For MU students, deciding on an accounting major might have just gotten a little bit easier.

According to the latest Public Accounting Report, MU’s School of Accountancy is currently ranked sixth in the nation for its undergraduate and master’s programs. In 2010, the master’s program was 12 positions lower, ranked 16th in the nation.

Associate teaching professor William Moser said the survey is handled in a specific way each year. Professors of the nation’s top accountancy schools receive a survey and are instructed to rank the schools. Professors send in the scores, which are aggregated to determine the average ranking for each school and placed in numerical order.

“We have a wonderful school of accountancy,” Moser said. “It’s an honor to be a professor here. A number six ranking is a reaffirmation of the quality of our program.”

Moser said the schools that are frequently seen above MU on the charts might have an unfair advantage. Schools such as the University of Illinois, the University of Texas and Baylor University have teaching faculties constituting of anywhere between 30 and 40 staff members, which Moser said are the highest numbers around.

“Obviously they are going to rank their own schools higher, so the system is somewhat biased,” Moser said.

In the same 2010 survey, the doctoral program was ranked 24. In the most recent survey, the number rose four spots to 20 in the nation.

Accountancy graduate student Olena Watanabe attributes the achievement to a number of things.

“I cannot easily summarize what makes the program good,” Watanabe said in an email.

Watanabe said she could narrow it down to major attributes such as outstanding advising as well as the level of organization of information and how accessible it is to students.

Watanabe also said the highly competitive acceptance rate for the school guarantees a high intelligence in students and encourages an increased level of participation.

“Many (students) get an internship at least once during the course of the study and most internships result in job offers,” Watanabe said. “Big 4 accounting firms, mid-size and small firms from various locations in Missouri like to hire our grads.”

Yang Yang, another graduate student, said she shares Moser’s opinion that the size of MU’s program might have somewhat hindered the school in the results produced by the survey, but size isn’t the only thing that matters when examining the quality of a program.

According to the Trulaske College of Business’s website, the accounting faculty was ranked ninth in the nation for research productivity as determined by Academic Analytics.

“(The program) here is not very big, but we have a good research culture,” Yang said. “I am very proud of being a student here. The talent and dedication of all members did and will continue to contribute to the improvement in the ranking.”