What is an accounting degree?

An accounting degree could lay the groundwork for opportunities as a CPA, tax or audit professional in a corporate accounting setting, or a variety of executive leadership positions in business and industry. At Florida Tech, students prepare for accounting careers as well as graduate programs in accountancy, business and law. 

Whether you want to be a tax accountant, corporate auditor or CPA, you can work toward many career options with an accounting degree from Florida Tech. Here, you’ll develop a strong background in business and get experience in modern accounting strategies and best practices.

Gain Practical Experience

Accounting gives the aspiring entrepreneur the diverse financial skills necessary to successfully launch, manage, and grow a business. Résumé-building experiences, business networking opportunities, and insight into industries of interest are all part of a dynamic and focused accounting degree program. As a senior, you’ll complete the practicum in business, a professional internship course in which you apply your business skills and savvy within a dynamic local company. As a result, you get practical experience, an expanded professional network, and perhaps even a pre-graduation job offer.

A Truly Interdisciplinary Degree

Students gain real-world experience in innovation and commercialization of new products and technologies. Working in teams, students experience pitching a business proposal to investors and funding sources.

The Student Business Incubator in the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business provides students with exceptional business plans an opportunity to turn their ideas into real business ventures. Select students are provided with office space, computers, and other supplies to create successful startup businesses. Peer collaboration with the Student Business Incubator promotes new venture creation through formal student projects, numerous business-focused competitions, or within accounting cohort informal study groups.

Small Classes with One-on-One Faculty Interaction

The Nathan M. Bisk College of Business at Florida Tech boasts one of the best faculties in the country, a big reason many consider us one of the top universities for accounting. Through their teaching, research, professional and community activities, Florida Tech professors integrate business courses with comprehensive accounting courses and hands-on experience into a solid business framework necessary in the real world.

Florida Tech students enjoy a unique, personalized experience with small classes and one-on-one interaction with their faculty mentors. In addition, students have easy access to Florida Tech’s high-tech facilities and resources to support their studies.

A Wealth of Applied Knowledge and Scholarly Inquiry

Florida Tech gives students many opportunities for hands-on learning, including:

• Research opportunities supporting faculty investigations or campus-based projects including the Center for Entrepreneurship and New Business Development, and the Center for Ethics and Leadership
• Tackling ethical challenges from both practical and professional perspectives in an annual competition, and participating in a conference that encourages students to learn from business, community, and government leaders.
• Exploring corporate social responsibility through hands-on class projects and individual service with the possibility of making an impact.

Located in the Heart of Florida’s High-tech Corridor

Florida Tech is the perfect place for a BS in Accounting. The 130-acre campus is located on the Space Coast (so named because of the presence of NASA and the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral just north of us), minutes away from the Indian River Lagoon, the most diverse estuary in North America.

The area has the fifth largest high-tech workforce in the country, with more than 5,000 high-tech corporations and government and military organizations located nearby. This workforce also provides an abundance of internship and employment opportunities.

Florida Tech’s close proximity to leading local companies and organizations ensure that internships are plentiful and easy to obtain, giving us a leg up on other top universities in accounting. All accounting degree majors complete the Practicum in Business internship course, where they conduct live case analyses, gain insight into industries and areas of interest, and build a network of industry contacts and potential employers.

Florida Tech is just over the causeway from the Atlantic Ocean with its 72 miles of beautiful beaches, and a short trip to the Florida Keys or the Orlando theme parks. We also have a rich campus life that includes a wide range of intramural and collegiate sports, clubs, and social activities.

Build Lasting Professional Relationships through Campus Organizations

Beyond the classroom, accounting majors build leadership experience through exciting internships and participation in academic organizations like our International Business Club, the Society for Advancement of Management, student government, and over 100 other student organizations.

Our chapter of Delta Mu Delta, a national business honor society, recognizes academic excellence in business students. This organization also focuses on networking and connecting students from around the world to forge the connections that can eventually lead to accounting internships and successful careers in the field.

