Top universities for accounting and finance in the world

Are you thinking about becoming an accountant? Finding the best accounting schools starts here, with Niche, using our online search platform. You will find information about colleges and universities ranked by the criteria most relevant to you, such as school locations, student life on campus, and majors like accounting and finance. If earning a degree in accounting interests you, let Niche help you find the best accounting schools in the country.

What Should You Expect as an Accounting Major?

As an accounting major, you will most likely be under the umbrella of business. First-year courses begin with general business principles. As you progress in the major, classes focus more on accounting principles. You will have structured and practical education through courses in business administration, mathematics, and accounting basics.

If you are serious about being in the accounting field, the following topics and skills will be critical:

  • Public speaking

  • Mathematics

  • Finances for small businesses and corporations

  • Data analytics

  • Economics

  • Business principles

You will learn how to create and manage systems that accurately show you the day-to-day finances of an organization or business. You’ll be able to analyze the overall financial position of a business or organization with ease.

What’s the Difference Between Accounting and Finance?

Because accounting and finance are both related to business principles, it can be easy to confuse the two when searching for the best accounting schools. The accounting major focuses on the daily management of financial reports for a small business or large corporation. The finance major is more future-focused, using financial statements to analyze a company's finances and potential for future growth. Finance is more about strategy and influence, whereas accounting is more about financial management.

Studying both accounting and finance as your academic majors could be beneficial post-graduation. Both majors have their own set of learned skills.   It could be well worth the time to search for the best finance schools in Niche while searching for the best accounting schools.

What Can You Do as an Accounting Major?

One misperception surrounding accounting as a major is that you can only work as an accountant after graduation. An accountant is one career choice, but accounting majors have multiple career options, including:

  • Tax Manager — Tax Managers oversee a team of accountants to prepare taxes and ensure the accounting operation follows established government regulations. Based on the type of business, a tax manager will develop plans for saving the business money by reducing taxes.

  • Bookkeeper — Bookkeepers manage financial records by tracking all business transactions, including income, expenses, accounts, invoices, and other financial transactions. This career makes it possible to work for a single company or several companies on a contract basis. You will likely interact with accountants regularly as a bookkeeper.

  • Internal Auditor — Internal Auditors investigate mismanagement within companies. You'll look at financial statements to determine inconsistencies. You also provide suggestions to a company that can improve its finances. When auditing large amounts of data, it is critical to have an eye for detail.

Explore Accounting Programs Today

Once you know what career in the accounting field interests you, Niche can help you find all the information you need. Using our rankings methodology, Niche can help you find your best choice of accounting college or university.

