The College of Business and Economics at BSU is home to approximately 500 undergraduate accounting majors with roughly 100 students graduating each year. Those students interested in becoming CPAs in Idaho must complete 150 hours of education at the collegiate level, which many satisfy by enrolling in a masters degree program. Boise State offers a MS degree in Accounting, with an optional tax emphasis. Roughly 50 students are currently enrolled in the graduate program with approximately 10 graduating each year.

The accounting program is supported by twelve full-time faculty, nine of whom hold doctorates. All full-time faculty are CPAs, and selected members hold other professional credentials as well. Most faculty have extensive professional experience in areas including industrial, public, and governmental accounting. In addition to their teaching activities, the faculty members are actively involved in scholarship and university and community service.

The objectives of the undergraduate and graduate accounting programs are:

1. To provide students with the professional skills that will enable them to pursue successful careers in public accounting, industry, or the public sector.

2. To provide students with a broad education including an understanding of their professional, ethical, and social responsibilities to equip them to function as responsible citizens.

In support of these objectives the undergraduate and graduate programs seeks to provide a strong foundation of skills to assist graduates in obtaining entry-level positions and to enable them to progress rapidly into responsible positions thereafter. More specifically, the accounting program is intended to develop and enhance a student’s critical thinking, judgment, and communication skills. The curriculum requires extensive application of oral and written skills, analytical practice sets, and the exercise of professional judgment and decision-making. The use of the computers in the learning process is paramount, particularly the use of electronic spreadsheets as a tool for analysis, problem solving and modeling.

The undergraduate degree requires a comprehensive 128-credit hour program of study, including a minimum of 55 hours of broad-based education, spanning communication, mathematics, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences; 39 hours of study in business and economics; 21 credit hours of accounting; and 13 hours of electives. Because of course rigor and intensity, students are strongly urged to consult with their advisors to develop an individual plan before enrolling in upper division courses.

The graduate degree requirements include 30 credit hours of study, comprised of 21 hours of accounting courses and 9 hours of electives. A taxation emphasis is available to students choosing tax courses for at least 15 of their 21 hours of accounting courses.

Many accounting graduates choose to take the CPA exam immediately following their last semester in school. Students now have substantially more flexibility in scheduling the exam since the recent change (May 2004) when it moved from being offered twice a year (May and November) to being offered on demand. Students can obtain more information about the new computerized exam format, eligibility and scheduling requirements from the Idaho State Board of Accountancy (http://www.isba.idaho.gov/).