BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance

Academic & Professional Skills

This module is designed to facilitate a smooth transition when entering university, fostering both academic and professional skill development. It places a strong emphasis on personal growth, encouraging you to reflect on your development while also valuing the contributions of your peers. With a focus on academic skills and personal development, the module aims to equip you with the tools necessary for success in both your academic pursuits and future professional endeavours.

Assessment:
3,000-word Portfolio

Accounting Skills

This module focuses on equipping you with essential accounting principles, skills, and methodologies for effectively collecting and documenting data and transactions. Emphasis is on preparing accounting statements and management accounts tailored for internal use within organisations. It’s designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of foundational concepts essential for accurate financial reporting and informed decision-making within organisations.

Assessment:
45 Minute in Class Test
1.5 Hour Unseen Exam

Entrepreneurial Mindset

This module is an exciting opportunity for you to not only understand entrepreneurship but also apply it in a real-world context. By engaging with real clients and tackling genuine problems or opportunities, you can develop a practical understanding of entrepreneurial thinking and innovation.

Working collaboratively in small groups fosters teamwork and diverse perspectives, while also allowing room for individual creativity and initiative. The emphasis on delivering value to the client and showcasing an entrepreneurial mindset through practical implementation and strategic recommendations ensures a holistic learning experience.

Assessment:
15-minute Presentation
1,800-word Report

Introduction to Sustainability

Collaborative exploration of sustainability not only fosters deeper understanding but also cultivates vital skills like ethical reasoning and effective communication. Encouraging you to examine sustainability within specific sectors or industries can lead to insightful discussions and innovative solutions to real-world challenges.

Assessment:
Poster and 10-minute poster presentation with Q&A.

Introductory Law for Managers

This module aims to introduce you to the subject of law relevant to the commercial world. The module looks to provide you with sufficient understanding of the law so that, as managers, you can recognise and understand its relevance and application within a commercial context.

Assessment:
1.5 Hour Exam
1.5 Hour Exam

Management and Organisations

This module is an excellent gateway to the world of management and organisational behaviour! By encouraging exploratory learning, it offers you a chance to develop not only academic knowledge but also self-awareness and interpersonal skills. Such an approach is vital for preparing you for the complexities of the modern workplace and can inspire a lifelong curiosity in the subject.

Assessment:
Individual 3,000-word report

Marketing Principles & Practice

This marketing module offers a comprehensive exploration of marketing’s significance in today’s business landscape, covering essential tools and concepts. You will delve into the extended services mix, buyer behaviour, segmentation and market research, while also examining broader business facets like contemporary society, digital advancements, and disruptive business models. Through real-world examples, interactive discussions and engaging activities, you will gain a practical understanding of marketing principles and their application in various contexts.

Assessment:
3,000-word Report

Technology for Business

This module is designed to introduce you to the use of technology, primarily information systems, and how organisations adapt and leverage digital technology solutions to gain a competitive advantage.

Assessment:
3,000-word Report

Audit and Assurance

This module aims to introduce you to areas of key concepts of audit, assurance, and corporate governance. This will include an understanding of ethics and professional conduct.

You will learn about the audit framework and regulation, planning and risk assessment, internal control, audit evidence and how the discovered material is reviewed and reported.

Assessment:
1-hour In Class Test
2-hour Examination

Data Driven Decision Making

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the concept of data and market research for decision making.

Assessment
2,250-word Leaflet, Brochure, Poster
750-word Explanation Document

Financial Reporting

The aims of this module are to enable you to describe and critically discuss how financial reporting can be regulated, including the system of international accounting standards.  In addition, the module aims to provide the necessary knowledge that will enable you to prepare the statutory accounts in the appropriate form for a single company.

Assessment:
1-hour In-class test
2-Hour Unseen Exam

Financial Management

This module aims to introduce you to areas of key financial decision-making and related underlying theory. These decisions include the setting of corporate objectives, the funding of corporate operations and the appraisal of potential investments.

In addition, the choices that are available to companies in terms of their working capital management and the implications of foreign exchange currency movements will be examined.

The module will also provide you with an understanding of the operation of equity markets and the related implications for listed companies.

Assessment:
1-Hour In-class test
2-Hour Examination

Management Accounting for Control

The aims of this module are to develop your understanding of a range of management accounting techniques and how these can be applied to support decision-making. Through the course of the module, you will be required to solve problems that require you to demonstrate thoughtful and effective reasoning in proposing solutions or responses to a given set of circumstances.

