Undergraduate study

The Dual Honours Accounting course is provided for those students who want to combine the study of accounting with a range of other disciplines across the humanities, sciences and social sciences within Keele’s well-known Dual Honours framework. While Accounting is a strongly vocational subject, it draws on principles from a range of the social sciences, including Finance,
Economics, Law and Management, as well as subjects such as Mathematics and Computing. The programme will enable students to develop their knowledge and understanding across some of these discipline areas. Accounting provides essential knowledge for the understanding of business behaviour, strategy and corporate performance and this makes it essential for the study of business, management and related areas.

The strength of the Accounting course at Keele University is that it offers the opportunity to gain a firm grounding in accountancy while allowing students to tailor their studies to their individual requirements through a series of options in the three years of study.

It provides students with a contemporary, internationally oriented and globally informed syllabus. Some modules on the course are accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) who are global professional accountancy bodies offering internationally recognised professional qualifications in financial and management accounting.

Students will take two core modules and a further two electives in each year of the course. These build sequentially so as to enable students to develop understanding of the subject progressively over the three years of the degree. In addition to the elective modules listed below, students may choose to study modules that are offered as part of other programmes in the Management School, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and across the University.

First Year 
The following modules are offered:

Accounting Principles introduces the main mechanisms of accounting, including the analysis of financial statements and the assessment of the users and uses of financial information.

Financial and Management Accounting extends the basic principles of accounting and explains the role of costs for pricing and other business decisions. It also familiarises students with the preparation of the main financial statements and with the financial analysis.

You can also take modules from a range of electives, including:

Business Law
Management in Context
Quantitative Methods
Introduction to Information Systems

Second Year
You build on basic knowledge gained in the first year, taking the following core modules:

Cost and Management Accounting provides an introduction to the core principles and techniques of recording, defining, and reporting costs associated with the operations of organisations.

Intermediate Financial Accounting builds on the first year by looking at the ways that enterprises, and other organisations, account for complex financial transactions and the ways in which they interact with financial markets. All the issues are considered in the international regulatory framework.

You can also take Accounting modules from a range of electives, including:

Taxation
Corporate Social Responsibility
Green Accounting

Third Year
Your knowledge of accounting will be deepened to an advanced level with two core modules in accounting and up to two further modules from a  selection of accounting electives. The core modules are: 

Management Accounting explores the use of management accounting information for planning, control and decision making in enterprises and organisations.

The Audit Framework  develops knowledge and understanding of the roles of the external and internal auditor, the regulatory framework and the theory and techniques of external and internal audit.

You can then choose the following Accounting modules from a range of electives including:

Advanced Financial Reporting
Advanced Management Accounting
Corporate Governance 
Independent Study Project I & II (for which dedicated supervision is provided)

Dual Honours Course can be combined with:

For overseas students who do not meet direct entry requirements, we offer the opportunity to take an intensive International Year One in Business and Management leading to second year degree entry

Foundation course available:

Teaching and learning will be through a combination of lectures, tutorials, problem-solving workshops, directed reading, discussion group seminars and independent study.

Assessment of students’ knowledge and understanding will be achieved by examinations, coursework assessments, in-class exercises and individual or group presentations.

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Accountancy has been cited in previous years as having one of the highest rate of employment for graduates. It has also come in the top 10 subjects for the lowest rate of general unemployment.

This degree will provide a stepping-stone for students wishing to pursue a career in accountancy. It will also provide a solid grounding for those wishing to follow many careers open to them in the wider business context including the corporate sector, the public sector, charities, industry and commerce.

The course is suitable for anybody seeking a rewarding career in accountancy or management. With increasing internationalisation of business activities and globalisation of capital markets the employment opportunities within these fields are endless.

As well as developing subject-specific skills this course will equip students with a wide range of transferable skills enabling them to undertake research, work independently or in a group, manage their time efficiently, interpret and evaluate information and perfect their communication and writing skills. All these skills are highly valued by prospective employers.

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The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) have recently awarded exemptions at Certificate and Operational level for students following this programme.