Post-Baccalaureate Accounting Certificate
2004-2005 Bulletin Year
The Post-Baccalaureate Accounting Certificate (PBAC) is an excellent program for students who have earned one or more baccalaureate degrees and who wish to complete the course work to prepare for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Examination. These recommendations include courses in accounting directly related to preparation for the exam, as well as professional preparation for public or industry accounting. In addition, courses are recommended in law, basic business, and other related areas for those whose undergraduate degree is not in business administration.
Application Criteria
The following requirements must be fulfilled prior to applying to the School of Business Administration (SBA):
- Have earned a baccalaureate degree recognized by the PSU Office of
Admissions and Records.
- Be formally admitted to PSU as a post-baccalaureate (PB) (for PSU
application visit http://www.pdx.edu/admissions/ugrad_postbac.html).
- Have completed each of the following pre-business courses below with
a grade of “C-“ or better; P/NP grades are not accepted (effective
for courses taken Fall 2002 or later). These courses are required
for admission to the School of Business. However, they do not count
towards the 48 accounting credits required for the PBAC :
- BA 211 Fundamentals of Financial Accounting
- BA 213 Decision Making with Accounting Information
- STAT 243, 244 Business Statistics I & II for Business Majors (check the footnotes in the Schedule of Classes)
- EC 201 Principles of Economics (micro)
- EC 202 Principles of Economics (macro)
- You must have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.75
for each of the following:
- all undergraduate course work outside PSU;
- all PSU graded credits; and
- all PSU graded business credits.
Exception: Students who do not meet the 2.75 GPA requirements will be considered for admission only if the GPA for their most recent 12 graded credit hours at PSU is 3.00 or higher and the applicant has a minimum 2.50 cumulative PSU GPA and a minimum 2.50 cumulative GPA for all completed business courses at PSU. To be considered for admission under this rule, students should check mark the appropriate box on the PBAC application.
Certificate Requirements
At least 30 of the 48-49 credits required for the certificate and at least 27 credits in accounting must be taken in residence at PSU. Candidates must achieve at least a grade of "C-" in each course presented for the PBAC. A minimum program GPA of 2.5 is required for retaining admission to the SBA. See the PSU Bulletin for program retention rules.
The requirements are 48-49 credits as follows:
Required Accounting Core (29 credits):
- ACTG 335 Accounting Information Systems (4)
- ACTG 360 Management Accounting (4)
- ACTG 381, 382 Financial Accounting and Reporting (8)
- ACTG 421 Introduction to Taxation (4)
- ACTG 430 Governmental and not-for-profit Accounting (1)
- ACTG 492 Auditing Concepts and Practices (4)
- ACTG 495 Integrated Accounting Issues (4)
Plus three additional courses chosen from (11-12 credits):
- ACTG 422 Advanced Taxation (4)
- ACTG 460 Advanced Managerial Accounting (4)
- ACTG 476 International Accounting (4)
- ACTG 485 Business Law (4) (formerly Actg 412)
- ACTG 490 Advanced Financial Accounting and Reporting (3)
- ACTG 493 Advanced Auditing (4)
Other required courses (8 credits):
- BA 303 Business Finance (4)
- BA 325 Competing w/ Info Technology (a required prerequisite for Actg 335) (4)
Important Note: Prior to starting the accounting requirements, it is highly recommended that students take Actg 199. This class prepares students for the accounting mechanics (debits and credits) vital to success in the upper division courses. The class is offered every quarter, on a pass/no pass basis.
Important Note: WR 323, Junior Level English Composition, is required for any PBAC student whose first degree is from an institution where English is not the language of instruction.
ADVISING
For advising information, visit the Advising & Orientations page.
REGISTRATION RESTRICTIONS
Prerequisites: The business school strongly enforces prerequisites. Prerequisites are stated in the PSU Bulletin, and are enforced through the computer registration system. If you don’t already have a PSU Bulletin, please contact the bookstore at 503-725-3780. Please Note: If a prerequisite course was taken outside of PSU and if that course was not transferred to PSU, then you will need to manually register for your classes. To manually register, stop by SBA Student Services (SBA 240) prior to registration. For questions, call 503-725-3712.
College Restrictions: All 300-level business courses are restricted to students admitted to the School of Business, but only until Non-admit Registration Day. (To find out when Non-Admit Registration Day is, visit: http://www.sba.pdx.edu/registration/dates/nonadmit.html ). All 400-level business courses are restricted to SBA admitted students and at no time do these restrictions get lifted.
Waitlists and Class Attendance can be critical: Demand for many SBA classes is high and those classes fill quickly. Pay close attention to the directions for adding yourself to a waitlist via the web (see directions in the schedule of classes). Students are taken from the wait list in the order in which they registered, and only if there is available room in the class. If you are on the waitlist for a class, you must attend the first class to determine if you will be allowed to formally add the class. Only the instructor can make this determination. Please note: If you fail to attend the first day of class of the term and have not notified your instructor, you may risk losing your seat to someone on the waitlist.
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