Master of Accounting

Accreditations and exemptions:

The M.Acc. at NUI Galway has been specially designed to meet the needs of graduates who plan to progress to membership of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI). CAI grants full exemption from its CAP2 stage examinations to graduates of the M.Acc. programme, provided that they have full exemption from its CAP1 stage examinations before taking the M.Acc. In addition, M.Acc. graduates from 2013 onwards qualify for full exemption from all nine Fundamentals papers of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) examinations. 

The programme starts in early September each year. Applications are made online to the Postgraduate Applications Centre (PAC) (www.pac.ie). The PAC application code is GYC00.

The following staff from the Accountancy and Finance Discipline at NUI Galway are involved in teaching the M.Acc. program:

• Ms. Mary Barrett
• Professor Cristiano Busco
• Mr. Frank Conaty
• Mr. John Currie
• Dr. Emer Curtis
• Ms. Patricia Martyn
• Dr. Emer Mulligan
• Dr. Shammyla Naeem
• Dr. Geraldine Robbins
• Professor Breda Sweeney

In addition, staff from the Discipline of Management and the Discipline of Business Information Systems each contribute a module to the program.

Visiting lecturers from the accounting profession, industry, and academia also contribute to the program. 

Semester One exams are held in December and Semester Two exams are held in April/May. The Accounting Research Project is completed during the summer months.

Continuous assessment is a particular feature of the program. A range of assessment methods are integrated into the various modules. These include projects, reports, presentations, case studies, and debates.

Immediately after completing the program, most M.Acc.  graduates begin training as chartered accountants with major accounting firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and others. During this training they complete the process of qualifying as Chartered Accountants and/or Chartered Tax Consultants and they go on to enjoy very successful careers in accounting practice, industry, taxation, or financial services.

M.Acc. graduates’ success in recent professional examinations 

Our graduates consistently achieve very high places in the Final Admitting Examination of Chartered Accountants Ireland and in the final examination of the Irish Tax Institute (AITI). In the most recent (2012) professional exams, our graduates Aisling Curtin and Sarah Finnegan (both M.Acc. 2010) obtained second and third place respectively in CAI’s Final Admitting Examination and Nora Cosgrove (M.Acc. 2008) was placed second in the final examinations of the Irish Taxation Institute.

What employers say about the programme

"Since its inception, KPMG has sponsored students on the Master of Accounting programme in NUI Galway. We are delighted with the results. In its graduates, KPMG looks for rounded individuals with well-developed thinking and interpersonal skills. We really notice these skills in those who have completed the Master of Accounting in NUI Galway. It is the combined focus on technical skills development and personal development that we believe prepares students well for a career in business".  
Colm Gorman, Head of HR, KPMG

The M.Acc. program could be for you if you hold (or expect to graduate shortly with) at least a 2.1 honours primary degree with a significant specialisation in accounting and expect to have full (or nearly full exemptions) from the CAP1 examinations of CAI. The majority of students on the program are sponsored by accounting firms who intended to employ them to train as chartered accountants upon graduation from the M.Acc.