Master of Professional Accounting (MPA)

Cricos:107423K

 

Employment is projected to rise in 17 of the 19 industries over the five years to May 2023. Around two thirds of new jobs during this period are expected to come from four main industries, including Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (106,600, or 10.2%) with accountants comprising the biggest occupation group of this industry.
The accountancy profession is being moulded by large-scale changes ranging from globalisation to automation, cloud accounting and artificial intelligence. Australian companies in a recent survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, identified the following emerging skills: creativity, originality and initiative, analytical thinking and innovation, active learning, technology design and programming, complex problem-solving, critical thinking and analysis, leadership and social influence, emotional intelligence, reasoning and resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility. The Master of Professional Accounting will seek to equip students with a number of the above skills to qualify for membership to professional accounting bodies. and provide graduates with an internationally recognised set of credentials and employment opportunities both domestically and globally.

 

Master of Professional Accounting
Melbourne, Australia

 

Course Outline

The Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) is designed principally for students from non-accounting backgrounds who wish to make a career change or simply to develop an understanding of the technical and social role accounting plays in contemporary business. As such, the MPA is a broad-based qualification that integrates the core accounting studies with authentic learning experience gained through participating in a Business Internship as a work integrated learning unit.

This program will help students develop the skills and expertise they need for a rewarding career in accounting. Students are expected to develop the knowledge and expertise to future-proof their career, where they will undertake advanced learning in both theory and professional practice and learn to solve critical accounting and business problems in innovative ways.

A 2019 publication by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Jobs 2019 provides an overview of trends in the Australian labour market to support job seekers and providers, career advisers, people considering future training and work and people interested in labour market issues. According to this report, accountants represent the biggest occupation group in Australia making up over 39% of the employed occupation groups. More than three quarters of this group hold a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification. Accountants represent the second biggest occupation group after registered nurses and followed by primary school teachers

LearningWhite Study Mode Face to face
Duration

Duration

Full-time, 2 years (4 trimesters)

Location

Location

Ground, 123 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, VIC. 3000

Requirements

Course Requirements

OIHE’s proposed MPA is a 16-unit full MPA course. 8 Core units plus 8 MPA units.

EntryRequirements

English Entry Requirements

Domestic School Leavers: n/a

International Students: International applicants are required to provide evidence of sufficient English language skill to enable them to successfully complete a degree course. To demonstrate that they have met the English language requirements the applicant must show evidence of:
– An IELTS (International English Language Testing Service) score of 6.5 with no band less than 6.0 or equivalent from an approved IELTS provider to enter the Master’s Degree; or

– Successful completion of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) B program (20 weeks) at Ozford English Language Centre or other English Language Centres endorsed by The NEAS (National English Language Teaching Accreditation Scheme) Quality Assurance which will meet the IELTS outcomes equivalent to IELTS 6.5 to enter the Master’s Degree; or

– Completion of an AQF Level 7 (or higher) qualification that was studied in Australia in English within the past two years; or

– Completion of a higher education qualification in English awarded by a recognised university in which English is the primary language.

Academic Entry Requirements
1. General Entry
Academic Entry Requirements
• Completion of an Australian Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline; or
• Completion of an Australian Graduate Diploma (or equivalent) in a similar discipline

2. Applicants with no formal qualifications
See special or/and alternative entry

3. International Students
Academic Entry Requirements
An international applicant must meet the academic requirements for admission in one of the following ways:

• Completion of an Australian Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in any discipline; or
• Completion of an Australian Graduate Diploma (or equivalent) in a similar discipline

Students must be minimum eighteen years of age prior to commencing a course at the Institute.

Age Entry Requirement
Applicants must be minimum 18 years of age prior to commencing a course at the Institute.

8 Core Units

8 Core Units

COM5981 Professional Business Communications

This unit is designed to give students the skills to effectively communicate clearly and coherently to engage and interact with a range of stakeholders in a business environment using appropriate language and communication strategies. Through class presentations, role-play and interactions in the class, students will develop skills and knowledge for technology-based effective oral and written presentation and articulate the most appropriate communication style that pays due attention to contextual, social, health and safety, ethical and cultural considerations. Students will also be introduced to research methods and writing research reports which will be required for research-related assessment tasks for students who progress to the Master of Business Administration or Master of Professional Accounting.

Developing excellent communication skills is extremely important to your career success, whether you are already working or are about to enter today’s increasingly digital workplace. Employers often rank communication skills among the most requested competencies. Communication skills include writing, reading, listening, nonverbal, and speaking skills.

