Accounting & Finance BA (Hons)

In the rapidly changing business world, the demand for finance professionals has never been greater. This challenging and stimulating Accounting and Finance degree will equip you with a strong strategic outlook, ensuring that, once you graduate, you will be ready to inform and advise management decision-making at the highest level. 

The variety of topics studied on this degree will give you a sound grounding in theoretical and practical areas of Accounting and Finance.

Senior Professional Tutors, with practical experience in the professional services sector and who are experts in their field, work alongside well respected academic staff to ensure that, when you graduate, you will have the skills and knowledge needed for a successful career in a number of competitive areas, including accountancy, general management, banking, and finance.

We believe your ability to gain meaningful employment after you graduate is really important, so there is a strong focus on helping you to develop your employability skills.

Throughout your degree, there will be a number of opportunities and initiatives to engage and network with local, national and international businesses, giving you the chance to raise your profile and make connections in the business before you have even graduated.

Course Structure:

Teaching on this degree is structured into lectures, where all students are taught together, and smaller groups of seminars and tutorials. The lectures will provide you with a general framework in Accounting and Finance, whilst the seminar activities and discussions, help your understanding and application of the subject. 

In tutorial sessions you will not only develop your understanding of Accounting and Finance further, but at times, work together in student-led activities. Seminars and tutorials are also designed to enhance your leadership and employability skills. 

If you are studying Accounting and Finance as a Single Honours degree, in your first year of study there are approximately 12 teaching hours per week, which decreases to approximately 10 teaching hours in your second and third years. 

If you are studying Accounting and Finance as a Combined Honours degree, in your first year of study there are approximately 6 teaching hours per week, which will decrease to approximately 5 teaching hours in your second and third years.

On top of teaching hours, you are also expected to spend between 20 - 25 hours each week studying independently. This will consist of a range of activities including additional research and reading, attendance at guest lectures and industry related events, preparation or completion of set tasks for taught sessions, revision for exams, work for your assessments and participation in group work.

Curriculum Overview:

• This Single Honours degree requires you to study nine compulsory themes that lead to exemptions from some of the ACCA professional exams. There are an additional five topics that you then study in practice, once you have graduated, in order complete your professional studies.
• *Please note these topics marked with a * are only studied on the single honours degree.
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• Year One
• Foundations in Accounting and Finance
• Your first year provides you with the knowledge of the key elements that support your studies in Accounting and Finance. You will study:
• Principles of Financial Accounting
• This unit focuses on the underlying principles and concepts of financial accounting.  It covers the essential building blocks of understanding the elements of the financial statements and how a set of accounts is put together. It includes the very practical application of double entry bookkeeping techniques. Students will gain an understanding of the regulatory and ethical environment which supports financial reporting.
• Principles of Economics
• This unit covers the basic elements of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, including the workings of supply and demand with applications, analysis of various market structures, as well as unemployment and inflation, economic growth and monetary and fiscal policies. This enables students to understand the broader practical context of Accounting and Finance.
• Quantitative Methods
• This unit is an introduction to basic concepts of descriptive and inferential Statistics, including an introduction to the use and analysis of data by employing statistical software. This provides a grounding for later studies on the programme, along with dissertation preparation.
• If you study Accounting and Finance as a single honours programme, you will also study:
• Introduction to Business Management*
• Study in this area enables students to understand the broader context of business and in particular to appreciate how the individual subjects of Business, Economics and Marketing inter-act with the role of accountants.
• Year Two
• Intermediate Accounting and Finance
• Second year subjects build on the knowledge gained in your first year studies. You will study:
• Intermediate Financial Accounting 
• You will develop your knowledge regarding the preparation of financial statement. This year focuses on the preparation and interpretation of company accounts, based on the principles set out in the International Financial Reporting Standards.
• Management Accounting
• You will be introduced to this major strand of accounting, which focuses on preparing financial data to support business decision making. Topics covered include understanding costs, determining pricing policies, budgeting and variance analysis and capital investment decisions.
• Contemporary Research Methods
• This area of study builds on the material covered in Quantitative Methods in the first year and provides students with a grounding in the processes of academic research and writing, including academic referencing and data analysis. Students prepare an initial proposal for their dissertations, giving them a real head start on final year studies. In this module, students will learn a new statistical software (STATA), which will help them to undertake their data analysis as part of their final year dissertation.
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• If you study Accounting and Finance as a single honours programme, you will also study:
• Audit and Assurance*
• Over the course of study, this topic covers the full cycle of accepting, planning, delivery and reporting the findings of an external audit.  It looks at all of the building blocks and challenges of delivering an audit compliant with International Standards of Auditing.
• A practical course, designed to ensure students have a good understanding of systems and controls and how to mitigate the risk of Fraud
• Corporate and Business Law*
• The focus of studies is to enable students to gain an understating of the corporate legal frameworks, set in the context of the English and European legal systems. Topics covered include the Law of Tort, the Law of Contract, Remedies for breach of Contract, Employment Law and a review of corporate and unincorporated business structures. Studies are concluded with a review of corporate rescue and insolvency processes.
• Year Three
• Advanced Accounting and Finance
• Third year subjects build on the knowledge gained from your second year studies. You will study:
• Advanced Accounting and Accountability
• Building on subjects covered in Intermediate Financial Accounting, students will gain practical experience of preparing consolidated accounts, and preparing statements of cash flow, alongside an understanding of the impact of cash in a business. Students will have the opportunity of working together to prepare a presentation, which helps to develop communication skills. The context of studies is broadened by reviewing a full set of financial statements, so that areas of risk analysis, accounting for sustainability and governance and ethical issues can be appreciated. Accounting policies are reviewed to understand the impact of creative accounting.
• Performance Management
• Study in this area follows on from second year studies in Management Accounting, where themes and principles are developed further. In this module particularly, students will consider the relevance and impact of non-financial data in supporting business decisions and in helping to develop and review an organisation’s business strategy. Alongside the non-financial data, students will consider financial data to calculate activity based costing, relevant costing, life cycle costing, pricing and other advanced management accounting calculations.
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• If you study Accounting and Finance as a single honours programme, you will also study:
• Taxation*
• This is a very practical module, backed up by the regular use of case study calculations and examples. An outline of the UK tax system is followed up by gaining an understanding of the major UK taxes, including income taxes, corporate taxes, capital gains tax, VAT and inheritance tax, alongside the impact of tax reliefs and exemptions.
• Financial Management*
• This subject is based on corporate finance. In this module students will explore the inter-actions within the capital markets, where students gain an understanding of company valuations, the impact of dividend policy, the practicalities of working capital management, investment appraisal techniques and sources of finance.