Bachelor of Accountancy

The degree of Bachelor of Accountancy (also known as Bachelor of Accounting) is the principal academic degree in accountancy in several countries, and is often the only degree recognised for subsequent practice as a professional accountant; see First professional degree. It is abbreviated B.Acy. or B.Acc. or B. Accty.. It is also sometimes titled "Bachelor of Accounting Science" (B.Acc.Sci.) or "Baccalaureus Computationis" (B.Compt.) [1] [2].

The B.Acy. is extremely specialized: the curriculum requires study sufficient for professional practice (often at the major-level) in all four of financial accounting, management accounting, auditing, and taxation.[3][4] [5] The degree is thus not to be confused with a B.B.A. in Accounting or B.Com. in Accounting, which are general business degrees with accounting as an area of concentration; for discussion, see further under Bachelor's degree.

Due to the nature of the B.Acy., it is a professional degree course that not many universities actually offer. In the United States, it is likely to be a four-year undergraduate degree. In other parts of the world, such as Singapore, it can be a three-year undergraduate degree course as well. In Malta, it is a two year course which can be taken after qualifying in Bachelor of Commerce only for students who obtain exceptional grades in their previous course. Most public universities in South Africa offer the degree or a variant, often as a postgraduate honours degree.[6]

After completion of the Bachelor of Accountancy, a student can generally go on to work as an accountant and / or commence with the Master of Accountancy. Graduates often pursue the CPA or CA (or other) designations, and thus take up "articles" at an accounting firm recognised for this purpose, so as to meet the relevant work experience requirements, and will then also sit the associated Professional Examination.