Accounting Major
“What sets Lander apart? Here, you’re going to get wherever you want to get. You need to put in the time and the work, but the professors are here for you and will work with you to get you where you want to go.”
Aaron Zinn, Accounting Major ‘23
Most of our students are on the CPA track. We strongly encourage the CPA route for the doors it opens and the opportunities it allows you. A business administration degree, or managerial accounting, is also available.
CPA Exam Ready
Our students have the second highest CPA pass rate in NYS. It’s not by accident.
Our curriculum is carefully crafted to give you the knowledge and the skills to help you succeed, from Principles of Accounting 101 in your first semester to Contemporary Accounting Problems in your last. We push you hard from day one, with regular exams designed to get you comfortable with the format of the CPA exam and make sure you’re mastering the content. By the time you take the CPA exam, the style, pacing, and material will be what you know and are used to. The exams make sure you’re on track to succeed, and we’re here to help you if we see you need it.
Experienced & Supportive Faculty
“The professors sold me on this major.” Our faculty have been where you’re going, and many are still there. One tax professor works for the IRS and another has his own tax accounting firm. The professors that teach our audit classes worked as auditors at big four accounting firms.
Our faculty are hands on and experienced. They tell their war stories of their time in the field, and it will add to your understanding of the material and your ability to succeed once you graduate.
He knew he wanted to do something business related, and speaking with the professors he really liked them - as people, as professors, as teachers - and it almost sounded like he wanted to major in them even more than the material. Like he took a class and the professors hooked him.
Small Classes Mean We Know You
Compared to hundreds in other schools, you’re likely to be in a class with fewer than 20 students at Lander. That means you get individualized attention from your professors. We get to know our students: your strengths, where you need help, when to pushed you harder, and when to recommend peer tutoring.
Class Spotlight: Federal Income Taxation of Individuals
“The professor is very engaging and keeps you on your toes. The final was a learning experience all its own. Our final was more of a debate. There are certain things that are open to conversation in the tax world and it's more about how you present it to get the IRS to allow you to take certain credits. So, for our final we were split up into teams and our professor would give a prompt and you had to be able to find those credits and prove that you needed them. But you had to do it as a team, which allowed you to find things that you wouldn't be able to find on your own.” – Aaron Zinn, Class of 2023.
Where Are Our Accounting Graduates Now?
Your success is our success. Our alumni are some of the top in the field and can be found in the halls and offices of EY, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, BDO, Grant Thorton and EisnerAmpner. They’re managers at Deloitte and PwC and in-house CFOs and Controllers at companies like Prestige Healthcare Management and Apex Global Solutions.
“Because I continued through a program like Lander…it’s allowed me to differentiate myself within my peer group. They know Eli studied Jewish law and philosophy and understands the importance of being ethical and being true and being righteous.” - Eli Sinnreich, Senior Manager at Deloitte.
Career Ready: Alumni Offer Guidance in Annual Alumni Dinner Series
Lander College for Men Graduates, Accomplished in Their Fields, Come Back to Campus to Share Professional Experience and Insights With Students
150 Credits: Planning Your Degree
A bachelor’s degree is usually 120 credits, but to be a licensed CPA you must have 150 credits. Your yeshiva credits can help.
Normally, Touro accepts only 48 transfer credits from Yeshiva. Since extra credits are required for the CPA exams, we allow accounting majors to transfer an extra 12 credits, for a total of up to 60 credits. See Department Chair for individual advisement.
Touro also offers a BS/MS program with our Graduate School of Business if you wanted to graduate with a Master of Science in Accounting and use those credits to fulfill your 150 credits required for the CPA.
- Traditional undergraduate BS degree 150-credit track (see the Day Program Plan of Study, or the Evening Division Plan of Study)
- Traditional undergraduate BS degree 120-credit track + 30-credit MS degree. Visit the Graduate School of Business to see information on the MS in Accounting
There is an option to take your undergraduate accounting classes in as little as 17 months and a dual track is as little as 22 months. This will depend upon your learning/work schedule.
- Accelerated 17-month BS degree 150-credit track. You will need to meet with the Department Chair for individual advisement.
- Accelerated 22-month BS + MS degree 150-credit track: dual degree BS-MS in Accounting. You will need to meet with the Department Chair for individual advisement.
What You Can Expect From Lander:
Aside from small class sizes, experienced faculty, individualized attention, and demanding academics, you can expect alumni connections, support to enter the professional world, and an understanding that of what you might be looking for as a Torah Jew raising a family and earning a living.
- As with all Touro majors, we have a strong alumni network you can rely on, and a powerhouse career services department that will prepare you for the workplace and help you start your career.
- As part of our mentoring program, we can match you with an alumni currently in the field, to mentor you and answer any questions on your career.
- We host career night dinners each year, where alumni come back to campus and gather around the dinner table with you, to help you get an inside view of their career with real talk about the profession.
- No disconnect between your morning in the beis medrash and your afternoon in a college classroom. Torah infuses everything we do and the shiur course you’ll take on Jewish business ethics is one example of the balance and coordination you’ll find here.
“Our job as accountants is to be the gatekeeper and the ethics guru of the business world. I think it’s one of the reasons Lander students appreciate the accounting major, what they're learning in the morning is all about ethics and the right way to live, and they apply that same ethics to their career studies in the afternoon. ”
Dr. Chayim Herskowitz
Managerial Accounting
If the CPA track is not for you, we have a Business Management and Administration major, with a concentration in accounting, that will give you a good foundation in accounting principles and business policy. It’s a great base to work in business and you can work in an accounting firm in capacities aside from a CPA, or work in other jobs, such as:
- Cost Accountant
- Business Management
- Working in the Business/Finance Department at a Private or Publicly Traded Company.
