Master of Accounting
Determined TU Lead
Earn your Master of Accounting from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and prepare to pass the CPA exam while launching a rewarding career in accounting or financial analysis. Designed for students from accounting and related quantitative backgrounds, the program offers rigorous coursework, expert faculty guidance, and one-on-one advising to help you tailor your degree to your career goals. You’ll also have the opportunity to specialize within the program, giving you a competitive edge with top employers — including the Big Four accounting firms.
Why Enroll in Our Master of Accounting Program?
When you enroll in the Master of Accounting program at Tulane University, you’ll benefit from the outstanding instruction and immersive learning opportunities available through our internationally recognized business school. The program’s esteemed graduates comprise a global network of current and future accounting professionals and business leaders who are contributing to the success of their organizations and communities.
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100%
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of graduates employed within 6 months, 2024
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#54
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Best Graduate Schools, U.S. News & World Report, 2025
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30
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credit hours
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#58
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Best Business Schools List, Bloomberg, 2024
Career Outlook for Accounting Graduates
Earning a Master of Accounting prepares you to tackle complex challenges in business and contribute to the financial success of an organization in any of a range of industries. You’ll emerge from the program with in-demand skills and competencies needed for roles in auditing, tax planning, financial reporting, and even financial crime investigating. Graduates of our program go on to fulfilling careers in public accounting, corporate finance, government accounting, and consulting.
Discover some roles you can pursue with a Master of Accounting:
- Chief Financial Officer: Median Annual Salary: $206,420*
- Audit Manager: Median Annual Salary: $103,200**
- Director of Accounting: Median Annual Salary: $118,000**
- Tax Manager: Median Annual Salary: $110,200**
- Certified Public Accountant: Median Annual Salary: $81,680*
- Forensic Accountant: Median Annual Salary: $81,300**
* Salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024
** Salary data from Payscale, 2025
Your Journey TU Achieve More Starts Here.
Learn about Freeman's admissions process, application requirements, and deadlines.
Explore course overview and unique specializations / concentrations offered.
Discover merit-based scholarship opportunities and financial aid options.
Envision the ROI you can unlock with a Freeman graduate degree.
Explore the Master of Accounting Program
Prepare to pass the CPA exam and start a rewarding career as an accounting professional when you earn your Master of Accounting degree from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. With rigorous courses and expert guidance, the program enables you to gain the expertise you need to become a certified public accountant or financial analyst for any of a number of employers around the world, including the Big Four accounting firms.
Whether you were an accounting major or studied another related discipline, we welcome students with varied quantitative backgrounds who want to immerse themselves in the world of accounting. Through one-on-one advising, you can tailor your accounting degree to meet your career goals. You can also pursue a specialization within the Master of Accounting program, which will help you stand out from other candidates as you enter the job market.
Benefits of a Master of Accounting Degree
Our accounting master’s degree program was built for the business world of today and tomorrow. Our curriculum is industry-endorsed and designed to prepare you for the CPA exam, ensuring you have a solid foundation to begin your career as a certified public accountant or financial analyst.
All students will complete seven core courses, for a total of 18 credit hours. The remaining 12 credit hours of the 30-credit hour program are electives.
Skills You Will Learn
- Critical Thinking
- Analytical Skills
- Ability to communicate financial information to both internal and external stakeholders to facilitate decision-making
Core Competencies
- Financial Accounting
- Managerial Accounting
- Auditing
- Accounting Information Systems & Accounting Analytics
- Entity Taxation
Speak with a Graduate Admissions Advisor
Your Admissions Contact
Jade Byrd
Schedule a one-on-one virtual or in-person appointment to learn more about this program and the admissions process.
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Master of Accounting FAQs
Earning a master’s degree in accounting prepares you with the strategic financial skills that organizations need to thrive. The value of these skills often translates to competitive salaries that increase with experience.
To become a CPA, individuals must earn a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance. However, they must have 150 college credit hours to qualify, which is 30 hours more than is earned in a typical bachelor’s degree program. That’s why many aspiring CPAs enroll in a Master of Accounting degree program as a way to earn the required additional credits and to gain the advanced knowledge and skills they need to support their CPA exam readiness.
Yes, a Master of Accounting program can prepare you to take the CPA exam, as it offers courses that align with CPA content areas such as financial accounting, reporting, and auditing.
The final determination of whether a CPA exam applicant meets the educational qualifications necessary to sit for the exam in any U.S. state or territory resides solely with the Board of Accountancy in that state or territory. All State Boards of Accountancy require evaluation and approval of a candidate’s academic credentials prior to sitting for the exam.
See the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) website at https://nasba.org/ for more details, including links to the state/territory jurisdictions as well as services that provide academic evaluations of aspiring CPAs’ coursework and credentials.
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) program is a broad business degree program that enables students to develop general management and leadership skills, with some general accounting topics typically included in the curriculum. A Master of Accounting program is a deep, technical accounting degree program that focuses on specialized areas in accounting such as financial accounting, auditing, tax, advanced reporting, accounting information systems, and analytics.
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