Accounting

Accounting programmes teach how organisations measure and report what they own, owe and earn — recording transactions, preparing and auditing financial statements, computing tax, and building the systems and controls that make the numbers trustworthy. Florida teaches it at two quite separate levels: a short bookkeeping certificate that leads to clerical work, and the degree sequence that leads to accountant, auditor and CPA.

The degrees this program covers

⚠⚠ Read the two codes below as two different products, because they are. BOOKKEEPING AND ACCOUNTING TECHNOLOGY is taught at 40 Florida public institutions and is overwhelmingly short certificates — 1,477 of the state's accounting credentials in the 2023 award year were certificates of under a year. ACCOUNTING proper is taught at 13 institutions and produced 1,419 bachelor's degrees and 549 master's. ⚠⚠⚠ The clerical tier is projected to DECLINE by 6% nationally as software absorbs the data entry; the accountant tier is projected to grow 5%. A bookkeeping certificate is a genuine job and a poor destination. ⚠ For the CPA, the number that governs everything is 150 SEMESTER HOURS — thirty more than a bachelor's — which is why the master's row above is so large. Florida requires 120 hours to SIT the examination (s. 473.306) and 150 to be licensed, so most students plan a fifth year from the start.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Accountant and CPA

Accountants and auditors prepare, examine and attest to the financial records organisations run and are judged on — statements, tax, controls and the audits that make the numbers credible. ⚠ A median of $83,680 with 124,200 openings a year, one of the largest steady hiring markets on this site. ⚠⚠⚠ And the fact that should shape a Florida student's plan: Florida still requires 150 SEMESTER HOURS for a CPA licence while other states have moved, and bills to change it have passed the Florida Senate unanimously TWICE and died in the House both times. This page covers three related roles.

Financial Analyst

Financial analysts value companies and securities, build the models firms decide by, and measure the risk of being wrong. ⚠ A median of $103,570 with 7% growth. ⚠⚠ It is a CHOICE path, but a concentrated one: counted degrees put business at about half of working analysts, with the social sciences — economics among them — the next largest block. ⚠⚠⚠ And the finding that should redirect some readers: the ANALYTICAL roles in this family are growing at 7% while the ADVISORY ones grow at 1%, despite paying the same or more. This page covers four roles.

Small Business Owner and Entrepreneur

⚠⚠⚠ Half of new US businesses are gone in five years and two-thirds in ten — BLS tracks it, and the rate barely moves between cohorts: 79.6% survive year one, 50.2% survive five, 34.7% survive ten. ⚠⚠ Every entrepreneurship page should open with that and almost none does. ⚠ Florida's own answer is a cheap certificate rather than a degree: 86% of the 2,102 credentials in this field are certificates of under a year.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Hospitality, Restaurant and Event Manager

⚠ Named because this is a margin business: food cost, labour cost and occupancy are what a manager is measured on, and FSS2500 Food Service Costing and Controls is where Florida teaches it.

Human Resources Specialist

⚠ Not a route here, but named because compensation, benefits and job analysis is the best-paid specialist rung in this family and it is quantitative work. ⚠⚠ An HR professional who can genuinely analyse pay data is scarce — accounting or statistics coursework alongside a business degree is what produces one.

Marketing Manager and Sales Professional

⚠ Named because pricing and margin responsibility are what separate a $166,790 manager from a $78,760 specialist, and O*NET lists developing pricing strategies among the first tasks of the job.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Paralegal and Legal Support Studies 32 Florida schools

⚠ A closer neighbour than it looks. Both are document-and-rules disciplines taught heavily at Florida state colleges, both lead to licensed or credentialled work, and both sit alongside the legal and regulatory side of business. ⚠⚠ Accounting pays better at the degree level and has a clearer ladder; paralegal studies is quicker to a first job.

Information Technology 39 Florida schools

⚠ Worth naming because accounting information systems is where a growing share of the work now sits, and the clerical tier is shrinking precisely because software absorbed it. ⚠⚠ An accounting degree with real systems and data skills is a materially different proposition from one without — several Florida programmes now carry an accounting information systems course, and it is the one to take.

Business Administration and Management 45 Florida schools

⚠ The specialised alternative, and the most common decision a Florida business student faces. Accounting is narrower, harder to walk away from, and has a licence worth having; business administration is broader and more available. ⚠⚠ They share most of a first two years, so the choice can be deferred — but the CPA's 150-hour rule means an accounting student should decide by the end of the first year.

Finance 14 Florida schools

⚠ The closest sibling and the commonest alternative — the two share most of a first two years, and 49% of working financial analysts hold a business degree of some kind. ⚠⚠ The practical differences: accounting has a licence worth having (the CPA) and a 150-hour rule to plan around; finance has neither, and is taught at 12 Florida institutions against accounting's 50 once bookkeeping certificates are counted. Accounting also starts cleanly at a state college; finance mostly does not.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business 30 Florida schools

⚠⚠⚠ The single most useful adjacent subject, and the one most founders wish they had taken. Cash flow, not profit, is what closes small businesses, and the owner who can read their own books survives longer. ⚠ GEB4891 Strategic Planning is carried by 13 Florida institutions but accounting is carried by 32.

Hospitality and Tourism Management 23 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the same reason the marketing link is there: hospitality management is a margin business, and the managers who control food cost, labour cost and occupancy are the ones who move up. FSS2500 Food Service Costing and Controls is carried by 6 institutions.

Marketing 21 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the sales and management side: pricing, margin and budget responsibility are what separate a marketing manager from a marketing specialist, and the $166,790 median attaches to the job that owns the numbers.

Real Estate 8 Florida schools

⚠ Named because a real estate agent is a self-employed business and most new licensees do not realise it until the first tax year. ⚠⚠ Commission income, deductible expenses and quarterly estimated tax are the practical curriculum nobody sells you.

Florida public institutions offering this program

50 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (1-2 years), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year), Master's. A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Atlantic Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Broward College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

College of Central Florida

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Daytona State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Eastern Florida State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Erwin Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Bachelor's

Florida Atlantic University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida Gateway College

Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida Gulf Coast University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida International University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida SouthWestern State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida State University

Bachelor's

George Stone Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Gulf Coast State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Hillsborough Community College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Immokalee Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Indian River State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Lake Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Lively Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Lorenzo Walker Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Manatee Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Miami Dade College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

North Florida College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Northwest Florida State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Orange Technical College-East Campus

Certificate (1-2 years)

Osceola Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Palm Beach State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Pasco-Hernando State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Pensacola State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Pinellas Technical College-Clearwater

Certificate (1-2 years)

Pinellas Technical College-St. Petersburg

Certificate (1-2 years)

Polk State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Saint Johns River State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Santa Fe College

Associate · Bachelor's

Seminole State College of Florida

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Sheridan Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

South Florida State College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

St Petersburg College

Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

State College of Florida-Manatee-Sarasota

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Suncoast Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Tallahassee Community College

Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

University of Central Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

University of Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

University of North Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

University of South Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

University of West Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

Valencia College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

William T McFatter Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 21 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.