Department Contact:
Chair: Dr. Angela Seidel, aseidel@francis.edu, 814-472-3076
Program Description:
The Accounting program prepares students to enter private, public, or governmental accounting in a variety of fields including financial accounting, cost accounting, auditing, taxes, and financial analysis. The program begins with comprehensive coverage of generally accepted accounting principles as a basis of recording business transactions and preparing financial statements. Once this foundation is established, students develop critical thinking skills to analyze financial statements, control costs, prepare budgets, and make decisions based on accounting data.
The Business Analytics concentration prepares students to apply models, methods, and tools to data to produce insights that lead to informed business decisions. Business is becoming increasingly data-driven and requires business professionals to understand how analyzing data can be utilized to produce an organizational competitive advantage. Along with completing foundation business course work and upper-level coursework in a specific business domain, students earning this concentration will also develop competencies in the art and science of data analytics. Specifically, students in this program will complete courses to build skills and expertise in the areas of programming, statistics, data management, and data transformation and visualization.
Accreditation Statement:
Saint Francis University has received specialized accreditation for its business programs through the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE), located in Lenexa, Kansas.
Student Learning Outcomes:
The Shields School of Business will graduate students who have the knowledge, skills, love of learning, confidence, drive, and ethical and moral values needed to be spiritually fulfilled in life and successful in professional careers. Upon completion of this program, students are able to:
- Demonstrate, in the Spirit of Saint Francis in the Marketplace, knowledge of the ethical value choices and responsibilities of businesses and business leaders.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental principles in business in the functional areas of accounting, information systems, finance, management, and marketing.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the legal, social, economic environments of business.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the global dimension of business.
- Integrate the functional areas of business in the process of decision making.
- Demonstrate the ability to professionally communicate.
Admission Deadline:
This program has rolling admission.
Estimated Completion Time:
4 Years, Full Time
Capstone Requirement:
All students complete the three-credit course MGMT401, Strategic Management, which serves as the capstone for all undergraduate business programs. Among other learning experiences, this course includes a simulation that requires students to synthesize and apply learning from across the business domains of accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, and information systems.
Total Credits Required:
128 credits minimum
Progression and/or Retention Criteria
- Over the past 5 years, over 98% of School of Business graduates have been gainfully employed or enrolled in graduate school within one year of graduation.
- Exit survey results indicate that over 99% of School of Business graduates feel prepared for their respective careers upon graduation.