Rhodes College offers a 32-credit program of study in accounting and business leading to the Master of Science in Accounting degree. The M.S. in Accounting is a professional master’s degree designed to provide an advanced understanding of accepted professional practices in the field of accounting and to support entry and advancement in the various fields of professional accounting.

Additional Information

The M.S. in Accounting program office hours are generally 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (CST). For additional information, contact:

Dr. Wendy Bailey
Director of M.S. in Accounting Program
901-843-3096
baileyw@rhodes.edu

The M.S. in Accounting program abides by the same academic regulations as the undergraduate program at Rhodes, with the exceptions noted below.

Registration

Qualification as a full-time, degree student requires registration for a minimum of eight (8) credits in a semester. Degree-seeking students who register for seven (7) credits or less in any one semester are classified as part-time students.

Pass-Fail

A student may enroll in a class on a pass-fail basis. Permission of the instructor and the Director of the M.S. in Accounting is required and must be obtained during the first three weeks of the class in a semester. The Pass/Fail option may not be used to satisfy any of the graduate course requirements for the M.S. in Accounting degree.

Academic Probation and Suspension

To maintain acceptable scholastic standing and to graduate, a student must have an overall grade point average of 3.000 (B) for all graduate work attempted. The Graduate Committee places on academic probation any student whose cumulative grade point average at the end of a semester falls below the minimum standard. Notification of academic probation will be printed on the student grade report. A student on academic probation is not considered to be in good academic standing. Such students are ineligible to participate in some extracurricular activities, including intercollegiate athletics. A student is removed from academic probation upon attainment of a 3.000 average in graduate courses. A student placed on academic probation because of a grade point average below 3.000 has one academic semester of course work to raise his or her average to the required 3.000. If the grade point average is not raised to a 3.000, he or she may be dropped from the program. Any student who earns a D or an F in any graduate course may be dismissed immediately from the program.

Admissions Procedure

A student who wishes to apply for admission to the M.S. program complete an application from the Rhodes College website. All applicants for admission to the M.S. in Accounting program are required to submit transcripts from all colleges attended and three letters of reference.  All applicants to the graduate program must have an earned baccalaureate from an accredited institution before beginning the program.

Standardized Tests

Non-domestic applicants are required to take the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). Potential students may choose to submit a GMAT score as part of the application package. Any student planning to apply to the program for fall admission should plan to take the test no later than December so that his or her scores will be available for the Graduate Admissions Committee by March 1. Test application forms may be obtained from some colleges and universities or from the GMAT website at www.mba.com. Applicants whose university instruction was not in English are also required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language and achieve a score of 550 or above.

Provisional Admission

A limited number of students who would be denied admission based on test scores, letters of recommendation, personal interviews and transcripts may be admitted provisionally to the program if they can demonstrate high probability of success in the program and likelihood of outstanding performance in the profession of accounting in some other manner. Other criteria may include, for example, a record of outstanding performance in a job with increasing levels of responsibility over time. Any student provisionally admitted to the program must attain a grade point average of at least a 3.00 (B) on the first twelve hours of the program completed in order to remain in the program.

Admission of Special Students (Non-degree Candidates)

Students who give evidence of sufficient ability may be admitted as special students to a course offered as part of the M.S. in Accounting curriculum. Special students may take no more than two courses. After two courses, which may total no more than eight credits, the student must make formal application to the M.S. in Accounting program and be accepted into it before taking any additional graduate courses. An undergraduate student in his or her senior year may petition the graduate committee to enroll in a graduate course as a special student. In such a case, no graduate credit will be granted for courses used to satisfy undergraduate requirements. A student may apply no more than a total of four graduate credits earned as a special student and/or for transfer credit toward the requirements for the M.S. in Accounting at Rhodes.

Readmission of Students

The M.S. in Accounting degree must be completed within three academic years from the date of initial enrollment as a degree candidate. Failure to complete the degree requirements within this time will result in being dropped from the program. Any student who wants to continue the program after being dropped must petition the Director for reinstatement.

The tuition charges, regulations for payment and withdrawal, activity fees, and special fees and deposits for the M.S. in Accounting are the same as for the undergraduate program at Rhodes. These charges and policies are outlined in the “Expenses” portion of the catalogue. Room charges and policies are also the same as those for the undergraduate programs; however, on-campus rooms will be made available to graduate students only after all undergraduate demand has been satisfied.

Financial Aid

Financial assistance for students in the M.S. in Accounting program will primarily be in the form of loans and scholarships. Other grants or assistance may be available on a need basis.

Loans

Graduate students are currently eligible for Federal Stafford Loans. Federal Stafford Loans are made on an unsubsidized basis, and the student is responsible for interest payment during periods of enrollment. Repayment begins six months after the student graduates or ceases to be enrolled at least half-time. 

Anyone interested in the student loan program should contact:

Office of Financial Aid
Rhodes College
2000 N. Parkway
Memphis, TN 38112-1690
Telephone 901-843-3810

Scholarships

All applicants are automatically considered for a departmental scholarship with no additional forms required to be filed. Departmental scholarships for students in the M.S. in Accounting program are merit based; financial need is not a consideration. Selection for a scholarship is based upon the candidate’s academic record, personal achievements, and promise of success in accounting.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS

Wendy Bailey. 2021. Director, M.S. in Accounting Program. B.S., Washington University St. Louis; M.S., University of Colorado-Boulder; Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh (Accounting)

Dee Birnbaum. 1991. B.A., State University of New York at Stony Brook; M.B.A., Baruch College; M.Phil., Ph.D., City University of New York. (General management; human resource management.)

