Big Four firm KPMG has announced that the Villanova School of Business and the University of Southern California’s Leventhal School of Accounting have added a tax concentration to their KPMG Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program, effective for the 2020-21 academic year.

The schools join the University of Mississippi’s Patterson School of Accountancy in including a tax concentration as part of the data and analytics program curriculum. As of 2019, nine universities across the country participate in the data and analytics program.

Originally launched with the Ohio State University’s Max M. Fisher College of Business and the Villanova School of Business in 2016, the Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program looks to “develop accountants in the data age,” according to the program’s mission statement, by mixing a data and analytics curriculum with KPMG’s analytics technology and problem-solving.

“Disruptive new technologies and the growing urgency among many companies to reimagine their tax function are requiring tax professionals to expand their skills and knowledge beyond their traditional tax technical competencies,” stated Jeffrey LeSage, KPMG’s Americas vice chairman of tax and a Villanova graduate. “We’re excited that this expansion of the tax concentration within the KPMG master’s program at top universities will help prepare tax and accounting professionals for the future.”

Fifty-one students have graduated from the KPMG Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program since its inception, with another 134 students expected to complete the program this summer and start working full-time at KPMG in the fall.

Applications for the 2020-21 program are currently being accepted through May 19 for all participating institutions. For more information, head to KPMG’s site here.

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