MACIS Program: Planned Analytics Option for Fall 2018

Data and analytics is recognized within the profession as an area of increasing value to companies and auditors.  Companies are now able to make better, more informed decisions while internal and external auditors are able to perform strengthened audit procedures.  As the profession evolves, faculty and programs within the ACIS Department also evolve to provide the most relevant, leading edge education to our students with the ultimate goal of preparing them to be as successful and competitive as possible in the accounting profession.  We offer four Options within our Master of Accounting and Information Systems (MACIS) Program and, beginning Fall 2018, we plan to offer a fifth Analytics Option.  The genesis of this new option relates to the increased emphasis of the profession on analytics along with an exposure and understanding of a new KPMG program emphasizing data and analytics. Our ACIS faculty have collaborated with KPMG and its Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics (MADA) Program to provide enhanced educational benefits to our students.

One of the important benefits accompanying the Department’s involvement with the MADA Program is that ACIS students will receive the advantage of our faculty undergoing intensive additional training with state-of-the-art software and methodologies and conveying that knowledge to our students. Students will also benefit from access to KPMG data sets and developed cases, which will be incorporated into their courses. Another important benefit for our students is the concepts, techniques, and methods can be integrated into a variety of courses. Moreover, there will likely be a spillover effect of this knowledge enabling it to flow into our undergraduate classes (sometimes using non-proprietary software).

In the words of KPMG documentation, “this award-winning KPMG Program offers students a one-of-a-kind master’s degree for accounting professionals in the data age.  The demanding coursework will go beyond traditional accounting principles to include technologies and methodologies used in today’s highly complex, data-centric accounting environments, ensuring that next generation accounting students are equally comfortable in their [data and analytics] D&A skills, as they are in their traditional accounting skills.”

KPMG will sponsor a limited number of students to attend our MACIS Program each year for the duration of our participation in the MADA Program.  These students will receive full tuition, reasonable costs for room and board, books, and technology/supplies fees, and will also participate in a D&A focused internship in spring semester.  Additionally, these students will begin their professional careers as experienced Associates at KPMG upon graduation.

The planned Analytics Option will be available to all students admitted into the MACIS Program regardless of KPMG Sponsorship.  In other words, all students choosing the planned Analytics Option will have access to the tools and technologies, data sets and case studies provided by KPMG.  Although sponsorship is not a requirement, we welcome other firms in the accounting profession to sponsor students to attend our MACIS Program as well as have our students participate in a substantive spring internship program.

There are currently nine high quality universities across the country selected to participate in the MADA Program. We are proud to have been selected by KPMG to participate in its MADA Program, and look forward to continuing to provide our students with a world-class education.