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Accounting

Bachelor of Arts

Think Numbers

If you consider yourself a “numbers person,” you are an ideal fit for a career in accounting or accountancy. At Clarke University, you’ll discover that our Accounting degree program prepares you for a variety of modern careers in fast-paced settings, such as certified public accountants serving public clients or management accountants working within a corporation. The Bachelor of Accounting will help you understand the key concepts in the accounting and accountancy fields. Your accounting courses cover topics like taxation, auditing, fraud detection, ethics, accounting information systems, cost accounting, budgeting, reporting, business law, statistics, and economics. Clarke University truly is one of the best colleges for accounting.

Clarke University Accounting Major student working on a class project.

Clarke University Accounting Degree students studying online for their classes

Your Accounting Degree in the Real World

The success and efficiency of any business require the dedication to detail that an accounting professional provides. You will learn to help regulate and sustain your organization’s business health with your bachelor of accounting degree from Clarke University. You will be highly employable and enter the workforce at a higher salary rate than other careers. According to the U.S. Department of Education, accounting is one of the number one majors for college undergraduates. The need for skilled professionals with an accounting degree remains high in the public and private sectors, especially as financial regulations experience change. With an accounting degree from Clarke, you’ll be able to meet that need, with an understanding of today’s business environments that goes beyond simple accounting principles.

How can you use your Accounting Degree?

With your Accounting Bachelor Degree, you will better understand the business environment through the study of ledgers, accruals, financial statements, budgets, and reporting. You will learn to demonstrate proficiency in fundamental accounting principles and procedures, employing technology in accounting, analyzing solutions to complex accounting problems, and utilizing accounting data in making professional decisions. Add further focus to your accounting degree by selecting a complementary minor in business administration, mathematics, sport management, or another minor of your interest.

The Accounting Degree at Clarke University stresses both practical and theoretical foundations of accounting, critical thinking, and leadership. Clarke faculty use fundamental concepts to help you apply appropriate problem-solving skills to real-world problems in the field of accounting. Take a visit to Dubuque, Iowa, and view one of the best accounting schools in Iowa.

Clarke University Accounting Major on way to internship for hands on learning.
Clarke University Accounting Degree student participating in accounting club

Clubs for Accounting Majors

Club involvement is at the hub of your experience at Clarke University as an accounting major. The accounting department hosts many social networking options.

  • Future Young Professionals of Clarke — You will lead business and accounting social events on campus to help students prepare for the professional work environment.
  • Investments Club — This group of accounting majors actively buys and trades stocks in order to grow a real portfolio that you can then display at employment or graduate school interviews.
  • Sport Management Club — This club helps facilitate athletic halftime events for the lacrosse, soccer, football, and many other of the 21 athletic teams on the campus of Clarke University. They strategize on how to draw more fans and spectators to Clarke’s athletic events and how to engage and rouse the crowd in the stands at halftime events.
  • Global Business Emersion — Each year the accounting department leads a Global Business Immersion trip. This experience is a 10-15 day trip to a foreign country to study the artistic, cultural, social, and economic aspects of a different culture. Students and faculty have traveled to Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, France, England, and Spain.

Program Details

Accounting Degree Courses
Majors in Clarke’s bachelor’s degree in accounting program take certain general education and skilled accounting courses, 30 hours of business core, and 24 hours of accounting courses. You will also complete an internship or experiential education in positions such as office accountants, camp business managers, and marketing representatives. Through the accounting degree program, you’ll learn to:

  • Assess essential accounting principles and procedures
  • Apply technology tools related to accounting
  • Evaluate alternatives to complex accounting situations
  • Integrate accounting and finance information in business decision making
  • Analyze the legal, regulatory, and ethical angles in the practice of accounting

Here is a sampling of the types of courses you’ll take when studying for an accounting degree:
LEADERSHIP — This course focuses on the process of leadership, the interplay between power and influence, motivation, performance, development, and context. Accounting students in this class have the opportunity to interview local managers to gain leadership insights and conduct a job shadow to see leadership in action.

MICROECONOMICS — You will conduct an analysis of markets such as trade, production, and costs and their role in resource distribution.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT — You’ll examine the marketing tools and techniques used in managing all aspects of the marketing operation and apply concepts into practice.

Admission to Clarke University

Applicants are considered on an individual basis. Apply to Clarke today to begin your journey.

Internships
Real-world experience is coming your way. Our accounting internships are an invaluable resource when it comes time to enter the job market. Accounting majors have recently completed business internships at businesses in Dubuque, Iowa, and beyond:

  • McGraw-Hill
  • Honkamp Krueger & Co.
  • Heartland Financial
  • Cottingham & Buttler
  • Re/MAX
  • Prudential

Accounting Degree Capstone
The accounting major’s capstone course requires a comprehensive research paper and oral presentation on a topic related to accounting, business, or economics that integrates the liberal arts and the major discipline.

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Meet Our Faculty

When our accounting graduates speak about the Clarke moments that shaped them, there’s always a professor in the story. That’s because being a faculty member at Clarke University requires a deep passion for educating, encouraging, and empowering students. Here, your professors will know your name. They will push you to develop your full potential, and then they’ll ask for more. And, they’ll be right there to congratulate you when you exceed even your own expectations. Often, it’s a relationship that lasts a lifetime.

View Our Faculty & Staff
Jody Wolfe, MBA/JD

Jody Wolfe, MBA/JD

Assistant Professor of Accounting/Business

I hope to leave students with an understanding of strategy, finance, and law, but also that the world is a large place, and they should find a place where they feel wanted and comfortable in it.

Loren Rice, Ph.D.

Loren Rice, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Accounting/Business

I hope that my impact on students will be that they will learn concepts, ideas, and general practices that will stay with them for many years.

Maria Morris, MBA

Maria Morris, MBA

Instructor of Accounting/Business

I want students to apply business concepts, not just learn them. I use my work experiences, and theirs, to illustrate the role classroom material plays in real-life situations. Whether we are playing a game or taking a test, students think creatively and hopefully, maximize the strength of their ‘mind muscles.’

Getting ready to take notes in a Clarke University English Class
There’s more to college than going to class.

The Classroom and Beyond


But don’t take our word for it…

Our Students & Alumni

Allison Smith

Allison Smith

Accounting '16

I studied abroad, learning about currency exchange in Ireland, England, and Wales. I got to see so many different, wonderful things.

Ryan Dillon

Ryan Dillon

Business '06

I am currently a senior account executive for the San Diego Padres Major League Baseball team. Clarke taught me the importance of challenging myself to grow professionally and personally.

Aaron Turner

Business and Accounting '17

Clarke is not just a school. It is a community and a family that all work together to achieve success both academically and personally.


95 %
Full-time

Business classes at Clarke are taught by full-time faculty, which provides students with subject experts in the field.

$ 70,500

The median salary for business/accounting careers, according to the 2018 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

#1

Accounting is one of the top majors for college undergraduates, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Experience Clarke Accounting for Yourself

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