Cambridge Executive Master of Accounting

What are the benefits of a Master of Accounting?

[MUSIC PLAYING] We spoke to students, alumni, and faculty from the Cambridge Master of Accounting (MAcc) programme to find out about the career impact of the MAcc, the leadership skills you’ll learn, and what makes the Cambridge MAcc distinct.

Why did you choose the Cambridge MAcc programme?

I wanted to do an exciting programme, never seen before, but also challenged my way of thinking and strongly encouraged me to improve the way things work in the world.

And it has a stream dedicated to CFO preparation. As someone who’s very keen to accelerate into a CFO position of a fast-growing technology company, that was really important to me. And I wanted to be adequately supported in that.

What makes the Cambridge MAcc programme unique?

We recruited world-class, global, executive-level curriculum advisors to help develop the learning and to bring us real case studies that are ambiguous, that are in our growth areas in our profession to help our students broaden and think more innovatively about their career paths.

What makes our programme unique is its emphasis on training, leaders, and innovators in the accounting space. So rather than focus on preparing students for a technical qualification in accounting, we prepare them to deal with the most important problems, and issues, and areas that are in most need of change in the accounting world.

What are some of the key benefits of the Cambridge MAcc programme?

One of the benefits of the MAcc programme has been that it has taught me never to take any process for granted and to believe in myself, that I can think how to change a process for the better.

The second benefit of the MAcc course was that it was part time. So I could keep working, learn things within the residential and over through the VLE, and then be actively applying those principles within my role.

What skills does the Cambridge MAcc programme strengthen?

More than ever, accountants need to have a growth mindset. They need to be innovative, they need to be able to think outside the box, they need to bring in teams and run change management projects. And so we’ve incorporated that into our curriculum, recognising that we’re facing considerable growth in areas such as sustainability reporting. And we’re facing considerable crises, for example, in how should we do audit? Can we earn more trust in audit?

We also strengthen students’ data skills through training on predictive analytics, data visualisation, the ethical, cultural, strategic issues around implementations of analytics.

The MAcc programme has taught me not to be a submissive and passive leader. In fact, it has taught me to be a vocal leader, challenging typical ideas and ways of doing things, and advocating for constant improvement.

What are the career outcomes for Cambridge MAcc students?

Our training is designed to help our students propel themselves into executive-level type careers, where there’s a lot of complex thinking and decisions under uncertainty.

Our programme helps prepare students for roles such as chief financial officer, policy-related roles, strategy-related roles, positions that require an understanding of analytics and data, positions in sustainability, any positions requiring an understanding of change, of how change works, how to inspire and lead people, and how to innovate.

How are you using the Cambridge MAcc programme to accelerate your career?

What I want to do is become a CFO myself, really go in and lead a finance organisation within a high-growth technology company. And that’s where I want to be.

As soon as I graduated, I was promoted to a senior auditor. And my workplace really recognised the rigorous nature of the MAcc programme at the University of Cambridge. And they’re really excited to see what I can bring to the table.