Complete at least 24 credits in the MS in Leadership, or MS in Digital Transformation Leadership program
Explore Organizational Leadership with Accounting
Advance your career by combining the strategic insights of a Master’s in Organizational Leadership with the essential financial expertise gained from a Graduate Certificate in Accounting. This unique program is designed to equip you with the leadership skills and accounting knowledge needed to drive organizational success in today's complex environments. The curriculum emphasizes the integration of strategic thinking, ethical leadership, and financial management, ensuring you can lead with confidence and make informed financial decisions.
Lead Your Career Into the Future
- Ethical Leadership: Gain a solid ethical foundation to lead with integrity in complex organizational environments.
- Design Thinking & Innovation: Learn to apply design thinking principles and foster innovation within your organization.
- Relationship Building: Cultivate meaningful relationships and enhance your communication and negotiation skills.
- Financial Expertise: Master accounting principles, including financial statement analysis and interpretation, to make informed financial decisions.
- Holistic Approach: Combine leadership and financial competencies to become an invaluable asset in diverse organizational settings.
Note: All programs, undergraduate and graduate, must be submitted individually to the Department of Veterans Affairs for review and approval before students can utilize their G.I. Benefits to pay for them. This program is currently awaiting approval. To learn more about the process, visit the VA School Program Approval page on the VA website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your admission counselor or email us at onlineadmissions@champlain.edu
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Academic Excellence and Recognition
Regionally accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education
Designated as a Military Friendly School for our commitment to the military community
Ranked among the best by Tech Guide for game design and computer science
Named the among the best schools with accelerated bachelor's degrees by Intelligent.com
How Can an MS in Organizational Leadership with a Graduate Certificate in Accounting Help Your Career?
Careers in organizational leadership and financial management are both in high demand as businesses increasingly seek leaders who can navigate complex environments and make sound financial decisions. The combination of these two fields positions you for high-level roles that require both strategic leadership and financial expertise. A position like Organizational Leader can earn you a median annual salary of $116,000.*
Graduates of this program will be qualified for positions such as human resources director, project management lead, financial controller, and strategic transformation consultant, driving both organizational and financial success.
*Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024
Top Jobs for MS in Organizational Leadership Graduates with Accounting Expertise
- Human Resource Director
- Project Management Lead
- Strategic Transformation Consultant
- Organizational Development Manager
- Leadership Development Manager
- Operations Director
- Management Consultant
Program Details
Learn more about Champlain's 100% online Master's in organizational leadership degree program.
Champlain's online organizational leadership courses encompass the top skills needed by today's leaders.
Explore concepts and frameworks for how to lead effectively in today's ever-changing world. Using an integrative reflective practice approach, students examine their own approach to leadership and create an initial plan for their own leadership development, as well as the leadership development opportunities for their organization.
Examine how to cultivate meaningful relationships across an organizational system, from co-workers, to team members, to broader stakeholders. Attention will be given to how to leverage both formal and informal relationships to create positive impact. Topics include perceptions, motivation, emotional intelligence, building teams, and conflict management.
Explore how to accelerate organizational change by focusing on and leveraging the core strengths of individuals and the collective system. Learn how to challenge the traditional deficit mindset that pervades organizations, and how to use evidence-based appreciative practices to cultivate shared leadership across a system.
Explore organizational dynamics from a holistic viewpoint and how leading ethically and socially responsibly results in enhanced performance at the individual, group and organizational levels. Special focus will be given to exploring one's own ethical orientation, issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as how leading with a higher purpose can result in both accelerated organizational and broader social impact.
Students use a framework to explore the dynamics of human interaction within and between organizations. Throughout the course, they will use a perspective that a key function of management is to negotiate for resources and use that perspective to develop collaborative relationships with employees, vendors, suppliers, and interested communities.
Explore how to strategically lead continual organizational evolution and apply new business models needed for success in today's ever-changing world. Attention will be given to leading sustainable growth with an intraprenurial mindset, managing disruption, the implications of the digital transformation on organizations, and the power of leading with a purpose.
Explore how to uncover creative insights and innovative solutions for today's organizational challenges. Learn about the systematic process of design thinking from a human-centred approach, including how to cultivate creativity in others and create a culture of innovation.
This course culminates in an applied leadership capstone project to support the translation, application and synthesis of core concepts from previous courses to a final capstone project, through action research and reflection. The project will reflect a real-life situation and will include a description of the situation, stakeholder mapping, identification of key leadership opportunities and challenges, and conceptual basis for recommendations derived from data collection as well as prior learnings and content from the Leadership Program.
Prerequisites
Students learn about the accounting process and how businesses move from individual transactions to financial reports. Students explore the integration among various financial reports as well as the impact of transactions on the financial position and profitability of a business.