The Florida Tech Investment Club invites students from every discipline to come together to be creative, share ideas, and explore business opportunities and invest in the stock market with seed real money from the club. Guest speakers are invited to share their experiences and to help members make better business and investment decisions.

Peerless Study and Internship Opportunities

Accounting internships are an important part of the student experience at Florida Tech. Each student has an opportunity to work side by side with field experts at a variety of large and small CPA firms, high-tech companies, governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, and service or industrial companies, including:

• net, Inc
• Berman Hopkins Wright & LaHam CPAs & Associates, LLP
• Brevard County Government
• Leonardo DRS
• Flavin Nooney & Person, CPAs and Advisors
• Harris Corporation
• Merrill Lynch
• Northrop-Grumman
• Rockwell Collins
• RSM (McGladrey)
• State Farm
• The Paxen Group, Inc.

These accounting internships are a hands-on way to obtain experience in the field while also forging connections that can later lead to a career.

Take Part in a Comprehensive Accounting Practicum

In addition to accounting internships, Florida Tech students also perform a “live case analysis” on a business of their choosing. The accounting practicum bridges the gap between classroom studies and the real world, easing the transition from accounting student to industry professional.

Each student is matched with a host organization of interest where he or she learns how the organization functions and gains practical insight into problem-solving and decision-making processes. Students also gain experience in corporate social responsibility by becoming actively engaged in a community organization. Some of these organizations include:

• Sunshine State Conference
• Melbourne Main Street
• DRS
• Rockwell Collins
• Harris Corporation
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Space Coast Credit Union
• Health-First
• Northrop-Grumman
• Junior Achievement of the Space Coast

This research experience provides students with an opportunity to learn about a company and the accounting field beyond college and accounting internships.

Accounting is the background from which a large percentage of the highest-level corporate positions are drawn. With a global economy that increasingly blurs international borders and necessitates blending accounting practices, careers in accounting have broadened in both scope and focus.

Get Recruited Upon Graduation

There are often more available careers in accounting than there are Florida Tech grads. Potential employers include, among many others:

• Global CPA Accounting Firms (E&Y, Deloitte, PwC, RSM, and KPMG)
• Local and regionally recognized firms (Berman Hopkins Wright & LaHam CPAs, Flavin Nooney & Person CPAs)
• Harris Corporation
• Northrop Grumman
• Brevard County Government
• Florida Lifestyle RealtyDRS
• Rockwell Collins
• State Farm
• Merrill Lynch
• DRS
• net, Inc.
• The Bionetics Corp.
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Space Coast Credit Union
• State and federal regulatory agencies, including the Federal Audit Agency

Career Outlook

Careers in accounting include, of course, working as an accountant. Accountants are in high demand and graduates can choose from many careers in accounting from entertainment to high-tech.

The US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook, a resource that provides detailed information about hundreds of occupations including accountants, auditors, and similar occupations.

According to the Bureau, employment of accountants and auditors is expected to grow 16% through 2020 because of an increased focus on accounting in response to corporate scandals and recent financial crises. As business continues to be more global and technology moves more financial aspects of both personal and corporate business into the digital age, accounting expertise and services will be in even greater demand.

Other Career Options

Other careers open to graduates with a degree in accounting include:

• Budget analyst
• Cost estimator
• Financial analyst
• Economist
• Financial manager
• Insurance underwriter
• Loan officer
• Management analyst
• Personal financial adviser
• Post-secondary teachers (with a doctoral or other professional degree)
• Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agent
• Tax examiner
• Tax collector / revenue agent

Graduate and Doctoral Programs

After receiving their accounting degree, students are prepared to enter the job market or pursue CPA credentials. Others enter MBA programs at Florida Tech or other prestigious universities such as Wharton School of Business or the University of Florida.

Nathan M. Bisk College of Business students are eligible to enter Florida Tech’s FastTrack MBA and Master of Science in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MSIE). Students must maintain a 3.25 cumulative GPA and complete 95 credits to be accepted into the programs.