DEPARTMENT of ACCOUNTING and FINANCE
ACCOUNTING Honours
You are passionate about accounting and want to learn more, dig deeper and develop your critical thinking and research skills more fully than you can with an accounting major.
As an Honours student, you work closely with accounting professors who are experts in their fields. You sharpen your research skills, develop theories, test hypotheses and contribute to the wealth of accounting knowledge. Most students who complete the Honours program choose to pursue a masters or doctorate degree.
What to expect
In addition to the required courses you take in the Accounting major, the Honours program includes two advanced research courses and a seminar course that prepare you to develop and present your Honours thesis.
In an advanced qualitative research course, you focus on research design and methods to learn statistical techniques aimed at improving company decision making. You build on the data analysis skills you’ve acquired in senior-level courses. The advanced quantitative research course focuses on the management side of business. You learn how to conduct interviews, facilitate focus groups and interpret participant data. You also learn about the research process, considering expectations such as ethics applications and consent forms.
You apply what you’ve learned in these courses to a research project, referred to as your Honours thesis, that you develop in a seminar course. The topic of your thesis is approved by your Honours supervisor. You present and defend your thesis to School of Business faculty and students.
Apply to the Honours program
Usually, students apply to the Honours program at the end of their second year.
To learn if the Honours program is a good fit for you, meet with your department chair. You will discuss the thesis component of the Honours program, job prospects (and how they differ from an accounting major) and the benefits of taking an Honours program.
Further study
An Honours program is excellent preparation for graduate school.
MacEwan students attend graduate and professional programs across Canada and around the world. If you are interested in obtaining a master’s degree or PhD, or if you want to attend a professional program such as law, a career development specialist can answer your questions and guide you through the application process. Then, at our annual Graduate School Fair, you can meet graduate program advisors from a number of universities.