Cost accounting presents the behavioral aspects of accounting and identifies essential data that managers use for planning and controlling, costing products and services, and performance measurement. Students study the basic concepts, uses, and procedures related to types of costs and costing systems and use this information to solve business problems. They will develop quantitative and qualitative analytical skills to analyze and interpret raw data that support the business decision-making process and inventory costing.
Prerequisites
Take ACCT-505
Advances your understanding of how to use financial information to value and analyze firms. Uses an understanding of a firm's strategy, what is contained in financial reports, why firms report certain information, and how to be a sophisticated user of this information. Evaluates current performance and its future sustainability, forecasts future profitability and risk, and values businesses using earnings and book value data. Develops a foundation to effectively communicate financial information.
Graduates of the MS in Organizational Leadership with Accounting will develop the following competencies:
- Adaptive Leadership in a Complex Work Environment. Leverage advanced leadership theory, practice, and innovation to lead an organization’s strategic transformation.
- Ethical and Purpose-Driven Leadership. Lead with ethics first and a commitment to social responsibility.
- Communication, Relationship Building, and Team Cultivation. Communicate effectively, negotiate fairly, and build meaningful relationships to cultivate high-performing teams and foster inclusive organizational cultures.
- Innovation, Design Thinking, and Action-Oriented Leadership. Apply design thinking and innovation principles to lead the construction and implementation of strategic transformational organization change.
Graduates of the accounting online graduate certificate program will demonstrate the following industry-specific skills, knowledge, and competencies:
- Create financial statements from transactions that occur over a period of time.
- Include financial information to solve business problems.
- Analyze and integrate business information, including financial statements, to interpret past performance and predict future performance.
Champlain College Online's business faculty, led by Department Chair Dr. Albert Orbinati, are expert practitioners in the field. Their industry expertise ensures that our business management curriculum is aligned with the needs of employers, and reflects the skills today’s business professionals need for success. Classes led by our seasoned experts will give you real-world insight into the business world, and create a rich community of career-focused learning.
Tuition & Costs
Graduate Tuition Fall '23 - Summer '25
$595
per credit
$1,785*
per course
$450**
PER CREDIT FOR ALUMNI WHO EARNED A DEGREE FROM CHAMPLAIN, ON-CAMPUS or online
$450
per credit military service members (family members see truED tuition)
$150
One-time graduation fee
*Based on a 3-credit course; cost will vary if course is a different number of credits
** Starting Summer 2024, not retroactive
See the graduate cost of attendance and fees here
Save Up To $200 Per Course
Save up to $200 per course when you take two courses per term in spring and summer 2025.
Talk to your advisor about this opportunity to accelerate your program where you could save money on tuition.
If you enroll in two courses during any term within the Spring or Summer semesters, you will receive a special tuition rate on your second course. This discount is for graduate students in good standing, enrolled in a degree program.
- For the standard tuition rate receive $200 off your second course of the term
- For the truEd/partnership rates receive $150 off your second course of the term
Important Note: This special tuition rate is based on course availability. If a second course isn’t available in your degree program for a given term, the rate cannot be applied.
This offer applies to each of the four terms during the 2025 Spring and Summer semesters—Spring 1, Spring 2, Summer 1, and Summer 2, up to four times during these semesters. This special tuition rate does not extend to any additional courses, such as a third course in a term.
The special tuition rate will be applied to the next semester as a credit after the entire semester is complete. If you do not plan to return for the next term, graduate from your program, or have other extenuating circumstances, the credit may be issued as a refund. This special tuition rate is available if you complete two courses in a term and have paid your tuition. For example, if you register for two courses but drop one, the rate will not be applied.
Upcoming Information Session
Meet the Program Director
Albert Orbinati, PhD
Department Chair and Assistant Professor, CCO Business Programs
Oversees
- Business (A.S., B.S., M.S., Certificates)
- Human Resource Management (B.S., Certificates)
- Leadership (M.S.)
- Management Information Systems (B.S.)
- Organization Development & Human Relations (M.S.)
About
Albert Orbinati, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Department Chair for the undergraduate and graduate business programs at Champlain College Online.
Prior to Champlain, Dr. Orbinati's roles have included Assistant Vice President of Online Learning and Continuing Education at Medaille University in Buffalo, NY; Dean of the School of Professional and Continuing Education at Russell Sage College in Albany, NY; and Director of Online and Non-Traditional Programs at Utica University in Utica, NY. In addition to his career in higher education, Albert is a member of the U.S. military, and currently holds the rank of Major in the Vermont Air National Guard.
Dr. Orbinati holds a B.A. in Urban Planning from Binghamton University, an M.A. in Adult Education from Central Michigan University, an M.B.A from Champlain College, and a Ph.D. in Adult Education from Capella University.
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