Say PCA BO To Changes Next Administration

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! Regardless of your political views, it is important to consider how the new United States President and Congress will impact the wonderful world of accounting.

While I’m sure many of you have spent your free time reading about the potential changes in tax laws under the new administration, I bet a few of you haven’t heard about how the PCAOB could be affected.

The PCAOB is the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and is “a nonprofit corporation established by Congress to oversee the audits of public companies in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate and independent audit reports. The PCAOB also oversees the audits of broker-dealers, including compliance reports filed pursuant to federal securities laws, to promote investor protection.”

The PCAOB is not technically part of the government, but it plays an integral regulatory role in our financial system. The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appoints the head of the PCAOB. It seems likely that President-elect Trump will appoint a new head of the SEC, who would then appoint a new head of the PCAOB.

The PCAOB currently has a reputation for protecting investors and keeping a tight leash on the auditing profession. Due to the PCAOB’s enforcement actions, the US Chamber of Commerce has labeled it to be an opponent of business. This likely will not resonate well with the President-elect’s pro-business and deregulation stances.

Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University in Beijing, a former PwC partner, and a former member of the PCAOB’s Standing Advisory Group, suggested that the PCAOB become part of the SEC under a new Office of the Chief Auditor and that the PCAOB’s standard-setting function is transferred back to the AICPA. This could save taxpayers a lot of money, since the PCAOB isn’t subject to government salary caps and its employees are paid significantly more than their counterparts in other agencies.

I’m excited to visit the PCAOB, SEC, and other organizations during the EY Public Policy Symposium in Washington DC in a few months! Our whole MAcc class goes to DC for a week with our professors to learn about the role of accounting in the policy-making process. It’s one of the unique highlights of our MAcc program and an event that former students have spoken very fondly about.

Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!

Accounting Degree Not Required

Welcome back, future accounting superstars! By now, you’re convinced that you want to be a CPA and that Ross is a great place to get that accounting foundation. But what if you didn’t major in accounting, or if you didn’t even major in a business field?

Fear not, because Ross will be MAccing you into a business leader and CPA before you can say “American Institute of Certified Public Accountants”. You can have an undergraduate degree in any field and pursue your MAcc degree at Ross so long as you’ve taken the following classes:

• Principles of Financial Accounting
• Principles of Managerial Accounting
• Intermediate Financial Accounting
• Principles of Microeconomics
• Statistics

You also need a class in Intermediate Cost Accounting, but this can be taken in the MAcc program. It is preferred that prerequisite courses are completed at a four-year university. However, if you took introductory-level courses at a community college before transferring to your current university, you do not need to repeat the coursework. As long as your intermediate-level courses are completed at a four-year degree granting institution, your courses will satisfy our requirements. If you want help figuring out if you’ve met the admission requirements, submit the Prerequisite Assessment Form to rossmacc@umich.edu.

Ross does not have an undergraduate accounting degree and 56% of the MAcc students completed their bachelor’s degree in something other than accounting. I majored in economics and I have classmates who were premed and studied biology. One person even earned her bachelor’s in fashion design!

Even with this diversity in educational backgrounds, Ross MAccs still do really well on the CPA exam! Our pass rates are about twice the national average and rank among the highest in the country. We also had 6 Elijah Watt Sells Award winners last year, out of 75 total winners. These people scored an average of 95.5 on all four parts of the CPA exam on the first try. The Big Four accounting firms give about a $20,000 bonus to Watt Sells award-winners, so there’s some added incentive!

Best of luck as you prepare your applications and GO BLUE!