This is a course designed for students who would like to pursue a career in finance particularly for those interested in the field of accounting. You will acquire both the knowledge and skills employers are looking for along with a strong understanding of the current issues in modern accounting and finance.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be exempt from 9 ACCA papers.

Graduates can follow a wide range of careers in accounting and finance or business management.

This four year course includes a foundation year which will boost your skills and business knowledge in order to prepare you for undergraduate study. You will also develop skills in research, presentation, critical analysis, problem solving, team building and entrepreneurship.

BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance - 4 Year course dates 18-19

BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance - 3 Year dates 19-20

BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance - 4 Year dates 19-20

We are delighted to offer our existing and future Business School students the opportunity to undertake a business Masters course on successful completion of their undergradute degree at no additional cost. This is truly unique, we are the first and only university in the UK to offer a free masters course based on your progression. It is our commitment to ensuring that we equip our students to take on the challenges of an increasingly competitive business world. For more information, please visit our Free Masters Offer page.

All modules carry 20 credits and students will need to complete 120 credits per year.

The programmes have a mix of common and specialist modules.

Students taking the foundation year will be following six compulsory modules that are common to all undergraduate business school programmes.

- Introduction to Finance

- Introduction to Marketing

- Introduction to Human Resource Management

- Introduction to Management

- Numeracy Skills for Business

- Academic and Report Writing

 

Introduction to Finance

The module gives you a basic understanding of a wide range of important financial accounting, financial management, and management accounting techniques that are relevant to businesses in today's competitive financial environment.

You will examine fundamental finance concepts and learn how to analyse and use published financial statements, giving you a basis for the Year 1 accounting and finance module.

Introduction to Marketing

You will explore the importance of marketing and its key concepts with this module, learning about how the practice of marketing influences competitiveness through the use of marketing principles and techniques. You will also learn how to analyse situations to meet organisational and marketing objectives.

The module explores the influence of the customer, the importance of market research, and the need for an integrated marketing mix to achieve marketing objectives.

More technical topics such as segmentation, targeting and positioning, strategic planning, and the application of marketing tools will also be explored along with the importance of a strong brand and a unique product offering.

Introduction to Human Resource Management

The module gives you a good grounding in human resource management and its role in organisations. It introduces key practices and policies used in the management of people, including staff selection, performance management, and rewards and compensation.

The module will explore the main theories and concepts of human resource management, as well as examining how it can affect issues such as performance, leadership, and motivation. You will also learn about organisational structures and organisational change.

Introduction to Management

With this module, you will gain a foundation in management and will understand the issues faced by contemporary business organisations. It addresses important theories of management, the management process, and how it is affected by different contexts, cultures, and settings.

The module sets the scene for later modules in the management subject area; providing a strong foundation while covering the complexities and risks involved in management practice.

Numeracy Skills for Business

This module focuses on basic numeracy skills to develop your business mathematical knowledge, encouraging your confidence and appreciation of the subject. It will help you acquire a range of mathematical skills, particularly those that can be applied in the context of business environments.

It also enables you to analyse problems logically, recognise when and how a situation may be represented mathematically, and select an appropriate method to solve the problem. This module provides you with the mathematical knowledge necessary for business studies at undergraduate level.

Academic and Report Writing

This is a basic literacy skills module, designed to prepare you for academic study as well as enabling you to develop the skills that employers value in graduates.

 YEAR 1 MODULES 

- Essentials of Management

- Academic and Professional Studies

- Management Accounting

- Financial Accounting

- International Business Environment

- Managing and Leading People

Essentials of Management

This module provides students with a foundation in the nature of management and key management issues in contemporary business organisations. It brings together important aspects of management and organisation theory, as well as giving students an understanding of process and how it is affected by the dynamic nature of the modern world.

Topics include planning, decision-making, organising, control, and innovation. Different contexts, cultures, and settings of management are also explored.

Academic and Professional Studies

This module prepares students for academic life, establishing an ethos of continuous personal and professional development to help them with their studies and career prospects. The module establishes the foundations for the skills required for successful university study and develops employability skills.

The principle focus is on identifying each student’s strengths and weaknesses by early diagnostic testing and helping them improve.

Management Accounting

This module will prepare students for the application of management accounting techniques into the business world. Students will learn the appropriate technical language and terminology and they will be shown methods of monitoring, measuring, and reporting on performance.

