Master of Professional Accounting (MPA)

Employment is projected to rise in 17 of the 19 industries over the five years to May 2023. Around two thirds of new jobs during this period are expected to come from four main industries, including Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (106,600, or 10.2%) with accountants comprising the biggest occupation group of this industry.
The accountancy profession is being moulded by large-scale changes ranging from globalisation to automation, cloud accounting and artificial intelligence. Australian companies in a recent survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, identified the following emerging skills: creativity, originality and initiative, analytical thinking and innovation, active learning, technology design and programming, complex problem-solving, critical thinking and analysis, leadership and social influence, emotional intelligence, reasoning and resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility. The Master of Professional Accounting will seek to equip students with a number of the above skills to qualify for membership to professional accounting bodies. and provide graduates with an internationally recognised set of credentials and employment opportunities both domestically and globally.

The Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) is designed principally for students from non-accounting backgrounds who wish to make a career change or simply to develop an understanding of the technical and social role accounting plays in contemporary business. As such, the MPA is a broad-based qualification that integrates the core accounting studies with authentic learning experience gained through participating in a Business Internship as a work integrated learning unit.

This program will help students develop the skills and expertise they need for a rewarding career in accounting. Students are expected to develop the knowledge and expertise to future-proof their career, where they will undertake advanced learning in both theory and professional practice and learn to solve critical accounting and business problems in innovative ways.

A 2019 publication by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Jobs 2019 provides an overview of trends in the Australian labour market to support job seekers and providers, career advisers, people considering future training and work and people interested in labour market issues. According to this report, accountants represent the biggest occupation group in Australia making up over 39% of the employed occupation groups. More than three quarters of this group hold a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification. Accountants represent the second biggest occupation group after registered nurses and followed by primary school teachers