Kayla D. Booker. 2015. B.B.A., M.P.A., Ph.D., Jackson State University. C.P.A. (Accountancy.)

Sujan M. Dan. 2013. B.Tech, Kerala University, India; M.S., Ph.D., Texas A&M University. (Marketing.)

Denis Khantimirov. 2015. B.A., North Ossetian State University, Russia; M.B.A., University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Ph.D., Old Dominion University. (Marketing)

Kelly P. Weeks. 2015. B.A., Rhodes College; M.A. and Ph.D., The University of Memphis. (Management)

Andrey Zagorchev. 2013. B.S., M.S., Plovdiv University, Bulgaria; M.B.A., Wright State University; Ph.D., Lehigh University. (Finance.)

ASSISTANT PROFESSORS

Eric Horne. 2023, B.A., Washington State University; M.S.B.A., University of Washington; and Ph.D., University of Washington (Accounting) 

Jade O. Planchon. 2012. B.A., Rhodes College; M.B.A., Columbia University. (Finance.)

PART-TIME ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Milton L. Lovell. 2003. B.S., J.D., University of Mississippi. LL.M., New York University School of Law. Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel, nexAir, LLC (Accountancy; taxation.)

PART-TIME INSTRUCTOR

STAFF

Hannah Guess. 2020. Departmental Assistant. B.A. and M.A., University of Memphis.

The M.S. in Accounting requires a total of thirty-two (32) credits as follows:

Required courses or the equivalent substitute. (28 credits):

1. Business 643: Cost and Risk Management.
2. Business 645: Business Entity Taxation.
3. Business 646: Advanced Accounting Topics.
4. Business 648: Advanced Auditing.
5. Business 649: Law and Ethics in Accounting
6. Business 650: Data Analytics and Information Systems
7. Business 651: Advanced Data Analytics and Information Systems

Elective course. (4 credits). Choose one of the following: 

1. One 500- or 600-level course in the Department of Business, Economics, or other applicable department(s)
2. Business 675: Professional Development and Exam Preparation

Changes in Degree Requirements

A student may satisfy the requirements for an M.S. in Accounting degree as described in any catalogue that has been in effect during the student’s enrollment in the M.S. program. Students readmitted to Rhodes may graduate under requirements in effect during the original period of enrollment or by following a program incorporating features of the current and the earlier degree requirements and approved by the Graduate Committee. For students electing to graduate under earlier degree requirements, there is no guarantee that the courses specified in those requirements will be offered.

The graduate program builds upon the undergraduate study of accounting by introducing more complex accounting practices and reasoning into the functional areas of accounting: cost, tax, auditing and advanced financial. The graduate program also addresses the legal environment of business and business ethics, accounting research, and the theory and methodology of the accounting discipline. It is central to the mission of the program that students be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing. A significant component of all graduate courses will be oral presentations and discussions as well as written assignments.

The Curriculum

Core courses and prerequisites. The following courses or their equivalents are required before beginning the graduate program. The graduate committee will evaluate a student’s transcript to determine whether a core course requirement has been met. At the committee’s discretion, a student may be allowed to take core courses marked with an asterisk (*) concurrently with graduate coursework:

1. Financial Accounting.
2. Managerial Accounting.
3. Intermediate Accounting I and II.
4. Federal Income Tax .*
5. Auditing.*
6. Introduction to Economics.

Area courses. A student must complete at least one course, either graduate or undergraduate, in each of the following areas:

1. Finance.
2. Management or Marketing.

No more than a total of four graduate credits earned at another institution and/or graduate credit earned as a special student (see above) may be counted toward the M.S. in Accounting at Rhodes. A minimum grade of B- must be earned for any course credit to be transferred.

Transfer Credit Guidelines. The following guidelines are used in evaluating academic work from other institutions for graduate transfer credit.

1. The institution at which the course work is taken must be an accredited college or university.
2. Correspondence courses and distance learning (Internet) courses will not be accepted for meeting the program’s prerequisites (except as approved by the director), area courses, or degree requirements.
3. To be accepted for credit, each course must be judged comparable in terms of content and quality to a course in the graduate curriculum at Rhodes. The Program Director makes these judgments.
4. All course work taken at other institutions for which Rhodes receives a transcript will be evaluated for transfer credit, and if acceptable, will be posted to the student’s record.
5. A maximum of 4 credits (1 credit = 1 semester hour) will be accepted toward the Rhodes M.S. in Accounting degree. Transfer credits based on a quarter system are converted to the Rhodes credit basis using the formula that one quarter hour equals two-thirds credit. Fractional transfer credits will be credited.
6. Transfer credits are not accepted if the grade is C+ or below. Transfer credits are credited to the Rhodes transcript as credits only; they are not used to determine the grade point average.
7. Transfer credit may be used to satisfy M.S. degree requirements.