First, and foremost, as with all Online Degree programs, you need to be sure that, once you have completed your course, you will be marketable. Find out, beforehand, if the online institution, that you are interested in, is accredited. Also, note that the course itself (accounting) may need to be separately accredited, varying by jurisdiction. It is of great importance to find out all the necessary information before investing your time, money, and effort for years, only to be stuck with a useless piece of paper.

You should also consider it from a financial perspective. While the risk of not being taken serious by some employers, due to the nature of the degree, still applies, online degrees are far less expensive than their campus counterparts. Not only is your tuition likely to be lower but you will also not need to worry about expenses like boarding, and excessive transport costs. From a financial standpoint, an online accounting degree can be much more attractive.

Critical to success in an online endeavour, such as this, is proper evaluation of the teaching methods. A variety of methods are available, for online institutions to choose from, and different methods may be an advantage to different students – depending on the way each individual learns best. Particularly in the hands-on, and accuracy dependent, field of accounting, it is important to ensure that the instruction methods will train you adequately for real world demands, after graduation.

Finally, you should research the ventures of past graduates, in the accounting field, to estimate how marketable you will be, upon graduation. If you find that the majority are working decent jobs at stable companies, or even small businesses, you may safely assume that the accounting degree in question is looked upon favourably. If, however, such research yields students who have not gone on to take up successful accounting jobs, and are even pursuing similar courses at a different institution, you may want to look at other schools. In short, an online accounting degree can be a good idea, but it depends on the institution and your own situation. It is incumbent on you, therefore, to evaluate both and decide this, for yourself, based on the factors detailed above.

Also, is there anything on the actually degree itself that indicates whether the degree was online or traditional?
In other words, does the registars office (or whoever handles this) even know the difference when accessing your records ?

Ask the registrar’s office of your university where you completed your online degree.

I have obtained my BS online and there is nowhere on the diploma that indicates it was obtained online. I have never heard of a university that would write on a diploma that it was attained online, simply because a degree is a degree and it is considered the same whether studied online or on campus. No reputable university or employer would denigrate a degree obtained online through an accredited university/college. If anything, such a degree is much tougher because you need a huge amount of self-motivation to get through it, and it is not so easy to get assistance when you need it compared to being on campus.

Of course in my case it is obvious that it was gained online because my college is purely online based so no on-campus option. But the degree looks like any other degree. No mention made about online studies anywhere.

Believe me, if any employer devalues your degree because you studied for it online, you do not want to work for such a business. After all, if an online degree is good enough for larger corporations and is good enough for acceptance into graduate schools of the highest calibre, then it is good enough for everyone else.

Hope this helps.