Macquarie Uni is in Sydney too and on a cost basis Melbourne is probably slightly better than Sydney but you ought to also look at Queensland(Bris)/Griffiths(Gold Coast) and Bond there too(but possibly more expensive in fees) James Cook, CQU and SQU in various Qld. regional cities and likewise New England in Armidale and whatever they are in other regional cities of both NSW and Victoria or even Adelaide to have cheaper living costs.
You may find it harder to get work in the smaller regional cities is the only drawback.
Of course there are the other Australian states/territories as well and the same will apply but you become a little or a lot more isolated from the eastern states, though airfares are often available between west coast and/or Darwin to eastcoast for not much more than $100 and sometimes even less.
As to their "masters" content, most accountants here in Oz will go on to do a Certified Practising Accountant course for a higher qualification and that is usually done via a program of study in conjunction with fulltime work after gaining initial qualifications which could be via a Business course with majoring in various disciplines such as Taxation Accounting for instance.

Textbooks - depending on what you buy can be of ~$100 and upwards but then all universities will have good libraries as will major cities independently of place of learning and there's always chance of picking up a secondhand book from students who may feel a book was only good for a particular unit of study.

thank you very much for your detailed information, it really helps a lot!

When I was at uni the lecturer would often say we needed to buy a particular book at the start of the semester, only never to mention the book again!

It is better to wait a few weeks into the semester to see if you really need the book. Often the course notes are enough. Sorry, I don't know which university is better for accounting.

In my opinion, if you are looking for work in Australia, which university you graduated from doesn't matter as much as your personality and experience when looking for jobs. Only a few employers get impressed by big name universities IMO.

Hello friends, I want to take a course on accountancy, and I am going to start college on 2008 semester. I was wondering, what classes are required for accountancy? And what classes should I take instead of wasting money on classes that doesn't help me? Can you give me your suggestion as soon as possible so that I can decide properly?

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Hi Blueheaven and welcome to the forum.
I'll take a stab and say by your use of the word College in 2008, that you're in the US (our equivalent years of study here in Oz being called high school - six years of tertiary study here whereas in US, is it 4 years high school and then two years college is it?)
Anyway, same result I expect - preparation for university.

As to what subjects you should study, it is an interesting subject, for decades ago people would say you need to be strong in mathematics, but the use of calculators and computer programmes have largely done away with that requirement, but personally I do believe that study in mathematics can do no harm in developing the minds powers on quick thinking and assessment of various numerical situations, and study in that area would certainly help in appreciation of statistical analysis and actuary areas, possible specialist areas of accounting.

A lot of accountants also specialise in practical taxation accounting - doing taxation returns for individuals, small and larger businesses and sometimes being employed by larger companies just to overseer the companies taxation issues.
That in itself can lead to business operating and administration policies development to minimise business taxation liabilities.

Likewise, government departments, and particularly treasurey, trade, and taxation, Australian Taxation Office Homepage in australia (IRS in US is it?) employ thousands of accountants in government finances administration, international markets for trade and financing and of course regulatory development and administration for government taxation programs.
I've put the ATO website there as it is a self explanatory site and may help give some indication of what the role of such a government department is, and all the regulations that a taxation accountant in private business needs to keep abreast of.

For all the accountants that stay in accountancy, you will probably find many more in various managerial roles, CEOs, Marketing, International financing, and Projects Assessments to name a few.

Thus, in addition to Mathematics as a base, I'd say any IT subjects, economics, finance, english (expression we call it here) studies, legal studies,any management studies/business administration, philosopy, and international law and or economics would not hurt.

In Australia, accessing tertiary studies is based on what they call the Higer School Certificate grades student get, and actually it is probably called something like Tertiary Assessment Grade or something different these days (they keep changing it) but essentially, Year 12 students get rated dependant on the difficulty of subjects studied and their grades attained in those subjects - the higher their rating, then the more established university and type of course they may be offered a place in, if they in fact applied.

Accounting/business studies courses are available at many Australian Universities and it will not really matter which one you attend, other than cost of attending - University of the Sunshine Coast being one I only became aware of recently via another thread - the Sunshine Coast would be a great area of Australia in which to study.

I am not aware of what variations may apply in acceptance of overseas students and if you determine an area of Australia where you would like to attend a University, then you ought to make contact with a University in that area to seek details of course entry requirements/overseas assessment.

Hope that helps, and do tell others how much you like the forum!

Hi, if the new Rasmussen Report is correct, and 69% of those polled believe illegal should be prosecuted, doesn't the insistence to push amnesty by our elected 'representatives' constitute taxation without representation? Should all of those who support this brokered failure of law enforcement, in spite of overpowering resistance by American citizens be charged and/or prosecuted for failure to uphold their duties as elected officials?

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All of my friends who are into accounting are doing their courses at TAFE (more of a skills based, practical oriented college/university for foreigners). TAFE is much easier to enroll in. If your university applications fail, you can always fall back onto TAFE.

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