Northeastern University Master of Science in Accounting (Tax Track) in 2027

Northeastern offers a Master of Science (MS) in Accounting with a Tax track that you finish in seven months on its Boston campus, giving you the master's degree and the 150 credit hours needed to sit for the CPA exam.

It's a full-time, on-campus program at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston. You complete 30 credits, with 18 of them in advanced accounting courses that line up with key CPA exam topics, and you choose between an Audit track and a Tax track.

The Tax track covers tax law and strategy at the local, national and international levels. Faculty include professors of practice with deep experience at Big Four and other major accounting firms, and Northeastern says its Accounting Group is nationally recognized for behavioral accounting research.

Students work through applied projects and case studies, and a student services team supports your job search from the start.

The program's built around CPA licensure. Its curriculum is approved by the Massachusetts Board of Public Accountancy, and the school calls the degree a critical step toward CPA licensure and a career in public accounting. The D'Amore-McKim School of Business holds accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

Northeastern reports that 95% of its MS in Accounting students eligible to work in the U.S. over the last five years received full-time job offers within 3 months of graduation. Roles named by the school include auditor, tax consultant, forensic accountant, financial analyst, managerial accountant, controller and Chief Financial Officer.

Alumni of the Graduate School of Professional Accounting, many of whom recruit graduates every year, add to the network, and the wider D'Amore-McKim alumni network spans 148 countries.

Where this degree can lead: Masters in Taxation Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Accounting majors who want to reach CPA eligibility fast: the master's and the 150 credits come together in seven months.
• Future tax associates at public accounting firms: Tax track coursework includes Corporations and Shareholders, Partners and Partnerships and Advanced Flow-Through Entities, set on a core built around CPA topics.
• Students who like learning through practice: courses lean on case studies, applied projects and current technology platforms.
• Graduates thinking about an MBA later: if you keep a 3.0 grade point average, your 30 credits may count toward an eligible D'Amore-McKim Master of Business Administration (MBA) program for up to three years after graduation.

The core mixes accounting and tax. Required courses include Financial Reporting for Integrated Multinational Enterprises, which analyzes reporting for diversified international businesses, and Business Entity Taxation, which looks at the federal income tax system across corporations and flow-through entities with an emphasis on compliance, planning and research. Ethics and Public Interest in the Accounting Professions covers the responsibilities of auditors, accountants and tax professionals.

Financial Reporting for Governments and Nonprofit Entities handles state and local government standards, and Accounting Research and Communication, part of each track, has you analyze issues and present findings professionally. The Tax track adds Corporations and Shareholders, which studies the tax effects of the corporate form on its owners, and Partners and Partnerships, which covers the partnership, a central flow-through entity.

You also take six credits of electives chosen with an advisor. If you're tax-minded, you can pick Advanced Flow-Through Entities, which goes further into allocation rules, the S corporation election and partnership debt workouts, or Tax Research, Practice, and Ethics, which builds research skills through practical exercises. You'll also see Forensic Accounting and Internal Auditing on the elective list.

Courses the School Names

• Business Entity Taxation
• Corporations and Shareholders
• Partners and Partnerships
• Advanced Flow-Through Entities
• Tax Research, Practice, and Ethics

Standout Features

• Accounting group recognized by the school as the country's No. 1 behavioral accounting research group
• Credits can stack toward a D'Amore-McKim MBA, with a Double Husky scholarship of 25% off MBA tuition
• Earns the master's and the 150 credits required to sit for the CPA exam in seven months
• Tax track covers tax law and strategy at the local, national and international levels, plus regulatory frameworks, emerging technologies and planning techniques

Full-time study takes seven months. The school says that's enough to deepen your accounting expertise, add advanced analytics to your skill set and be ready to sit for the CPA exam before the busy tax season. The usual start is late May or early June, and summer starters finish in seven months.

Many students begin taking exam sections during their final term, which sets them up to graduate in December, right in accounting's busy season. If you can't begin in summer, a September start is available, and because no classes run in the spring, fall starters often use that term for a corporate residency or to begin taking the CPA exam.

The degree totals 30 semester credits, and the catalog asks for a minimum 3.000 grade point average.

Northeastern lists estimated total tuition of $57,930 for Academic Year 2026-2027, and that figure doesn't include fees or other expenses. Federal data records a graduate charge of $1,799 per credit at the university.

The school also notes that select programs at select campuses offer additional scholarships of up to 25% off the listed price for domestic students studying on campus. If you later move to a D'Amore-McKim MBA, the Double Husky scholarship takes 25% off MBA tuition.

You attend this program in person in Boston, full time. Classes meet on campus, and the work includes hands-on case studies and applied projects that mimic the tasks of an accounting firm. Fall starters don't have spring classes, so you can use that term for a corporate residency, which puts you inside a company or firm for a stretch of the year.

Outside class, the Graduate School of Professional Accounting's student services team offers networking events, and a non-credit Bloomberg Business Lab lets you work with real-time financial data and earn Bloomberg Market Concepts and environmental, social and governance (ESG) certifications.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

Graduates quoted by the school stress practical teaching. A 2026 graduate says professors focused on applying concepts to real client work, and a 2025 graduate says courses are hands-on, with Auditing in a Big Data Environment teaching work paper documentation and current technology platforms.

A 2025 graduate now working in tax at PwC says the program deepened their understanding of why numbers go where they do, which made them more efficient and confident. A 2022 graduate credits faculty and career resources for helping them land a role, and another heading to KPMG says the case studies mirrored real projects.

A commenter on Reddit in 2024 called Northeastern a great school and said friends who finished its master's program found it solid.

• Should I start in summer or September, and which electives should I pair with the Tax track courses to prepare for the CPA exam?
• What does the corporate residency in the spring term look like, and which firms host students?
• How do the 150 credit hours I earn here line up with the CPA rules in the state where I plan to be licensed?
• How does the student services team help with recruiting for tax roles at public accounting firms?
• If I want an MBA later, what grade requirements keep my 30 credits eligible?

A private research university based in Boston, Massachusetts, with online graduate programs.

• Best Master's in Taxation Rank 76 of 78, master's
• On-Campus Master's in Taxation Rank 36 of 37, master's
• Accelerated Programs Rank 1 of 33, master's
• Private University Programs Rank 43 of 43, master's
• Accounting and Taxation Rank 12 of 13, master's
• Best Programs in Massachusetts Rank 4 of 4, master's

• University of San Diego

  Master of Science in Taxation

  California $1,790 per credit Score 36.0

• Widener University

  Taxation & Financial Planning, MS

  Pennsylvania $1,240 per credit Score 36.3

• Bentley University

  Master of Science in Accounting, Taxation Major

  Massachusetts Score 37.4

• University of Colorado Boulder

  Master of Science in Taxation

  Colorado Score 37.5