1 Harvard University United States 99.9 100 98.8 100 100 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) United States 95.5 94.3 98 95.1 95.8 3 Stanford University United States 95.2 93 95 97.2 92.6 4 The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) United Kingdom 92.1 93.6 89.9 94.2 88.9 5 University of Oxford United Kingdom 91.6 86.1 91.1 89.6 96.8 6 University of Cambridge United Kingdom 90.4 80.2 78.6 90.2 97.9 7 University of Pennsylvania United States 89.9 95.5 98.8 92.3 81 8 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) United States 89.2 93 94.9 89.3 86 9 University of Chicago United States 88.6 85.2 88.9 95.3 78.5 10 New York University (NYU) United States 87.9 96.7 96.1 89.8 79.2 11 London Business School United Kingdom 87.6 89.4 90.4 90.3 81.6 12 Columbia University United States 87.4 93.6 92.2 88.3 82.2 13 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore 86 82.3 83.4 86.5 87.2 14 Yale University United States 85.8 82.3 86.8 85.6 87 15 The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) Australia 85.4 94.3 87.6 84.7 82.7 16 The University of Melbourne Australia 85.2 90.9 87.5 83.8 84.7 17 Bocconi University Italy 84.8 92.3 92.3 82.4 83.7 18 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) United States 84.7 80.2 86.1 84.8 85.6 19 HEC Paris School of Management France 84.1 84.2 83.5 84.4 83.6 20 The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong SAR 83.7 84.2 86.2 87.2 77 21 The University of Manchester United Kingdom 83.4 97.9 91.8 80.2 81 22 The University of Sydney Australia 82.9 93 85.1 80.8 82.3 23 Peking University China (Mainland) 82.7 80.2 82.8 80.4 87.3 24 University of Toronto Canada 82 86.1 84 81.9 80.1 25 Tsinghua University China (Mainland) 81.9 81.2 84.1 78.4 87.2 26 University of Michigan United States 81.8 90.9 94.2 80.6 76.7 27 The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR 81.7 86.9 90.6 80 79.8 28 Princeton University United States 81.6 83.3 84.9 80.4 81.8 29 Imperial College London United Kingdom 80.8 83.3 81.6 76.2 87.3 30 INSEAD France 80.6 72.4 67.6 83.6 82.7 31 Northwestern University United States 80.3 86.1 89.7 81.4 73.4 32 The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Hong Kong SAR 79.9 86.9 90.5 80 73.9 33 University of British Columbia Canada 79.7 80.2 88.8 78.4 78.5 34 Cornell University United States 79.6 93 90.7 76.4 76.9 34 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) Singapore 79.6 75.3 69.5 80.6 82.6 36 Monash University Australia 79.3 86.9 83.9 75.8 81.1 37 Duke University United States 79.2 86.9 93.2 78.3 73.4 37 University of Texas at Austin United States 79.2 86.9 87.7 79.4 73.5 39 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China (Mainland) 78.3 86.1 86.7 72.8 82.2 40 The Australian National University Australia 78.2 82.3 81.9 76.6 78.2 41 The University of Queensland Australia 77.1 88.6 88.9 73 76.2 42 The University of Tokyo Japan 76.9 65.6 61.9 76.4 86.5 43 Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands 76.8 81.2 87.5 78.1 69.7 44 The University of Edinburgh United Kingdom 76.4 88.6 90.6 69.6 78.9 45 Seoul National University South Korea 76.2 69.2 66.3 76.9 80.7 46 ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Switzerland 76.1 77.8 80.3 70.5 83.4 47 The University of Warwick United Kingdom 75.9 70.9 71.1 75.8 79.4 48 Tilburg University Netherlands 75.7 99.5 99.3 78.4 55.3 49 Fudan University China (Mainland) 75.6 73.9 76 71.7 82.5 49 Université PSL France 75.6 75.3 69 71.1 85.5 51-100 Boston College United States   83.3 88.7 64.7 61 51-100 Boston University United States   76.6 76.9 67.8 73.2 51-100 Carnegie Mellon University United States   73.9 67.9 69.2 71.8 51-100 City, University of London United Kingdom   89.4 86.6 68.3 60.6 51-100 City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR   86.1 90.4 73.4 67.7 51-100 Copenhagen Business School Denmark   87.8 90.3 78.2 61.3 51-100 ESSEC Business School France   77.8 72.3 71.1 78.2 51-100 Hitotsubashi University Japan   67.5 73.2 63.7 75.6 51-100 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany   75.3 78.8 65.4 68.3 51-100 IE University Spain   76.6 58.7 68.2 73 51-100 KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology South Korea   72.4 60.2 72.5 76.2 51-100 KU Leuven Belgium   81.2 85.2 67.1 71.5 51-100 Korea University South Korea   77.8 81.6 72 77.8 51-100 Lancaster University United Kingdom   87.8 87.4 76 65 51-100 McGill University Canada   73.9 65.2 71.6 79.2 51-100 Michigan State University United States   79 83.2 62.1 68.4 51-100 National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan   80.2 80 70.5 76.7 51-100 The Ohio State University United States   82.3 92.5 67.1 67 51-100 Pennsylvania State University United States   84.2 87.6 65.5 72.9 51-100 Renmin (People's) University of China China (Mainland)   81.2 77.5 62.1 70.6 51-100 Singapore Management University Singapore   86.9 88.1 72.4 67.7 51-100 Stockholm School of Economics Sweden   85.2 81.9 75.8 66.2 51-100 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) South Korea   77.8 70.6 68.6 75.2 51-100 Technical University of Munich Germany   76.6 74.8 57.9 79.6 51-100 Texas A&M University United States   85.2 90.8 61.9 66.1 51-100 The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong SAR   84.2 81.3 70.5 69.4 51-100 The University of Adelaide Australia   80.2 75.1 64.1 68.6 51-100 The University of Auckland New Zealand   86.9 81.4 73 73.3 51-100 The University of Western Australia Australia   73.9 72.2 63.4 72.6 51-100 University College London(UCL) United Kingdom   70.9 71.3 63.9 81.6 51-100 Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) Spain   72.4 75.2 66.6 70.9 51-100 Universidad de Chile Chile   69.2 55.1 64.5 80.1 51-100 University of Navarra Spain   79 70.4 72.4 77.2 51-100 Universidade de São Paulo Brazil   65.6 48.8 65.2 79.8 51-100 Universidade Nova de Lisboa Portugal   81.2 78.9 62.4 68.7 51-100 Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna Italy   82.3 74.9 60.9 73 51-100 Universität Mannheim Germany   84.2 83.2 73.5 67.5 51-100 Universiti Malaya (UM) Malaysia   70.9 55.3 66.3 74 51-100 University of Amsterdam Netherlands   86.1 87.6 70.9 67.3 51-100 University of Birmingham United Kingdom   86.1 82 64.4 72.9 51-100 University of Bristol United Kingdom   81.2 74 62.7 73.9 51-100 University of Florida United States   87.8 87.9 62.9 64.9 51-100 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States   85.2 91.4 73.3 66.4 51-100 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill United States   80.2 83.6 70.7 63.2 51-100 University of Southern California United States   88.6 99.8 71.9 65.3 51-100 University of St.Gallen (HSG) Switzerland   85.2 84.8 65.3 76.1 51-100 University of Technology Sydney Australia   82.3 82.1 66.1 75.9 51-100 University of Washington United States   89.4 95.3 70.4 66.6 51-100 University of Zurich Switzerland   82.3 79.4 67.1 73.6 51-100 York University Canada   85.2 82.2 65 65 51-100 Zhejiang University China (Mainland)   79 70.4 59.8 79.7

Which country is best for accounting and finance?

Best countries to study accounting.
Accounting in USA..
Accounting in Canada..
Accounting in UK..
Accounting in New Zealand..
Accounting in Australia..
Accounting in Ireland..
Accounting in Fiji..
Accounting in Netherlands..

Which University has the best accounting?

Current top for Business & economics.

Which is the No 1 University in world?

Top 100 Universities in the World According to the QS World University Rankings 2023
Rank
University
Location
1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
United States
2
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
3
Stanford University
United States
The world's top 100 universitieswww.topuniversities.com › student-info › choosing-university › worlds-top...null

Which country is best for masters in accounting and finance?

Stanford University, the US. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the UK. University of Oxford, the UK. University of Cambridge, the UK.