts college or university in the United States, with at least one top 50 ranking in another major ranking system in the last year.” Their Master’s in Accountancy Online ranking considered acceptance rates, retention rates, six-year graduation rate and loan default rates, among other factors.

Scranton’s Panuska College of Professional Studies offers online master's degrees in health administration, health informatics and human resources, and Scranton's Kania School of Management offers online master’s degrees in accountancy as well as online MBA degrees in general business, accounting, enterprise resource planning, healthcare management, human resources, international business and operations management. For technology, recruitment and marketing support, the University partners with Wiley, a higher education consulting firm, for its online graduate business degree programs.

In January 2017, Best Choice Schools, an online resource for academic degree programs, ranked The University of Scranton No. 7 in the nation in its list of the “20 Best Online Schools for Accounting Master’s 2016-2017.” U.S. News and World Report also listed Scranton among the “Best Online Programs” in the nation in its 2017 publication.