A major part of the module will focus on budgeting – its nature, purpose, preparation methods, control techniques, monitoring and the ways of presenting it to the boards.

Financial Accounting

This module will teach students how to prepare and interpret different financial documents and what the purpose of each is in today’s business environment. There will be a focus on the use of various accounting systems and ways of recording transactions and events.

Students will also get familiar with the relevant legal and regulatory framework within which they will operate as professionals.

Topics include how to prepare a trial balance, interpreting financial statements, the formation and constitution of a company, the study of different business forms etc.

International Business Environment

This module builds on the earlier concepts covered in the Essentials of Management module. It examines the key factors of international business, focusing on the most important areas for strategic choices in order to progress.

Students consider three levels: the internal environment, the external environment, and the global context of business and organisational life. It also covers the basic economics required for managers.

Managing and Leading People

In this module, students are provided with a sound introduction to people management across the employment cycle. Students are encouraged to consider how managers can become effective leaders through motivation and shared vision, rather than control and rules.

The module focuses on leadership, analysing how international awareness, cultural factors, ethics, and some elements of human resource management can be applied.

 

- Leading Change

- Corporate Responsibility

- Financial Reporting

- Management Accounting for Business

- Introduction to Taxation (UK)

- Finance

Leading Change

All organisations need to adapt and change to thrive and respond to increasingly turbulent business environments. This module focuses on the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in this endeavour, examining the nature and impact of change in modern business organisations.

This includes types of change (internal and external), methods of managing change, and ways of evaluating change initiatives, as well as examining the nature of the manager’s role, and how different frameworks can affect management practice.

The module also considers issues of power and conflict, and how different cultural contexts might affect how change is managed. Finally, it considers the impact of change on the organisation.

Corporate Responsibility

The concept of corporate responsibility is central to all issues relating to businesses and their role in society. However, this means that terms such as corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship, and sustainable business have become overused, losing their meaning and creating confusion.

However, students need to understand how global businesses impact on local communities and the environment. With this module, they will learn how to evaluate the responsibilities of citizens and corporations, and consider what should be valued in a post ‘credit-crunch’ world.

Financial Reporting

Accurate financial reporting is vital to the annual operations of any company. Stakeholders at all levels will need to know the transactions that were made during a fiscal year and their impact on financial statements. Therefore, this module aims to show the students the connection between financial activities and statements, the ways of understanding the real state of an entity and the methods to present it to stakeholders.

Furthermore, students will be able to suggest ways of using available capital and financial tools to benefit a company and lead to its continuous prosperity.

Management Accounting for Business

This advanced module of Management Accounting focuses on the ways performance management and management accounting can be evaluated, understood and presented so that they can influence a Board’s strategic decision making.

Students will also gain further knowledge on the budgeting techniques and the different ways a budget can be analysed, evaluated and adjusted based on its performance.

In addition, students will learn how external circumstances and unforeseen behavioural features can affect the performance of any budget and how management accounting addresses this.

Introduction to Taxation (UK)

This module introduces the students to the basics of the UK taxation laws, systems and practices. Different types of income and the equivalent liabilities, the various types of contracts, and the systems for self-assessment are some of the topics discussed in this module.

Students will also study the objective of taxation and its impact on the current economic status of the UK, the revenue law and the reasons behind taxing capital gains.

Furthermore they will learn how to compute and illustrate a company’s gains or losses and the equivalent tax.

Finance

The sourcing and managing of capital is one of the most important elements in a company’s journey to success. Financial professionals should be familiar with all the existing, modern theories of evaluating and managing funds, assets and financial investments.

This module incorporate the topics of the time value of money, how inflation affects profits and the different types of capital a company can benefit from.

Furthermore, and as the modern financial practices command students will have a strong focus on risk assessment and management.

 YEAR 3 MODULES   

COMPULSORY

- Advanced Financial Reporting

- Corporate Finance  

- Strategic Management

- Effective Managerial Decision Making 

ELECTIVES (CHOOSE TWO FROM BELOW)

- Audit

- Advanced Taxation (UK)

- Global Leadership

- Creativity Innovation and Entrepreneurship  

Advanced Financial Reporting

Having studied the basics of financial reporting students will carry on gaining in-depth knowledge on the financial reporting framework and their ethical responsibilities as accountants. They will further consider the changes in regulations and laws and how they affect the accounting practices and financial reporting.

Students will develop criteria for judging financial performance and preparing accounting statements for any operation.

