The Best MBA Programs In Accounting

STATE-OF-THE ART CENTER OPENING IN 2017

Traditionally, the school has remained on the cutting edge when it comes to accounting and finance. According to Mabley, McCombs was the first school to have an investment fund where students fully managed real money. In 2013, the school launched its corporate finance fellows program. Sponsored by Intel, whose CFO is a McCombs MBA, the fellows program provides an experiential environment where students work directly with Intel executives on a financial project. The school is also in talks with several Fortune 500 firms to expand this fellowship into other sectors.  In addition, McCombs sponsors a Venture Fellows program where 15-20 students work for a local venture capital or private equity firm. Coupled with a class component, this two semester initiative provides students with hands-on experience in identifying, researching, and selecting new ventures.

Accounting students can also gain experience working in other business functions – or starting a business. For example, they can act as brand managers in a marketing lab in partnership with Dell. Or, they can participate in the Texas Venture Labs, where students take early stage ideas for technology commercialization to be vetted. “This is where we see the future, where students can tinker, experiment with ideas and physical prototypes,” says Hirst. “It’s a hub of activities…where we showcase our talents and share what we got.”

McCombs has also maintained a long tradition of stressing career development in accounting , even offering separate career centers for MBAs and MPAs. One of the first courses that McCombs MBA students take is career management, which develops their skills sets in areas like writing resumes and thank you letters, networking, personal branding, managing social media presence, and finding the right employment fit. “We are helping them get their first job, not their last job or their dream job,” says Hirst. “This is very influential in getting them ready and helping them decide what they themselves want…and what’s realistic for them to be doing.”

To top it off, McCombs will open its $172 million dollar Robert B. Rowling Hall in 2017. Projected to cover 458,000 square feet, the hall was designed to facilitate greater collaboration between the various schools on the McCombs campus. “The whole premise of the building is around having overlapping communities – communities that are diverse within themselves and overlap with faculty and other colleges, alumni, business community,” says Hirst. “We want to give them space to come together with big ideas, where they feel comfortable staying there to share those ideas, where they can test those ideas from playroom to a boardroom kind of setting.”

AN MBA AS CHANGE BY OTHER MEANS

As Hirst reflects on the school motto — “What starts here changes the world” – you quickly understand that it is more of a deep aspiration than a boast. And he sees the McCombs philosophy as a means to achieve these ends. “Here is where MBA programs have an opportunity to shine. Problems are going to be solved by bringing together people with very, very different backgrounds and perspectives on tackling those problems. We spend a lot of time on this now. But In future, we will bring together class that’s [even more] purposely diverse – that will require them to share that knowledge so they’re able to see the value of different lenses.”

So how would Hirst pitch MBAs on coming to McCombs for accounting? For him, it is an easy sell. “First of all, you’re coming into the school with the number one program in accounting. You have an amazingly wide range of electives and you can customize the program to whatever your needs are. We have ties to the major firms that can’t run any deeper. We are the leading provider of professional accountants into the accounting industry. We have widespread ties into corporate finance jobs – and we’re going to give you an edge if you want that corporate finance job or banking job because you’ll be able to differentiate yourself with that deeper accounting knowledge.”

And he sees an accounting background as particularly important for aspiring entrepreneurs. “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you’ll be able to run the numbers and have a solid understanding so you can provide the forecast and build those business models no matter how loose they may be so you’re not the one running out of cash. That’s the difference between success and failure. One sees great ideas start and then fail because they run out of something as simple as working capital. When you have a really, really solid accounting and finance background, with that small business and entrepreneurship focus, you get to live and fight another day.”

To see the number of electives and faculty members that the top 10 accounting programs for MBAs have, along with unique courses and capabilities of each of these programs, go to the next pages. 

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