• Accounting is the "language of business."Accounting image by Guitar75 from Fotolia.com
  
  Colleges in Massachusetts that offer degrees in accounting instruct students how to speak the "language of business." Figuratively speaking, accounting gives businesses the words with which they can express themselves, not only in terms of the figures of their profitability but also in the financial scope of their worth. Trained accountants assess and relay that information with auditing and other information systems skills they will learn in college.
  
  

Harvard Business School

• Harvard Business School's PhD in Accounting and Management trains its students to appreciate the role that accounting information and measurement systems have on management. Typically, students spend their first two years in the program taking coursework. Required courses include three yearlong course sequences, Management and Marketss, Theory and Practice of Research and Microeconomics. All students must pass an accounting field exam that covers both financial and managerial accounting at the end of their second or beginning of their third year. Students then work with their faculty mentor on their dissertation, which in accounting can either be a traditional dissertation or three publishable papers. To be considered, applicants must submit official undergraduate transcripts, GRE scores taken within five years of the submission date and three letters of recommendation, at least one of which from an academic source.
  
  Harvard Business School
  Doctoral Programs
  Wyss House
  Boston, MA 02163
  617-495-6101
  hbs.edu
  
  

Boston College

• Boston College's accounting department offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Undergraduates can choose from three options, accounting, information systems and accounting and corporate reporting and analysis. The information systems concentration, jointly administered with the Information Systems Department, is for students who want to work in the consulting divisions of major professional services firms. The creation of the corporate reporting concentration was in response to focus groups with alumni and recruiters who stressed the need for accountants to have strong quantitative skills. If students plan to take the certified public accountant (CPA) exam, they must take the Auditing and Other Assurance Services course.
  
  The accounting department also offers two master's of business administration (MBA) programs, one full-time and one evening for those who want to continue with their careers. There is also a dual degree program with which students can combine the MBA and another related discipline. MBA students can choose from nine specializations or tailor their own. Boston College does not require a minimum GPA or score on the SAT or ACT for undergraduates or the GMAT for MBA students for admission.
  
  Accounting Department
  Carroll School of Management
  Fulton Hall 510
  Boston College
  140 Commonwealth Ave.
  Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
  617-552-8420
  bc.edu
  
  

University of Massachusetts Boston

• The University of Massachusetts Boston (UMB) offers a Master of Science in Accounting that prepares students to not only take the CPA exam but also fulfill the state's 150 credit hour certification requirement. The degree requires 15 courses, some of which can be waived based on undergraduate work, in business and accounting fundamentals. Students with an undergraduate degree in management could complete the MS degree with 10 courses. Required capstone courses that cannot be waived include Accounting Information Systems and Financial Accounting Theory and Analysis. To be admitted, students must earn at least a 450 on the GMAT. UMB has no minimum undergraduate GPA requirement. Work experience, while not required, will weigh in the admissions process if the applicant graduated more than two years prior. UMB looks for applicants who have made significant contributions where they work. The school requires two essays and three letters of recommendation and may invite local applicants to campus for an interview, while interviewing other candidates over the phone.
  
  College of Management
  University of Massachusetts Boston
  100 Morrissey Blvd.
  Boston, MA 02125
  617-287-5000
  umb.edu