This unit is aimed at improving students’ oral and written communication skills and raise their team spirit.
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ACC5901 Financial Analysis and Decision Making

This unit improves the students’ ability to understand the cause and effect of recording business transactions both through manual and computer based systems and produce the relevant accounting reports that are the outputs of the accounting process. It requires the students to use, adapt, evaluate and manage available accounting software that support the overall accounting functions. The students will learn how to use relevant accounting software (e.g., MYOB or QuickBooks or Xero) to record payroll, accounts receivable/accounts payable, inventory, GST, superannuation, PAYE transactions and prepare journal, ledger, trial balance, income statement, balance sheet and other relevant statements using accounting software. The unit also aims at providing students with the skills and techniques to select financial information relevant to particular business decisions and analyse and interpret accounting data to evaluate the financial status of a business. In general, this unit will lay a solid foundation for further studies in accounting.

STA5951 Quantitative Business Analysis

This unit introduces students to the concepts of data analysis and data visualisation techniques for solving business problems. The importance of data visualisation as part of data analysis and for the communication of results is also covered. Students will review statistical data including sampling and probability distribution in forecasting from time-series data, hypothesis testing and regression analysis. Students will develop their problem-solving skills by using various mathematical, data analysis and data visualisation techniques with computer software to effectively communicate the results of this analysis.

ICT5941 Business Information Systems

Students will examine how information, knowledge, data and enterprise information systems can be used strategically for improvement of business processes. Students will learn how to develop innovative and practical solutions for business problems, while gaining expertise on e-commerce, information and knowledge management, business intelligence and decision making, and business process management and innovation. This unit will develop students’ ability to design, implement and operate information and enterprise resource planning systems, database management systems, computer-based accounting systems and cyber security systems, within an ethical, legal and social framework.

ECO5911 Managerial Economics

This unit examines the operation of the economy at the micro and macro-economic levels. Students will examine the factors that influence the behaviour of consumers, firms and markets. At the micro level, it covers the fundamental economic concepts of scarcity, utility, demand, price, cost, supply, laws of diminishing marginal utility, laws of demand and supply and price, and pricing under monopoly, oligopoly and perfectly competitive markets.
At the macro level the students will examine the factors that affect the whole economy such as, national Income, GDP, GNP, economic growth, inflation and unemployment and the role of the government, the national budget, and the Central Bank in managing economic fluctuations. Emphasis is placed on the interrelationship between real world situations and the application of economic theory to practical scenarios.

LAW5916 Business Law

This unit introduces students to the Australian legal environment and examines a number of commercial laws that are central to business, such as, Contract Law, Laws of Agency, Consumer Protection Law, Insolvency Law and Law of Tort. Emphasis will be placed on the understanding of legal reasoning and on the application of legal principles to actual business situations and entrepreneurial activities. It also introduces students to corporate regulation in Australia and a range of legal issues faced by incorporated entities in Australia. Important issues that will be examined include formation, registration and legal status of companies; company constitution, legal rights, duties and obligations of creditors, shareholders and directors; corporate governance, meetings and voting; Disclosure documents and ASIC lodgement; company restructuring and liquidation; rights of creditors and division of assets.

ENT5966 Entrepreneurship

This unit introduces students to core entrepreneurship theory and concepts and applies these to the realities of entrepreneurial activity and decision making and a contemporary global context. The unit investigates business strategy and entrepreneurship and provides a framework for understanding relevant theory and its application. This unit focusses on developing skills and knowledge necessary for the planning, development and implementation of entrepreneurial ventures or enterprise. Students will apply advanced knowledge of legal, marketing, and financial principles with reasoning and creative skills to identify business opportunities at venture or enterprise level, and present and develop entrepreneurial propositions.

MKT5961 Global Marketing Management

Globalisation is the process by which firms operate on a global basis, where they view the world as a single market. Global marketing can be defined as the process of adjusting the marketing strategies of a firm to adapt to the conditions of other countries. Marketing strategies are different in different countries reflecting culture, economic and social circumstances of those countries. A marketing strategy that works in one country may not necessarily work in another. The challenge for marketers is to develop strategies that can address global and local markets, taking into account aspects that are similar and those which are different. This unit will investigate cultural and political environments, the important of marketing research, and assessing global marketing opportunities in different global regions.

8 MPA Units

8 MPA Units

ACC6902 Managerial Accounting

This unit equips students with an in-depth understanding of the concepts and techniques of using cost and financial accounting information for planning, organising, evaluating and controlling activities in an operational environment. It is designed to provide the students with the skills and competence required to contribute to the strategic decision-making and the management and achievement of organisational objectives.

ACC6903 Financial Reporting

This unit provides an understanding of the regulatory and conceptual frameworks which underpin accounting for corporate entities and provides an in-depth look at the general purpose financial reporting and how more complex and industry specific issues are accounted for and reported in Australia and internationally. Topics covered in this unit include regulatory reporting environment, theories of accounting, financial statement reporting requirements and specialist reporting requirements involving the application of accounting standards involving measurement. This unit is aimed at broadening the horizon of accounting knowledge of students to general and industry specific accounting and reporting issues that they might encounter in accounting practice.