Corporate Finance

There is always a theory behind any financial practice; how these theories are applied to corporate finance and how they can be used as tools to better understand, prepare and evaluate corporate financial practices are some of the topics that students will examine while studying this module.

Furthermore students will observe and analyse how different financing arrangements and corporate structures can influence a company’s behaviour, performance, and wealth. In addition, the circumstances and reasoning behind mergers and acquisitions and how risk can be managed will also be explored.

This module offers a comprehensive understanding of corporate finance laws and practices.

Strategic Management

This module offers an integrated approach to strategic management, linking academic theories and models with practice-related case studies.

Students will develop a good understanding of contemporary thinking about managing strategically, as well as improving their employability skills and ensuring they are identifiable to employers as potential managers.

Effective Managerial Decision Making

This module encourages students to consider the importance of making organisational decisions in an ordered and systematic manner, while maintaining the flexibility to employ alternative methodologies.

The module also addresses how organisations can become ‘anti-fragile’ in the face of unpredictable events, as well as how to make decisions that are ethically sound, legal, and fair. It offers a range of models for making decisions in a variety of contexts and how challenges can be addressed systemically.

Audit

This module builds on the inspection and reporting on financial documents. By detailed analysis of the approaches, frameworks and laws, students will become more knowledgeable and capable accountants and appreciate their professional and ethical responsibilities.

Students will observe how complex, external changes and behaviours can affect audit practice and how they can evaluate the parameters and apply the appropriate audit technique. They will also learn how to use valuable computer-based programmes to improve audit implementation, a skill that is highly desired in today’s fast-changing, global market.

Advanced Taxation (UK)

Offering further study on UK’s tax laws, this module will prepare students for a role in corporate or personal finance or accountancy. Students will be given the opportunity to study and analyse the different methods of taxation calculations for companies and individuals, the various kinds of tax and their use and applications, and the rules and regulations that govern them.

Furthermore students will study different scenarios of tax reliefs or exemptions and appreciate corporate and individual liabilities and responsibilities.  

Global Leadership

This module covers the following topics:

the qualities of global leadership

leadership theory in the global context

cultural theory

organisational development and change management in a global context

leading international teams

the nature and status of globalisation

Upon completing this module students will be able to apply leadership to the global setting, and demonstrate how the concepts of cultural theory impact on effective leadership. You will develop data analysis skills, and will build an understanding of the role and function of global leadership in the contemporary workplace. You will be able to identify factors and trends in the global environment and how they affect leadership.

Creativity Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This module covers the purpose, nature and importance of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the contemporary organisation. It also explores roles within these areas across the business lifecycle and the approaches that can be taken such as design thinking, open innovation and serious play. It examines how to create, manage and integrate new ideas into organisations.

Students will be able to argue the importance of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in organisations and formulate plans to encourage it in set business contexts. They will be able to explain the need for different approaches throughout the business lifecycle, and propose ways to integrate new ideas in organisations within different contexts. Students will develop data analysis skills, an appreciation of cultural issues, an ability to identify influencing factors and trends while understanding the roles and functions of creativity.

All of our undergraduate degree programmes are full time and available at our London Bloomsbury campus. In addition, many of our courses are now also offered at Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

This course is delivered in an interactive way, with learning taking place both in and outside the classroom environment.

In the Years 1 and 2, four contact hours per module per week are split between two 2 hour small workshops, so as to promote group interaction and facilitate personal support.

In the final year, three contact hours per module per week are split between an hour lecture and a 2 hour small workshop.

This means students should expect 12 hours of overall contact time per week in the Year 1 and Year 2, and 9 hours of overall contact time per week in Year 3.

Face-to-face learning is supported by online resources, including the Financial Times, case studies, simulations, learning videos, reading materials, online testing, and feedback. Students will receive their core textbooks free of charge.

In addition, all the University of Law Business School's programmes are supported by our Virtual Learning Environment: Elite. This is the first point of call for academic information, such as details of assessments, lecture sequences and online copies of all study materials.

Students also have access to our online library facilities and learning resources from the Chartered Management Institute, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Financial Times. These resources provide a range of professional and business based materials that represent the latest market trends, with sector-based articles and analysis reports.

The programme involves a considerable amount of group work and group assessment, and up to 25% of the assessment takes this form. The assessments are designed to meet the learning outcomes both academically and professionally. This involves seminars, workshops, tests, presentations, assignments, and exams.