says.

According to Byrne, HBS doesn't even offer an introductory accounting class that undergraduates might take--they assume that their students have picked up some accounting by the time they get to HBS.

In a statement, she says that "[W]e don't offer a basic course in accounting that lays out the nuts and bolts of debits and credits. All MBA students already have workplace experience, and our focus is on educating general managers."

And while the KSG accounting course is open to Harvard undergraduates, students say the course focuses more on the public rather than the private sector, and is less rigorous than the MIT course.

Faculty of Liberal Arts and Finances?

Dean of Undergraduate Education Frederick D. S. Choi at New York University's (NYU) Stern School of Business says things are different where he works.

Undergraduates at NYU are welcome to enroll in courses at Stern, provided there are extra spaces in the class. In fact, he thinks accounting should be part of any broad and comprehensive education.

"I very much believe in the analytical and critical thinking of a liberal arts education," he says, "....but it's anachronistic to think of accounting as a trade skill."