Ohio Wesleyan is one of the few nationally ranked private liberal arts colleges to offer a major in Accounting. Students are well served by studying accounting within a liberal arts framework. Our graduates understand the roles that economics, culture, and the environment play in influencing the financial trends they are analyzing. They are well prepared to enter careers in public accounting, private industry, government, and the nonprofit sector. Many have gone on to pursue graduate study at the nation's leading programs in accounting and business administration.
The Accounting major covers all basic areas of both financial and managerial accounting, along with finance, tax, and business law. This major prepares students for many careers in business and accounting or for graduate study.
Students planning to take the CPA exam in Ohio and most other states are required to have 150 hours of education with at least a baccalaureate degree in accounting. This typically requires additional education beyond the bachelor's degree.
OWU Accounting majors connect a solid program in accounting practices with a foundation in the liberal arts. That combination gives them the breadth and depth to be great problem-solvers and leaders in the field.
Accounting students can work with faculty mentors on research projects, and OWU's Accounting Fellows Program allows a select group of students, majors or minors of accounting, to explore topics more deeply and take on real-world accounting research and application.
The Accounting Fellows are able to network with fellow alumni working in the accounting industry. In Washington, D.C., the students visited an alumnus that works at EY, a Big Four accounting firm.
The Accounting Fellows were able to venture to Washington D.C. over Fall Break to make connections and learn more about the professional atmosphere of the accounting industry. With outside the classroom study, students were able to meet and ask questions with people that have an influence in the U.S GAAP and other accounting principles.
In every major, from Accounting to Zoology, OWU students have a variety of options to travel and gain a global perspective on their field.
An OWU Connection Grant could fund your original research, internship, or creative project anywhere in the world. Recent accounting students have traveled to England, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
J.T. Knoble ’17: “I was able to spend a week with two other students and a professor in Ireland studying Irish GAAP. Not only was I able to learn more about accounting in Ireland but also explore a beautiful country.”
Build your experience and connections to the professional world with internships in your field.
Accounting students complete internships in the private and public sector across the country.
Erin Cannon '18 completed an internship at NiSource, Inc., headquartered just outside Chicago. That experience helped her land a job as a corporate control accountant at Honda of America.
Caitlin Maggio '18 and Luke Tompkins '18 attended the Ohio Society of CPA's Accounting Show in Cleveland with Prof. Justin Breidenbach. The Accounting Fellows Program introduced them to the life of accountants and continuing professional education.
The Bigelow-Reed House lets you live in a unique environment with students who have an interest in business, economics, accounting, finance, and leadership. The house, exclusively for juniors and seniors, provides valuable opportunities for its student-residents to learn from visiting speakers who stay in its guest apartment.
Ohio Wesleyan students teams finished in the top 20 nationally in 2012 and 2013 in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Accounting Competition. Typically, 200 to 300 teams from all 50 states enter the competition. Semi-finalists are chosen based on the caliber of entry memos that outline how they would remedy issues raised in the case study.
Financial Executives International recognizes outstanding juniors and seniors who are majoring in Accounting. One senior and two juniors are awarded the Academic Recognition Award each spring. The recognized students are invited to attend the FEI Education Night Awards Program, an opportunity to meet central Ohio accounting professionals and students from other central Ohio universities.
Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the few nationally ranked private liberal arts schools to offer a major or minor in accounting. By just learning the basics, you will be able to understand the roles that economics, culture and the environment play in influencing financial trends. The accounting minor can get you prepared for careers in public accounting, private industry, government and the nonprofit sector.
Lyndsay works as a tax associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Columbus, Ohio. While at OWU, Lyndsay had internships at the Delaware Entrepreneurial Center and at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Professor Briedenbach engages his students during one of the many accounting courses he teaches.
Colin Stolly '18 talks about his experience as a double-major in accounting and philosophy - and as an infielder on the OWU baseball team.
Many students will explore the accounting major in R.W. Corns, the Economics Department building on campus.
