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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

General English language proficiency requirements

VU Amsterdam requires all applicants to take an English test. You can, however, begin your application without having the test results. Exceptions are made for students who have completed a bachelor or master in Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, New Zealand or Australia.

The minimum English language proficiency requirements for admission to this master programme are:

• IELTS: 6.5 overall
• TOEFL Internet-based test: 92 overall
• Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE): A, B, C
• Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE): A, B, C