Today the accounting auditor offers a high value to society. The report issued by the auditor expressing his opinion on whether or not the company’s financial statements are free of bias, error, fraud, and data manipulation generates confidence in the audited company. The auditor becomes an expert in the business. The experience acquired over the years provides the audit professional with multidisciplinary skills and abilities (digital, environmental, social, human resources, legal).

For the technical training of the auditor, it is essential to obtain skills in business risk assessment and management that the Official Master’s Degree in Business Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation at the University of Las Palmas offers its students. The master’s degree is the start of the path that every audit professional must have. The master’s degree provides theoretical and practical training through the union of academic excellence and guided practice, with audit professionals who put the student in direct contact with business reality.

The Official University Master’s Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has a vital job placement, being the business practices of the master’s degree the starting point in the professional career of the student of the Official University Master’s Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation Business with local, national and multinational audit firms. There are two professional paths that the master’s student can choose once they have finished their studies: follow a professional career, having the illusion of, one day, being the ones who sign the audit reports, or take the leap in their professional career towards another type of companies to hold positions in senior management in the accounting and financial field. Two equally exciting and ambitious paths are at the service of graduates of the Official University Master’s Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation.



Profile, requirements, outings, and enrollment

The qualification with a preference for access to the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation is the Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Management. Given that the Master's may be of interest to complement university education and broaden the employment horizon, students who do not have this Degree must prove previous advanced university knowledge (through an academic record) in subjects related to the Degree, such as Financial Accounting and of Costs. Suppose, according to the file presented by the student, such issues have not been studied. In that case, the student will be able to obtain the previous and optimal preparation that allows them to achieve the knowledge that requires access to the Master's through an ad-hoc created training cycle that includes subjects of six credits that are taught in the Business Administration and Management Degree at the University of Las Palmas.

This Master's Degree requires the qualification and training prerequisites dictated by the corresponding laws.

For access to the Master, the student must meet the general conditions required in the R.D. 861/2010 of July 2, article 16:

  1. To access official Master's degrees, it will be necessary to have an official Spanish university degree or another issued by a Higher Education institution of the European Higher Education Area that authorizes access to Master's degrees in the country publishing the title.
  1.  Likewise, graduates from educational systems outside the European Higher Education Area may access without the need for homologation of their degrees after verification by the University that they accredit a level of training equivalent to the corresponding official Spanish university degrees and that they authorize in the country issuing the degree for access to this type of education. Passing this route will not imply, in any case, the homologation of the previous degree held by the interested party, nor its recognition for purposes other than studying for a master's degree.

Concerning the admission process, according to article 16 of RD 861/2010 of July 2:

- Students may be admitted to a master's degree following the specific requirements and merit assessment criteria that, where appropriate, are particular to the university master's degree or established by the University.

- The University will include the admission procedures and requirements in the study plan.

- These systems and procedures must include, in the case of students with specific educational needs derived from disability, the appropriate support and counseling services, which will assess the need for possible curricular adaptations, itineraries, or alternative studies.

- Admission will not imply, in any case, any modification of the academic and, where appropriate, professional effects that correspond to the previous degree held by the interested party, nor its recognition for purposes other than that of studying for a master's degree.

The qualification with a preference for access to the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation is the Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Management. Given that the Master's may be of interest to complement their training and broaden their work horizon, students who do not have this degree are required to accredit previous advanced university knowledge (through an academic record) in subjects related to the degree, such as Financial Accounting and costs. If such matters have yet to be taken according to the file presented by the student, the student will be able to obtain the previous. Optimal preparation that allows access to the Master's through a training cycle created ad-hoc that includes subjects of six credits that are taught in the Business Administration and Management Degree at the University of Las Palmas.

Language Level

To access the degree, the student must prove the B1 level of English, according to the European Reference Framework for Languages.

Allocation of places and assessment criteria

This Master's Degree requires the qualification and training prerequisites dictated by the corresponding laws. It does not require passing an entrance test; Instead, it establishes the possibility of a personal interview and confidential consultation before admission. The merit assessment criteria described below are considered for the allocation of places.

