Economics and Business at the University of Amsterdam offers a Bachelor in Economics and Business Economics, as well as a Bachelor in Business Administration. Accounting courses are an important foundation for both of these programmes in the first two years. In both programmes, students are taught the basics of financial reporting and bookkeeping in the course Financial Accounting 1 in the 1st year, and are taught about management accounting information and control systems in the course Management Accounting 1 in the second year.

In the second half of the third year, students can follow the specialisation in Accounting and Control as part of the Major Business Economics or as part of the Bachelor in Economics and Business Administration. These specialisations are the same, and central courses are Accounting Information Systems, Financial Accounting 2 and 3, Management Accounting 2 and the BSc thesis seminar.

Both specialisations enable enrolment in the Post-Master's Accountancy programme (leading to the ‘Registeraccountant’ qualification) or Executive Master of Finance & Control programme (leading to the ‘Registercontroller’ qualification), after having graduated from the MSc in Accountancy and Control programme.

In the first half of the third year, students have the flexibility to choose a minor or to study abroad. The Accounting section offers a special minor Recht en fiscaliteit voor ondernemingen. This optional minor, which is offered in Dutch language only, contains courses that are essential for students who aim at becoming a Registeraccountant after their Master's programme by following the Post-Master's Accountancy programme. Courses in this minor focus on property law, corporate and financial reporting law, internal control systems, as well as general and corporate tax law.

The Accounting section is directly responsible for the Master in Accountancy and Control programme. The Master in Accountancy and Control is offered as a full-time one-year programme in English and as a part-time two-year programme in Dutch. This intensive and challenging programme combines academic rigour and practical relevance. It is one of the best value-for-money Master programmes of its kind in Europe. The full-time one-year programme has a strong international focus and has a student intake of about 175 students per year. The student population is diverse, with about one third having an undergraduate degree from the University of Amsterdam, another one third having an undergraduate degree from another university in the Netherlands and a final one third coming from abroad (e.g., Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, China, India, East Asia). The part-time two-year programme in Dutch, for which all classes are scheduled on Fridays, has a student intake of about 125 per year, mainly professionals with an undergraduate degree from a university of applied sciences ('HBO') who study next to a full-time job. 

Learning objectives

The objective of the Master in Accountancy and Control is to provide students with a thorough academic knowledge and skills set, and to prepare them for a successful career as an accounting professional. The basic philosophy is that the programme should strike a balance between professional and academic training. That is: graduates of the programme should be recognised by employers and peers as outstanding professionals with professional skills, a critical mind set and a thorough understanding of the research process that underlies much of the knowledge in their field. Moreover, our graduates should distinguish themselves through their broad view on accounting-related issues and their ability to communicate and work together with other professionals.

Tracks and courses

The Master in Accountancy and Control has two tracks, an Accountancy track and a Control track. The core curriculum of both tracks is the same and consists of courses in International Financial Reporting Standards; Incentives & Control; Accountability & Risk Management; Research Seminar Accountancy & Control; Financial Statement Analysis & Valuation; Judgment & Decision Making in Accounting, and a research project culminating in a thesis.

The Accountancy track complements the core courses with courses in Financial Accounting Research, Auditing & Business Lab: Accountancy. This track provides direct admission to the Post-Master's Accountancy (PMA) programme (taught in Dutch). The Control track complements the core courses with courses in Strategic Value Management, Corporate Financial Management, Business Lab: Control, and a research project culminating in a thesis. This track provides students who also have some years of work experience direct admission to the Executive Master of Finance and Control (EMFC) programme (taught in Dutch).

• Master in Accountancy and Control (General)
  • Accountancy track (Full-time, English language programme)
  • Control track (Full-time, English language programme)

The section regularly has positions for PhD candidates. Rather than following a pre-determined PhD programme, PhD candidates at Amsterdam Business School design their own course curriculum in close cooperation with their supervisors and based on their interests, needs and ambitions. PhD candidates can select courses offered by the University of Amsterdam and other universities in the Netherlands or abroad.

Tinbergen Institute

The Tinbergen Institute is a  jointly operated graduate school and research institute by the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), University of Amsterdam (UvA) and VU University (VU). It offers the Research Master in Economics, Econometrics and Finance and is involved in the Research Master in Business Data Science which has a strong focus on data science. These programmes offer a wide variety in courses, relevant within the research area accountancy.

Limperg Institute

The Limperg Institute, which is a joint initiative of accounting scholars at the University of Amsterdam and several other Dutch universities including VU University (VU), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) and Tilburg University, provides courses in accounting for PhD candidates, taught by scholars from top US business schools including, Cornell University, Emory University and Harvard University.

Pursuing a PhD research project in Accountancy

At the University of Amsterdam, PhD candidates are employed by faculty as PhD researcher in a full-time position with all the benefits of employment, including a good salary. PhD candidates are appointed for your years at our university. All candidates are expected to spend a small proportion of their time on teaching (typically in undergraduate or MSc programmes). Most candidates spend some months abroad (e.g. in North America or Australia) in the final year of their education.

Positions for PhD candidates are open to graduates from a Research Master programme, such as the Research Master in Economics, Econometrics and Finance, as well as graduates from regular MSc programmes in Accounting or related fields. Occasionally, professors also supervise PhD projects from external candidates or part-time PhD candidates without a formal appointment at UvA. If you are interested in doing a part-time PhD research project, we recommend that you directly contact the faculty member whose research interests seem most closely aligned with yours.

The Accounting section is involved in teaching and coordinating several post-master's and executive programmes offered by Amsterdam Business School. Two important programmes are the Post-Master's Accountancy (PMA) programme and the Executive Master of Finance and Control (EMFC) programme. The Post-Master's Accountancy programme is a two-year part-time programme taught in Dutch, which leads to the Registeraccountant (RA) qualification (the Dutch CPA equivalent). The Executive Master of Finance and Control (EMFC) is a two-year part-time programme taught in Dutch, which leads to the Registercontroller (RC) qualification.

• Post-Master Accountancy (PMA)
• Executive Master of Finance and Control (EMFC)