The programme content is the same in both the full-time and part-time programmes. From an accounting perspective, students’ll look at the financial information required to run any organisation, and the information flow needed for managers to make business decisions. And of course control is a key element here: students’ll learn how to use monitoring and reporting to make sure that organisations are governable and performing in the right way.

We look for motivated and ambitious students who have decided that the broad and challenging field of accounting and control is the direction they want to take. You may already have a firm idea of your future career path, but you may also still be considering the many different professional profiles in this area. We welcome you in either case, and will help you to find your way forward. We expect that you have a solid academic basis in economics or business. You have a good grounding in accounting and finance, but you also have the ability and the curiosity to see these disciplines in their wider context. Admission requirements In order to gain admission to our Master’s programme, you need to have at least a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited research university including at least three full years of academic study amounting to a minimum of 180 EC or equivalent. We do not require a GRE or GMAT test score. Your degree should be in economics, business or related disciplines. Apart from general academic and research skills, the programme should include quantitative research methods (statistics) of at least an intermediate level. We are not necessarily looking for students who have specialized in accounting, but we do expect that you have a solid grounding in the discipline. This means that your programme must include a significant element (as an indication, at least 40-45 EC) of accounting and finance with much of it at least at intermediate level. Accounting is meant broadly and may include, in addition to the essentials of financial and management accounting, topics such as auditing, accounting information systems, and elements of corporate governance. Apart from corporate finance, it may also include financial analysis and financial management. This means that we expect you to have successfully completed courses based on the following literature, or equivalent: Financial Accounting Elliott & Elliott, Financial Accounting and Reporting (Pearson Education), recent edition Management Accounting Rajan, Datar & Horngren, Cost Accounting , Global Edition (Pearson Education), recent edition Finance Berk & DeMarzo Corporate Finance, Global Edition (Pearson Education), recent edition Statistics Doane & Seward, Applied Statistics in Business & Economics (McGraw-Hill), recent edition And preferably one more courses based on the following: Financial Statement Analysis Healy & Palepu, Business Analysis Valuation: Using Financial Statements (Cengage Learning), recent edition Accounting Information Systems Romney & Steinbart, Accounting Information Systems, Global Edition (Pearson), recent edition Auditing Principles of Auditing’ by Rick Hayes, Hans Gortemaker, and Philip Wallage, (Pearson), recent edition English language proficiency The admission board wants to stress the intensity of the programme: reading scientific articles and writing papers will be a key part, all in a very high pace. Your English language skills, both oral and written, are extremely important in this programme. As you will have to communicate frequently with your fellow students and you will be working with and for international companies. VU Amsterdam requires all applicants to take an English test. You can already apply online without having the test results. We do advise you to plan a test date as soon as possible. Below you will find the minimum English test scores for the programme: IELTS (academic): • Minimum general score 6,5 • Minimum score speaking 6,0 • Minimum score listening 6,0 • Minimum score writing 6,5 • Minimum score reading 6,5 TOEFL: • Paper based test 580 • Internet based test 92-93 Cambridge English: • Cambridge Proficiency Exam A, B, C • Cambridge Advanced Exam A, B, C