Merit assessment criteria for the allocation of places and justification of the merits

In general, the preferred criterion for ordering the applications is the suitability of the candidate's academic profile to the objectives and contents of the program. Other evaluation criteria are also considered, such as the scholarly record, language proficiency, the assessment of specific prior training, and professional experience related to the Master's profile. Specifically, the participation of these merit assessment criteria in the allocation of places is given in the following information:

EVALUATION CRITERIA
maximum number of points
Adequacy of the academic profile of the candidate to the objectives and contents of the program
50
Academic record in the access degree
40
Currículum Vitae
10
TOTAL
100

The Master's Coordinator may carry out a personal interview before admission. In it, doubts that may arise from the documentation provided by the applicant are cleared, but, above all, information is obtained that needs to be reflected in the certifications issued by the universities of origin and other institutions. Specifically, the interview focuses on the candidate's immediate and longer-term expectations, academic and professional interests, work experience, other unregulated studies, or relevant knowledge. The interview is used to provide personalized information.

Students will accompany their application for admission with supporting documentation of their evaluable merits following the provisions of the corresponding study plan.

The knowledge acquired in the Master's in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation can be applied in the public and private sectors, whether at a local, regional, national, or international level. On the other hand, there is the possibility of free exercise of the profession. The professional opportunities with the most significant demand can be grouped into the following: in the private sector, the jobs of accounting, auditing, and business taxation, and in the public sector, the exercise of tax intervention and inspection functions. The Master's Degree in Accounting, Audit, and Corporate Taxation aim to provide specialized training that allows access in the best possible conditions to any of the various professional opportunities for which these studies qualify. In the teaching of the auditor and advisor itineraries, professionals of recognized prestige in the field of auditing and tax advice collaborate.

Likewise, the Master's degree is also aimed at those students who want to continue their academic training to acquire a doctorate in Financial Economics and Accounting. The doctoral degree allows the holder to access jobs such as university professors (public or private) or similar entities (business schools). At the same time, it is a merit of relevance in the offer processes of public employment (oppositions).

It is intended that future graduates of this Master, whether professionals or future researchers, enter the world of advanced accounting to acquire skills that provide society with the level of knowledge necessary to develop proposals for improvement in business models, suggesting and developing accounting information systems for decision making

External practices

The training and learning objectives of the External Practices subject are:

  • Get to know a company or public or private institution.
  • Promote students' employability and the links between the economic environment and the Faculty of Economics, Business, and Tourism of the ULPGC.
  • Develop, promote, and apply the skills and knowledge highlighted in the degree profile.

Documentation

Assignment of groups to academic tutors

 

More information

Vice Dean of External Internships

vpracticas_feet@ulpgc.es

The rules governing the external internships carried out in the degree are included in the ULPGC External Internship Regulation and the FEET Internship Training Project (both documents can be consulted in the Rules and Regulations section).

Teaching projects, justification, objectives and results

From the theoretical and scientific point of view, the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation is widely justified by the great importance that the subjects that make up its training program currently have at the national and international levels.

It is interesting to bring up that 85% of the functions of an economist correspond to activities related to accounting, auditing, or business taxation, as established in article 4 of chapter III of the Professional Statute of Economists. Among them must be highlighted the planning and management of the accounting organization, the review, verification, and analysis of financial statements, the issuance of technical accounting reports about the company's situation, and the study and advice on accounting and tax matters. , the accounting operations necessary for accounting consolidation, the preparation of studies or documents of an economic, financial, or accounting nature related to the company that can take effect in any public body.

This Official University Master's Degree is an intellectually rigorous and socially relevant Postgraduate Program in which those who aspire to have fully up-to-date knowledge in matters of accounting, account auditing, and business taxation can function in an environment as unstable as the one that meets us and get comprehensive training in accounting, auditing, and tax. Companies and institutions of any public or private category are required timely, reliable, and trustworthy information on their organizations' progress. On the other hand, it is critical when making decisions, even more so in economic contexts. Changing and with risks of various kinds.

These risk situations faced by economic units should alert all entities to create tools for evaluating such risks, which should be a natural part of their strategic process, where such evaluation is assumed as a necessity. And a key instrument for developing internal control objectives.

When evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the controls established by the economic units, the audit plays a significant role since risk analysis is an essential tool in the auditor's work and the quality of his service. In a strict sense, controls are established to prevent or reduce risks, so to objectively assess the effectiveness of rules, such threats must first be identified and specific audit procedures designed, preserving the auditor's independence at all times.

Under the premise that an adequate financial structure of a company involves contemplating the taxation that affects them, the advisor must make ethical use of tax planning, taking into account the legal economies of choice that tax policy places at the companies' service. Companies with tax measures that favor economic growth.

The participation of audit and tax professionals in the Master's Degree in Business Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation allows the student, in addition to the knowledge acquired in the university environment, to be in direct contact with the business reality in the field of the auditory.

In other words, the University intends to promote the generation of ideas in the planning that all audit or advisory work requires, taking into account the different possible scenarios, all of which are useful for graduates in the performance of their professional activity. in the business world, which increasingly demands human capital capable of adding value to the services provided to customers.

The in-depth and high-quality knowledge of accounting, auditing, and business taxation offered by the Master's Degree in Business Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation is the key that opens the door to those people who aim to develop their careers in the world of work in the significant public or private institutions.

The general objective of the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation is the acquisition by the student of advanced training of a multidisciplinary nature, oriented towards academic specialization and the activity of professionals capable of carrying out tasks of economic-financial management of the company. Business, tax advice on business matters and auditing, and promoting initiation into research tasks as a step before the doctorate. According to the nature of the different subjects, the most current developments and future proposals will be taken into account for the improvement and treatment of the economic-financial and economic-technical information of the same, with the restrictions of the current legal framework -both national and international. International, if applicable.

To obtain this qualification, the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation provides theoretical and practical training in subjects that provide knowledge and skills specific to the exercise of auditing and business taxation.

Concerning its objective of training and allowing the qualification of professionals in the field of auditing, it should be noted that the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation is approved in its audit itinerary by the Institute of Accounting and Auditing de Cuentas, an autonomous Spanish body attached to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. This means that students who pass all the subjects corresponding to the said specialty are exempted from taking the examination of said subjects in the theoretical test for access to the Official Register of Auditors. The recognition of the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation constitutes a public recognition that guarantees its importance and opens the professional door to those whose objective is to develop their professional career in the world of auditing.

On the other hand, the accounting-tax advisory function that the economist can carry out following section 15 of article 4 of the Professional Statute of Economists is relevant. Thus, the content of the subjects with a tax nature is aimed at enabling students to achieve learning objectives that all tax advisors must know in the performance of their duties, such as:

Guidance on the tax opportunity in adopting economic decisions, considering the tax benefits and advantages offered by the regulations in force, indicating their rights and obligations towards the Tax Administration, warning and preventing them from committing susceptible infractions tax penalty.
Assist in the observance of their accounting duties with fiscal significance.
Collaborate in inspection actions on behalf of the client as their tax representative before the Administration, under article 112.7 of Royal Decree 1065/2007, of July 27, which approves the General Regulation of actions and management procedures and tax inspection and development of common standards for tax application procedures.

Finally, it should be noted that the Master's Degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation promotes research in Accounting and Finance. In this sense, one of the essential competencies attributed to the master's degree is to possess and understand the knowledge that provides a basis or opportunity to be original in developing and applying ideas in a research context.

Basic skills

  • Possess and understand the knowledge that provides a basis or opportunity to be original in developing and applying ideas, often in a research context.
  • Students can apply the knowledge acquired and their ability to solve problems in new or little-known environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their study area.
  • Students can integrate knowledge and face the complexity of formulating judgments based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflections on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to applying their knowledge and decisions.
  • Students know how to communicate their conclusions and the ultimate knowledge and reasons that support them to specialized and non-specialized audiences clearly and unambiguously.
  • That students possess the learning skills that allow them to continue studying in a way that will be largely self-directed or autonomous.

General skills

  • Students know how to unambiguously communicate accounting, financial, and tax information to specialized and non-specialized audiences.
  • Acquire skills to undertake studies and develop jobs related to auditing, accounting, or business taxation.
  • Acquire the ability to use sources of knowledge (legislation, jurisprudence, and doctrine).