Assessment:
1-Hour In-class test
2-Hour Unseen Exam

The Professional Graduate

This module integrates practical elements to enhance career progression, emphasizing the significance of professionalism in the workplace for graduates. It promotes personal and professional development through activities such as career planning, professional placements, and projects.

Reflective practice is highlighted as a key tool for fostering continuous growth and the acquisition of relevant competencies.

Assessment:
3,000-word Assessment Portfolio

Taxation 1

This module is designed to familiarise you with fundamental concepts and principles of the UK taxation system.

Topics covered will encompass the theoretical basis of taxation, the various sources and forms of taxes, and specifically delve into personal income tax, particularly related to employment income.

You will develop the skills to compute personal income tax obligations arising from diverse income streams and comprehend the administrative processes, including compliance deadlines and penalties.

Additionally, the module aims to offer a comprehensive overview of value-added tax (VAT) calculations and explore the scope of national insurance contributions and capital gains tax (CGT). By covering these areas, you will gain a holistic understanding of the UK taxation landscape, enabling you to analyse and navigate tax-related issues effectively.

Assessment:
1,000-word Individual Essay
1.5-hour Examination

Taxation 2

Over the past few years, the UK has made changes in the tax system to remain competitive among the major economies. The tax system is continuously changing specifically in the advent of the financial crisis. This makes UK Tax an important subject area not only for Accounting and Finance students, but also for general business management students.

Assessment:
1-hour In Class Test
2-hour Unseen Examination

Advanced Financial Accounting

The aim of this module is to extend the areas explored within the Financial Reporting module, by examining consolidated accounts, evaluating financial statements to provide an analysis of performance, comparing, and contrasting alternative approaches to asset valuation, and examining current developments in external reporting.

Assessment:
1-hour In-class test
2-hour Examination

Corporate Finance

This is an excellent way to bridge the gap between theory and real-world application in corporate finance. By starting with core concepts and then delving into specific areas such as corporate valuation and M&A activity, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of how these concepts play out in practice.

Introducing more advanced topics like Portfolio Theory and the Capital Asset Pricing Model adds depth to your knowledge and prepares you for analysing complex financial scenarios. The emphasis on “corporate finance in action” is particularly valuable, as it encourages you to apply what you learn to current developments and occurrences in the corporate world, fostering critical thinking and adaptability.

Assessment:
1-hour In Class Test
2-hour Examination

Professional Practice

This module offers you a chance to gain 270 hours of experience in an organisation, building on your work in the Professional Development module. You will secure a placement and develop your Personal Development Planning for future career goals and better employability.

Typically paired with the Research Project, it allows you to focus on personal development within your work placement, enhancing skills for your chosen careers and gaining practical and research expertise in your field. You can choose from options like a Short Work Placement, a Consultancy Project (remote), or Entrepreneurship (requiring Entrepreneurship in semester one).

Assessment:
Assessment 1: 1,800-word Personal Portfolio
Assessment 2: 3,000-word Learning Logs
Assessment 3: 10 minute Personal Presentation

Research Project

The module offers you a chance to delve into a specific area of interest within various organisational contexts, fostering both professional and intellectual growth.

Under the guidance of a supervisor, you will undertake independent research, showcasing your ability for critical thinking and analysis. The chosen topic typically revolves around management issues in either public or private sectors, with a focus on generating findings applicable beyond specific cases.

There are optional placement routes – Industry, Consultancy, or Entrepreneurship – each tailored to align with career goals and academic pursuits.

Assessment:
At the end of stage 2, you will submit a final version of your research project. This will look like the following, depending on the option chosen:

• Completed dissertation (industry route) or consultancy report (consultancy route) which is structured and presented according to the module guidelines (9,000 words)
• Entrepreneurship 2 year growth strategy and professional discussion around key findings on the viability of the business idea from the experience of starting up the business (6,000-word report and 3,000-word equivalent presentation)

Entrepreneurship

Ever wondered what it’s like to run your own business and unsure of how you would go about it?  This level 6 module adopts a practical approach to investigating the small business sector and developing business ideas.

The module concentrates on the planning involved when setting-up a new business venture.  The main output of the module is the creation of an early-stage business plan that could be used to either set-up a new or develop an existing business.

Even if you decide that running your own business is not for you, going through the experience of developing and writing a business plan, will provide insight into both strategic and operational small business decision making; and increased employability skills that will prove valuable to a future employer.

Assessment:
3,000-word Business Plan + Financial Appendices

Strategic Management

The module encourages you to think critically and creatively about strategic management from the formation of strategy through to frontline implementation. It is aimed at those that may have little or no personal experience of strategic management.

Assessment:
10-minute presentation
2,000 word Assignment