With the growing popularity of online post-secondary education programs, it’s now possible for students to enroll in a Bachelor’s in Accounting that’s delivered to students via the Internet. Professors can design accounting curriculum, require students to earn participation points through discussion boards, and assign homework and tests from a web-based platform. It’s no longer inconvenient to earn a Bachelor’s degree.
Related Resource: 20 Most Affordable Online Bachelor’s in Accounting
While it is convenient to study through distance education portals, earning a degree still takes time. There’s no magical way to sit down and cram years of curriculum into a summer or a long weekend. Students must take distance education programs as serious as in-class programs, follow the schedule, earn their credits, and eventually graduate. Here’s how long you can expect to be studying for your B.A. in Accounting.
How Many Credits Do You Need to Earn for Your B.A?
It’s critical to enroll in a program that’s not just accredited by the U.S. Department of Education, but that’s also accredited by a professional accrediting body like the AACSB. All graduates must earn the accounting-related credits from an accredited school before they can get certified in the field. Each school that is accredited by the AACSB is required to meeting the strict AACSB Accreditation Standards, which include a minimum number of credits in various areas of study.
Most Bachelor’s degree programs require students to earn 120 credits before they are eligible for graduation. The first 60 credits that students take will be focused around general education and all of the curriculum that students would need to take to earn their Associates or to meet prerequisite requirements for major coursework. Then, students must take 60 credits of core accounting courses that include:
- Financial accounting
- Cost accounting
- Analyzing financial statements
- Managerial accounting
- Auditing
- Financial reports
- Fundamentals of taxation
- International accounting
- Ethics
Choosing Your Enrollment Status
A student’s enrollment status can change from one semester to the next. This is what makes it so difficult to pinpoint how long you’re going to truly spend studying for your Bachelor’s in Accounting online. If you’ve already completed associate-level coursework, you’ve cut down on two years of full-time study. Any credits you’ve earned in the past that meet requirements can cut down the amount of time you’ll spend in school.
Part-time students are students who are completing less than 12 credit hours of classes each semester. Full-time students will complete 12 to 16 credit hours. If you were starting your degree program from the beginning and you enrolled to complete 10 credits each semester, you’d spend 6 years studying. If, however, you completed 15 credits for each semester each year, you’d be studying for 4 years.
Students must be enrolled for at least 6 credits each semester to receive aid from the US Department of Education. It doesn’t make sense for every person with other obligations to enroll full-time, but for those with the time and focus, studying full time will help you get to your career goals sooner. Compare all of the most popular online Bachelor’s of Accounting programs that are AACSB-accredited, and plan out your next few years by deciding how many credits you want to earn each semester.
