Bachelor of Business (Accounting)

The Bachelor of Business (Accounting) is a three-year Australian bachelor degree, taught at Whitecliffe, The Fashion Institute. It sits at level 7 on the Australian Qualifications Framework. That means you come out with a full undergraduate qualification, not a diploma or a partial pathway. The degree is registered on CRICOS (course code 094007D), which is the register the Australian government keeps of courses it has approved for international students.

How the degree is put together

Australian bachelor degrees are built from units of study, each worth a set number of credit points. You accumulate credit points across the degree, and the total is what earns you the award. The academic year usually runs across two semesters, though some institutions use trimesters. Either way, you enrol in a handful of units each teaching period and work through them in sequence. Expect a mix of core accounting units and elective or business units. Core study in an accounting major typically covers financial accounting, management accounting, auditing, taxation and business law. Alongside that you build the general business skills that sit under any commerce degree: economics, statistics, finance, information systems and organisational behaviour.

Most Australian bachelor degrees of this kind finish with a capstone unit in your final year. A capstone pulls together what you have learned and asks you to apply it to a real or simulated business problem. Some programs also offer a research project option. Where a degree includes work-integrated learning, it usually appears as an internship, a placement with an accounting firm or a business, or an industry project unit. Placement is common in accounting degrees because the profession values practical experience, but the exact form varies by institution. Check the official course page for the units, credit points and any placement requirements before you apply.

What you actually learn

You learn to prepare and read financial statements, to apply accounting standards, to work through tax and audit problems, and to use the accounting software that firms run on. You also learn to analyse a business's numbers and explain what they mean to people who are not accountants. Group work, written reports and presentations are standard, because that is how accounting is practised. By the end you should be able to take a set of transactions and turn them into something a manager, a lender or a regulator can act on.

Who it suits

This degree suits school leavers who want a professional career with a clear structure, and mature students changing into accounting from another field. It also suits international students who want an Australian qualification and the post-study work options that come with it. If you are an international applicant, you will need to meet the English requirement. For an undergraduate business degree like this, IELTS Academic 6.0 to 6.5 overall is the usual standard. TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced and the institution's own English programmes are accepted as equivalents. Note that the Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa itself, so meeting the course requirement and meeting the visa requirement are two different things. While you study, your visa lets you work up to 48 hours per fortnight during teaching periods. After you graduate, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may let you stay and work in Australia, subject to the current rules. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register rather than here, so confirm the figure and all other details on the official page.

• Assistant accountant, working in public practice firms, corporate finance teams and government departments.
• Audit assistant, supporting external or internal audits at accounting firms and large organisations.
• Tax accountant, preparing returns and advising clients at boutique firms or the Australian Taxation Office.
• Management accountant, budgeting, costing and performance reporting inside a business.
• Bookkeeper or accounts officer, managing ledgers, payroll and reconciliations for small and medium businesses.
• Financial analyst, in banking, insurance, superannuation and investment firms.
• Graduate roles in professional services, the big accounting and consulting firms recruit graduates each year across Australia.

Accounting graduates work across public practice, corporate finance, government, not-for-profits and financial services. Many go on to complete further study with a professional body to become a Chartered Accountant or CPA. Check the official course page for details on professional recognition and what you need to do after graduation.