ACC6904 Advanced Financial Accounting

This advanced financial accounting unit enhances students’ knowledge and skill to handle accounting and reporting requirements of large corporations and builds on the areas covered in ACC6903 Financial Reporting. The unit exposes students to the application of the national and international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in measuring and reporting on a range of balance sheet and income statement items. Students are exposed to specialist topics which require the application of accounting standards involving professional judgement. The unit deals with some of the more complex areas of financial accounting, including accounting for income tax, leases, business combinations and consolidations, as well as foreign currency issues. This unit provides student with the conceptual understanding, practical techniques and methods for approaching some of the most challenging accounting problems of the corporate world.

FIN6931 Business Finance

The aim of this unit is to foster a robust financial awareness in students of the fiscal and institutional environment and enable them to apply the essential mathematical skills needed for analysing the trade-off between risk and return in sourcing short-term and long-term capital from debt and/or equity and also for valuing single investment as well as a portfolio of assets. It is designed to cultivate appropriate financial skills for selecting the right information for the problem in hand and focusing on the issues from the perspective of competitive challenges, financial prudence, market imperatives, technological shifts, strategic fits and global trends. It helps students to maintain a high standard in taking timely, ethical and effective financial decisions in sourcing capital, evaluating future acquisitions and allocating resources in a complex global environment.

ACC6905 Auditing and Compliance

Auditing and Compliance introduces the underlying concepts, objectives and the authentication and reporting functions of the auditor. In this unit students are exposed to the audit process by exploring key ideas of auditor independence and ethical issues. The unit deals with the theoretical, practical and ethical aspects of auditing. The aim is to synthesise and integrate the concepts of auditing with practical and team approaches taken by the auditor so that the students gain a thorough understanding of the audit process and legal implications of the auditors’ work.

LAW6917 Taxation Law

Taxation Law aims at providing students with practical working knowledge of all aspects of Australian taxation law. It is designed to enable students to understand and apply the basic taxation legislation (the Income-Tax Assessment Acts, 1936 and 1997 and amendments thereof) and analyse relevant taxation cases and rulings. The primary focus is the interaction between legal principles and administrative rules that determine the personal and corporate income tax, fringe benefit tax, capital gains tax, and goods and services tax in Australia. Key areas covered include assessable income and allowable deductions for individuals and a variety of business entities including companies. Emphasis is placed on the application of legal principles to actual business situations including the general anti-avoidance provisions.

MGT6922 Professional Ethics and Corporate Governance

Business Ethics and Corporate Governance unit introduces learners to the essential concepts of business ethics and corporate governance and exposes students to principles and concepts of ethical decision-making at personal and organisational levels. Ethics and governance are intertwined concepts in professional life for business leaders and this unit offers a rich and dynamic examination on ethics and governance from the viewpoints of different stakeholders such as business, employees, the government, suppliers and customers. Key areas covered in the unit include: business, society and corporate citizenship; fundamental issues and theories of ethics and governance; ethics and global business, public policy and technology; ethics and internal and external stakeholders; and consumer rights and environmental expectations. Case studies and extensive class discussion using audio-video clips will be used to enrich the learning process.

WIL6991 Business Internship

The Business Internship unit is a core unit of both the Master of Professional Accounting and the Master of Business Administration courses and is designed as a project-based work-integrated learning activity for students.

The unit is designed to ensure that all students not only have contemporary industry-related experiences but are also engaged in higher-order work-related learning and competency development, particularly in the areas of project development, project analyses and project management, including interpersonal negotiation, oral and written communication skills.

It is expected that students in undertaking this unit will perceive themselves as creative problem solvers who can transform information into innovative solutions and strategies with sound ethical and moral and scholarly foundations. It is also expected that students in meeting the requirements of this unit, students will comply with all legal and regulatory requirements and promote sustainable business practices.

The unit is clearly designed to provide an overarching reflection, demonstration and application of the knowledge and skills gained from previously studied units.

Students will normally be assigned to a project team prior to placement. Some team members may be part of the workplace and not involved in enrolled in the course or undertaking the internship unit. Students who are currently employed or working in a relevant course-related role will be able to have a suitable negotiated and approved work project recognised.

The unit will be under the academic supervision of WIL coordinators, informed by an agreed workplace supervisor, to provide the intellectual and scholarly base necessary to successfully complete the project.

Assessment Methods

Assessment methods used for each course will vary depending on the individual unit of study. Generally, the assessment will comprise one or more assessment items with different percentage weightings being applied to each. Types of assessment items include (but not limited to):

  • Practical Exercises
  • Mid-Semester Tests
  • Reflective Journal Reports
  • Individual and Group Presentations
  • Individual and Group Projects and Assignments
  • Case Study Analyses and Reports
  • Workplace Evaluation
  • Key Dates and Fees

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