Transversal competences

  • Lead teams and organizations, promoting the free exchange of ideas and experiences, the search for original solutions, and the permanent commitment to excellence.
  • Promote responsibly all forms of knowledge and action that can contribute to the enrichment of the economic, social, and cultural capital of the society in which they carry out their professional practice and exercise their rights and duties of citizenship.

Specific skills

  • It is being able to develop accounting, tax, and financial consulting functions.
  • It was knowing how to identify and solve accounting and financial problems of the company, in particular its management and control.
  • We are applying the different regulatory levels that regulate the issuance of accounting information fundamentally to the model of the International Accounting Standards Board.
  • Manage and apply accounting knowledge to the reality of different business sectors.
  • Manage and apply the peculiarities of the accounting treatment of business combination operations and business insolvency situations.
  • Practical management of the rules of ethics and independence of the auditing profession.
  • It was being able to plan the audit work taking into account the characteristics of the assignment and knowing the importance of internal control systems and risk detection.
  • It was being able to analyze and value any company, applying ad hoc techniques depending on its particular characteristics.
  • In business practice, apply methods and models of cost accounting, budget management, and other advanced management accounting tools.
  • Carry out an analysis of the peculiarities of the rules related to the formulation of consolidated annual accounts of business operations (for example, research for decision-making and measurement of results).
  • It is being able to interpret the financial statements of a group of companies.
  • Use databases as instruments for capturing financial information.
  • Understand and apply the usual techniques and procedures in the review of each of the company's work areas.
  • Interpret the information obtained by the auditor in the execution of his work, making the appropriate decisions.
  • It is being able to issue audit reports that adequately reflect compliance with accounting standards.
  • Correctly judge the strengths and weaknesses of an organization
  • Detect the main risk areas of the audit work.
  • Know the quality control requirements of the auditor's activity.
  • Understand different real scenarios through the practical cases presented.
  • Basic knowledge of the practical application of corporate taxation at the state level and specific to the Canary Islands.
  • Ability to distinguish the different taxable events that make up the taxable base of Corporate Tax and Value Added Tax (and its extension to the General Indirect Canary Islands Tax) and its practical application in accounting.
  • Ability to review and analyze the operations that give rise to different valuation, accounting, and tax allocations.
  • Acquire the ability to analyze and assess financial operations, considering mathematical, economic, and tax aspects for their application in financial, tax, and accounting advice.
  • It identifies the impact of tax regulations on business decisions.
  • Understanding of different scenarios through practical cases on tax aspects presented.
  • Being able to apply the techniques and models of multivariate statistical analysis to research in finance and accounting.
  • It is being able to apply research methods appropriate to the nature of the different research problems.
  • It is being able to propose a research project in the context of new research trends in Financial Economics and Accounting.

The need to establish a plan that makes it possible to carry out improvement actions in teaching justifies the calculation and analysis of indicators that indicate the success or failure rate of the studies, taking into account the evolution of the students enrolled in the degree.

Below we describe the indicators that are proposed for the Master of Accounting, Auditing, and Business Taxation:

GRADUATION RATE: Its objective is to know the degree's effectiveness in terms of its students' academic achievement. It is obtained by dividing the total number of students who graduated in the time stipulated in the study plan or one more academic year by the number of students in their entry cohort.

DROPOUT RATE: Its objective is to inform the degree of non-continuation of students in the degree. It is obtained by dividing the total number of students who have dropped out within the expected time to complete the study plan or one more academic year by the number of students in their entry cohort. It is a complementary indicator of the graduation rate.

EFFICIENCY RATE: Its objective is to report the efficiency of the educational training process, and it is a function of the degree of repeat enrollment of students. It is obtained by dividing the total number of academic credits in the study plan that should have been enrolled in throughout their studies by the total number of credits in which the group of graduate students has had to enroll throughout their studies—a given academic year. Regarding estimating the indicators, it is not easy to make a forecast, as it is a newly established title and needs historical values. However, the following results are proposed:

  • Graduation rate: Higher than 75%
  • Abandonment rate: Less than 20%
  • Efficiency rate: 90%

From the first year of implementation, it will be necessary to review the predicted values of the different indicators to make achievable assumptions based on the historical values obtained, and the improvements made to increase, where appropriate, the graduation rate and reduce the dropout rate.




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