Master of Professional Accounting

Accounting is more than number crunching. Studying accounting with us can take you far beyond the office desk and computer screen – both during your studies and after graduation.

With our practical internships and work experience opportunities, you will engage with Tasmanian industry during your studies, providing real world experience and building connections to help forge your future career.

If you don’t have a formal accounting qualification and want to break into this thriving field, our Master of Professional Accounting is the perfect place to start. 

You will have various opportunities to gain practical experience through internships via our Work Ready Program (available to students studying at our Launceston campus) and Tax Clinic (available to students studying at our Hobart and Launceston campuses), and our highly qualified industry experts will prepare you for accounting roles all over the world.  

This course is also ideal for anyone in the industry who wants to upskill and meet the academic requirement of professional accounting qualifications.

A career in accounting is about providing expert consultation and helping businesses with sound judgement and decision making. You could find yourself providing financial advice for an exciting new start up business or advising innovative, sustainable solutions as a climate change accountant.

As future accounting professionals, you also have the power to make a difference to the world in which we live. Accountants are being called upon to 'be the global voice on climate action’^. 

From quantifying the financial impact of climate issues, through to ensuring climate reporting meets compliance requirements, accountants are helping to support a worldwide effort to enhance and improve climate change reporting.

Course Objectives:

The Master of Professional Accounting will provide you with a holistic overview of accounting in today’s business world, including the social, financial, and environmental impacts of the industry. You will engage with our Australian industry partners, such as KPMG, CPA, Blundstone, and Hazell Bros, all while learning in a supportive and interactive environment.

While you can study accounting anywhere in the world, by choosing to study in Tasmania you will be fully immersed in the uniqueness of Tasmanian industry. Our direct connection to industry means that you will develop a strong understanding of Tasmania’s key sectors, including aquaculture, agribusiness, export trade, and tourism. With sustainability embedded into our major units, you will learn to how to make socially and environmentally responsible decisions, as well as provide advice to clients on the financial and environmental impact of their business.

While completing your degree, you will simultaneously be growing your professional network and enhancing your career prospects. Our industry workshops and internships allow you to meet real employers and see first-hand how professionals of all levels apply their skills in everyday work. For many of our students, there has also been direct employment opportunities as a result of their internship and industry connections.

Learning Outcomes:

• Solve contemporary business problems using critical research techniques, applied accounting concepts, innovative thinking, while applying a sustainable business model lens.
• Justify business ideas in complex contexts using effective oral and written communication techniques with both accounting and non-accounting professionals.
• Research and analyse business performance and impacts to make recommendations to decision makers
• Demonstrate collaboration, cooperation and teamwork when making collaborative decisions and working with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Seek and reflect on feedback to improve personal, professional and ethical conduct and initiate learning opportunities for self and others

Course Structure:

• To graduate from the Master of Professional Accounting course, a student must satisfactorily complete 200 credit points of study comprising:
• 50 credit points of Transition units
• 100 credit points of Core units
• 50 credit points of specialisation units in one of the three specialisation areas: 
• Accounting for Sustainable Business,
• Financial Planning,
• Healthcare Accounting and Administration
• 50 credit points of research/project work has been embedded across multiple core units
• The Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) welcomes students with a background in accounting, in addition to those without that background but with an interest in a postgraduate accounting qualification.
• The MPA is a 2 year full time course for those without prior study in a related area. If you have completed prior study in accounting or a related area, you may be eligible for four units’ worth of credit which will allow you to complete the course in 1.5 years. Alternatively, if you have completed prior study in a related area you may wish to forego that credit and instead study a 2 year course.
• If you want to complete the course in Launceston using 4 units’ worth of credit, you must commence the course in Semester 2.