Enrollment in BUAD 591 Business Strategy Capstone is restricted to students who meet the prerequisites. Students wishing to enroll in this course must have prior approval from the Graduate Advisor – see below for enrollment requirements. Be advised that not all graduate courses are offered during the summer session, so you should not plan your graduation around summer classes. Elective courses are not normally offered in the summer.

BUAD 591 is a project course and must be completed with a "B" or better. You will be divided into groups and assigned to a company in Orange County. Your group will serve as a consulting team for the company.

Enrollment Requirements

• BUAD 591 is to be taken in your last semester.

• BUAD 591 is taken when you have achieved classified standing and are within 9 units of completing your entire advising worksheet.

• BUAD 591 requires authorization prior to enrolling in the course.

Request to Reserve Your Seat

To obtain authorization and reserve a seat, you must email the Graduate Advisor at businessmasters@fullerton.edu by the reservation deadlines below.

Reservation Deadlines

• Spring: September 15 - September 25 — FEMBA and Flex MBA

• Summer: January 31 - February 11 — Flex MBA only

• Fall: March 9 - March 19 — Flex MBA only

Early requests will not be accepted.

To assist the college in determining enrollment needs it is important that you send a request during the dates indicated above. Requests for enrollment after the dates above may not be accommodated.

Notification of Enrollment Authorization

• You will be notified by email one week prior to early registration with authorization of enrollment.

• If you are not eligible to enroll in BUAD 591, you will be notified by email one week prior to early registration if not sooner.

Additional Graduation Requirements

While enrolled in BUAD 591, all graduating students must complete an online "Exit Survey" and the "Graduate Information Record” (GIR) form. This GIR includes demographic, programmatic, employment, and other information vital to the college's statistical records. This information will be used to provide statistical support for the College of Business and Economics through rankings, AACSB accreditation, diversity, and overall data gathering. Please note that all information of an individual nature will be kept confidential. Our purpose is to create statistical averages and means, not individual metrics. The "Exit Survey" includes programmatic satisfaction information. This information will be used to improve the program and is anonymous.

You will be notified via email of the due dates and link to the online survey and GIR form.

You are required to complete a capstone project under the guidance of an assigned faculty advisor. The project is intended to enhance your understanding of an accounting topic and develop your awareness of how accounting research and practice are related. As described below, there are two pathways available for completing the project. For those interested in the academic pathway, research topics must be chosen after consulting with a faculty advisor. The academic projects do not include group work.

For those choosing the professional pathway, a capstone committee consisting of the following academics and practitioners will provide general guidelines for selecting a research topic and identifying research questions. The professional project includes both team-based and individual assignments. Teamwork includes the presentation of an interim progress report and a final presentation. A research paper on the topic is also required. The writing of the research paper is an individual assignment. That is, while group members work together on their research and presentations, each member will submit an individual write-up of the project work and results. The written analyses will be graded by faculty advisors.

In order to successfully complete your academic or professional project, you must work closely with your assigned advisor in developing research hypotheses/questions, designing research methods and conducting data analysis. For the academic pathway, the advisor is selected by students after consultation with faculty prior to the start of the semester. Faculty advisors to academic advisees must provide the ACCT 597 instructors the names of their advisees one week prior to the start of the semester. For the professional pathway, the faculty advisor is assigned by ACCT 597 instructor(s) after the start of the semester. ACCT 597 instructors will provide faculty advisors their advisees’ names one week after the start of the semester.

If you have any questions regarding registration for ACCT 597, please contact the Department of Accounting at (657) 278-2225.

Tax professionals and tax departments are experiencing unprecedented change. New and complex tax laws and regulations, complex accounting pronouncements, global business operations, digital business transformation, and accelerated deadlines are requiring tax professionals to transform their skills. Tax professionals are turning to technology and developing transformation strategies to contend with all these business and regulatory changes.

Tax professionals’ digital skills now include the ability to use the following applications:

Accordingly, this course will expose you to various technologies as well as enable you to develop tax technology transformational strategies. The development of these technology and transformational skills will provide you with skills desired by employers.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Gain an understanding of the challenges facing tax departments considering the complex global business, tax and regulatory environment

• Understand data life cycle and how it applies to tax professionals and tax functions

• Demonstrate use of tools/applications specific to the data life cycle

• Understand the complex nature of tax processes and tax calculations the need for automation

• Understand Sarbanes Oxley and how it applies to tax processes

• Understand the relationship between process, controls and risk mitigation for tax processes

• Understand and apply select Lean Six Sigma principals to tax processes

• Apply a systematic approach to design an Excel model for tax calculations as well as apply control functionality within Excel to mitigate risk and the possibility of errors

• Understand and demonstrate the ability to effectively use ETL tools such as Microsoft Power Query and Alteryx

• Understand RPA and how it can apply to tax processes

• Understand and apply content management tools, such as Microsoft SharePoint to automate document retention and workflow for to tax processes

• Understand select software and applications, such as ONESOURCE can be applied to the following tax types and processes

If you have any questions regarding registration for ACCT 597, please contact the Department of Accounting at (657) 278-2225.

ISDS 577 – MS Information Technology and MS Information Systems: General, Business Analytics, IS Management Emphases

ISDS 577 is a project-based course that integrates the information systems development concepts of information systems, project management, analysis, design, and implementation with telecommunications, database design, programming, testing, and system integration issues. All MS Information Systems candidates must participate in this course. ISDS 577 should be taken in your last semester or within completion of at least seven ISDS courses in the program.

Questions regarding ISDS 577 should be directed to the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences. (657) 278-2221

ISDS 576 – MS Information Systems: Decision Sciences Emphasis

ISDS 576 is a project-based course that integrates theory and application of modeling and simulation methodology. All MS Information Systems with an emphasis in Decision Sciences candidates must participate in this course. ISDS 576 should be taken in your last semester or with completion of at least seven ISDS courses in the program.

Questions regarding ISDS 576 should be directed to the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences. (657) 278-2221.

MA Economics students may choose from two exit options: Students may opt to take a comprehensive exam or complete a thesis by enrolling in ECON 598.

Comprehensive Exam

Within the first week of your final semester, schedule an appointment with the Concentration Exploration Advisor to discuss the comprehensive exam. The comprehensive exam is taken post final exams of your final semester.

Thesis

After you second semester in the program and the completion of ECON 502 and ECON 503, schedule an appointment with the Concentration Exploration Advisor. Prior to the meeting, you will need to decide on your proposal topic and bring an outline of your plan that includes your objectives, questions, and problem you wish to research. In your last semester, you will be required to enroll in ECON 598.

General information about thesis requirements can also be found online through the Graduate Studies Office.