To provide comprehensive and reliable rankings of accounting programs, we use a methodology tailored to students' needs.
In each of Accounting.com's rankings, we consider these key factors to determine the best programs: academics, affordability, reputation, and program availability.
These rankings are free from outside influence and based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and publishing education statistics in the U.S.
We also use information from Peterson's Data, a private organization that has been collecting data from colleges and universities for over 50 years. By surveying thousands of academic institutions throughout the year, Peterson's provides robust and timely data on topics such as degree offerings, financial aid, and graduate outcomes.
Schools cannot pay for a higher spot in our rankings; their programs earn features based on the data we collect and how they stack up in our ranking factors. Although our site features advertising partners, we do not consider those relationships when compiling rankings.
On this page, we examine the four key factors and subfactors that influence our rankings and their impact on our overall scores.
- Academics: We consider subfactors such as retention, graduation rates, and faculty.
- Affordability: We assess overall costs, available financial aid, and post-graduation debt.
- Reputation: We look at admission and acceptance rates and a school's overall return on investment (ROI).
- Program availability: We examine online flexible learning options.
Explore this page to learn about our ranking methodology for the best accounting programs in the U.S.
About the Data We Use to Rank Accounting Schools
To create our accounting rankings, we rely on the most current and trusted sources, such as NCES. As part of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), the NCES annually updates and publishes statistical educational information through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).
IPEDS examines trends in enrollment numbers, tuition rates, faculty and staff employment, and degree conferral rates. We use this IPEDS data in our rankings to help students make the best choice for their accounting program.
We update our rankings annually, or sometimes more frequently if IPEDS releases new data. This means we may update our rankings for programs several times per year. When we update rankings, all new data from IPEDS is run through our rankings algorithms to create a list of the top accounting schools. Students can rely on our data to stay current, accurate, and focused on helping them find the best learning options.
When applicable, our independent third-party panel of experts reviews page content, excluding school descriptions, for accuracy.
Exclusion Criteria
Our quality assurance team ensures that schools without adequate data are excluded from our rankings. For example, schools are ineligible for our affordability-focused lists if they did not provide data on the average net price after aid (i.e., the average amount students paid out of pocket).
Schools are omitted entirely from our database if they:
- Have a retention rate of <10%
- Have a graduation rate of <10%
- Have a four-year completion rate for low-income students of <10%
- Did not provide any of the above data to IPEDS or Peterson's
- Explicitly support anti-LGBTQ+ policies, groups, practices, and/or initiatives
A Breakdown of Our Accounting Rankings Methodology
When creating our rankings, we recognize the importance of using the right methodology to assess accounting degree programs.
We consider a school's academics, affordability, reputation, and program availability. To create the rankings, we weigh each of these factors based on their importance for that specific degree type. Explore the charts below to see how we weigh each factor.
Subfactors to Our Accounting Ranking System
At Accounting.com, we are committed to helping current and prospective students find pathways to success, offering helpful career guidance and data-backed recommendations for learners.
We take the reliability of our rankings seriously, considering a variety of key factors — and their subfactors — that matter most to students.
This information helps prospective accounting students make informed choices about the best program to meet their academic and career goals, while staying within their budget and providing the support they need to thrive.
We consider all these factors to compile comprehensive and accurate rankings that students can trust.
Subfactors for Academics
Subfactors for Affordability
Subfactors for Reputation
Subfactors for Program Availability and Online Flexibility
What Sets Each Program Apart
In addition to measuring the overall strengths of a school to award it a spot in our rankings, our editorial team analyzes each degree program to identify features that make it stand out from the others. Since several schools offer similar programs, our mission is to help you find the one that best fits your needs.
In every program's title, we highlight a quality that makes it unique relative to other programs on the list. We call attention to factors such as course length, delivery format, concentrations, career opportunities, and more. By assigning each program its own superlative, such as "Best Hybrid Experience," our goal is to simplify your college decision-making by prioritizing characteristics that may be most relevant to you.