Combining Economic Theory and Accounting Practice

The combined economics/accounting major is designed to integrate the most important aspects of economic theory and accounting practice to provide the foundation and advanced knowledge you will need to succeed in business. It's an excellent undergraduate major for students wishing to pursue graduate study in law or business.

Detailed Program of Study

accounting students concentrated on a presentation

Why Economics and Accounting?

This degree provides students with a strong background in both economics and accounting. It is an excellent degree for students intending to pursue a career in business or to prepare for an MBA. With this major, numerous career options are available such as:

For more information please see a video made by the American Economics Association: "A Career in Economics...it's Much More Than You Think"

Plan Your Course of Study

For the official Program of Study, see the Economics/Accounting, BA from the university catalog.

Your faculty advisors and the department managers are here to help you create a plan of study or to just confirm that you are on the correct path to reach your goals. Schedule an appointment by email or stop by during office hours.

Course Layout

Flow chart of econ/accounting courses. This visualizes the information that can also be found in text form in the catalog.

Please download and read carefully the Economics/Accounting 2021-22 Plan of Study/Advising Form. This includes a flowchart for the required courses and will also serve as your planned course schedule when submitting your paperwork for your senior evaluation for graduation. 

Foundation Courses
Accounting Economics Math & Statistics* Management Business Computer Skills
ACCT 240 ECON 206 MATH 157 MGMT 271 MIS 220**
ACCT 245

ECON 20

      

*or equivalent

** students can test out of MIS 220

For the complete plan of study see the official Program of Study on the university catalog page.

The foundation courses consist of 28-30 credits and ideally should be completed by the end of your sophomore year. They provide the groundwork in basic business computer skills, accounting, economics, business calculus, statistics and business law the you will need before becoming a full economics/accounting major. You MUST complete all of the foundation courses before taking any junior or senior-level accounting courses.

Pre-Major Advising for Economics/Accounting Students

The accounting department recommends that students take ACCT 240 and ACCT 245 during their sophomore year to lessen the time gap between those courses and the junior-level accounting courses.

Since MATH 157- Business Calculus (or MATH 124) is a prerequisite for other courses and one of the foundation courses, we recommend that students work toward completing their MATH sequence as early as possible.

General University Requirements (GUR)

Several of your prerequisite and foundation courses also count as GURs. Look for classes that are labeled as "GUR." By planning your schedule properly you can reduce the total number of classes needed.

The core courses incorporate the base knowledge you gained in your foundation courses and expand that knowledge through more advanced financial, marketing, operations and management topics and are usually completed by one's junior year. One Communication Focus (CF) course as well as a minimum of three Writing Proficiency (WP-3) points with a minimum of C- is required. The CF and WP-3 courses must be taken within CBE. These requirements can be met as part of required or elective courses.

The economics and accounting combined major requires completion of 16 credits of upper-division required courses in both economics and accounting. Furthermore you are required to complete an additional 16 credits of elective coursework with departmental advisement - eight of these credits must be in upper-division economics courses and eight credits must be in upper-division accounting courses.

Course List

    ACCT 321 - Accounting Information Systems I Credits: 4
    ACCT 341 - Intermediate Accounting Theory and Practice I Credits: 4
    ACCT 342 - Intermediate Accounting Theory and Practice II Credits: 4
    ACCT 343 - Intermediate Accounting Theory and Practice III Credits: 4
    ECON 303 - The History of Economic Thought Credits: 4
    ECON 306 - Intermediate Microeconomics Credits: 4
    ECON 307 - Intermediate Macroeconomics Credits: 4
    ECON 311 - Money and Banking Credits: 4
    FIN 341 - Principles of Finance Credits: 4
    MGMT 311 - Introduction to Management and Organizational Behavior Credits: 4
    MGMT 382 - Business and Its Environment Credits: 4
    MKTG 380 - Principles of Marketing Credits: 4
    OPS 360 - Operations Management Credits: 4 open_in_new(opens in new window)

Accounting Electives

Select 8 additional credits under advisement from this list:

    ACCT 375 - Taxation and Business Decisions
    ACCT 421 - Accounting Information Systems II
    ACCT 431 - Topics in Management Accounting
    ACCT 435 - Seminar in Cost Management
    ACCT 441 - Advanced Financial Accounting
    ACCT 443 - Financial Accounting Research & Communication
    ACCT 444 - Financial Statement Presentation and Analysis
    ACCT 447 - Accounting in Not-For-Profit Organizations
    ACCT 451 - International Accounting
    ACCT 461 - Auditing Theory and Practice
    ACCT 462 - Advanced Auditing
    ACCT 466 - Seminar in Fraud Examination & Forensic Accounting
    ACCT 470 - Law of Commercial Transactions
    ACCT 475 - Income Taxation II
    ACCT 477 - Tax Research and Planning
    ACCT 479 - Introduction to Estates and Trusts
    ACCT 484 - Environmental Accounting/ Sustainability Reporting
    ACCT 488 - Business Valuation

 
Economics Electives

Select 8 additional credits from this list:

    ECON 301 - Economics Issues
    ECON 308 - Sports Economics
    ECON 310 - Public Sector Economics
    ECON 315 - Health Economics
    ECON 317 - European Economic History
    ECON 325 - Labor Market Economics
    ECON 333 - Introduction to Game Theory
    ECON 337 - Economics Study Abroad
    ECON 340 - Economics of Regulation
    ECON 343 - Population, Environment, and World Agriculture
    ECON 355 - The Political Economy of Language and Culture
    ECON 360 - Introduction to International Economics
    ECON 361 - Introduction to International Economics and Business
    ECON 364 - Topics in Canadian Economic History
    ECON 365 - The Canadian Economy
    ECON 366 - Canadian Business Environment
    ECON 375 - Introduction to Econometrics
    ECON 380 - Urban Economics
    ECON 381 - American Economic History
    ECON 383 - Environmental Economics
    ECON 384 - Energy Economics
    ECON 385 - Comparative Economic Systems
    ECON 386 - The Economics of Electricity Markets
    ECON 388 - Economics of the European Union
    ECON 389 - Economies of the Pacific Rim
    ECON 406 - Topics in Microeconomics
    ECON 407 - Topics in Macroeconomics
    ECON 410 - Benefit-Cost Analysis
    ECON 411 - Monetary Economics
    ECON 412 - Economics of Tax Policy
    ECON 430 - Experimental Economics
    ECON 435 - Behavioral Economics
    ECON 442 - Industrial Organization and Public Policy
    ECON 445 - Economics of Education
    ECON 462 - International Trade
    ECON 463 - International Finance
    ECON 465 - Development Economics
    ECON 470 - Economic Fluctuations and Forecasting
    ECON 475 - Econometrics
    ECON 482 - Advanced Topics in Environmental Economics
    ECON 483 - Resource Economics
    ECON 484 - Economics of Alternative Energy
    ECON 495 - Seminar in Applied Econometrics

 

Choose one option.

The advanced core consists of a capstone class in either Strategic Management (MGMT 495), OR Small Business Entrepreneurship (MGMT 491) and Entrepreneurial Problems (MGMT 492).
Course List:

  • MGMT 491 - Small Business Entrepreneurship
  • MGMT 492 - Entrepreneurial Problems
  • MGMT 495 - Strategic Management