Undergraduate study

Overview

• A Single Honours course that draws together modules in Accounting, Finance, Mathematics, and Law.
• An interdisciplinary degree giving students a breadth of study and options.
• A vocational degree that provides students with a wide range of career opportunities (the programme offers extensive exemptions from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) professional examinations)

This is a Single Honours degree that enables students to specialise in Accountancy within the broader context of studying Finance.

While it is a strongly vocational subject, Accounting and Finance draws on principles from a wide range of the social sciences, including Management, Economics and Law. The degree will enable students to develop their knowledge and understanding across these discipline areas.

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

The degree provides students with the opportunities to study abroad at partner universities in Europe, the USA and Canada, Asia, Australia and South Africa which is a priceless experience for those wishing to pursue an international career or looking to broaden their life experience and professional skills.

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 evaluation information and develop their communication and writing skills. All these skills are highly valued by prospective employers. The programme will provide a solid grounding for students wishing to follow many careers open to them in the business sector.

Course Content

First Year

Six core modules are taken:

Management in Content introduces the nature of management, the development of management thought, planning, decision making, organising, staffing, leading and controlling.

Accounting Principles introduces the basic ideas of financial accounting, for example how to read financial documents, and some basic concepts of accounting in organisations.

Financial and Management Accounting extends the basic principles of accounting and explains the role of costs for pricing and other business decisions.

Economics of Financial Markets studies the connections between the financial system and the wider economy, financial situations and financial products and the markets in which they operate, tools for the basic analysis of behaviour and decision making within financial markets.

Quantitative Methods introduces some basic statistical methods such as probability, hypothesis testing and univariate regression, using Excel.

Business Law examines the legal framework that informs contemporary business practice, focusing on contract law and corporate governance.

Two modules are also taken from a range of electives, including:

Introduction to Information Systems
Globalisation
Marketing Principles
Foundations of Human Resource Management

Second Year

You build on the basic knowledge gained in the first year and study seven core modules.

Asset Pricing enables you to discover arbitrage pricing theory and the capital asset pricing model that determines the relationship between the prices of financial assets.

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

Taxation introduces the operations of the UK tax system, including the preparation of income tax and corporation tax computations, and tax planning.

Introduction to Econometrics uses statistical methods to investigate selected economic and financial issues such as consumption functions, household labour supply and the capital asset pricing model.

Corporate Social Responsibility provides a broad introduction to the ethical dilemmas which modern business encounters, and to examine the ethical frameworks available in order to resolve or discuss these challenges.

Portfolio Choice enables you to construct optimal asset portfolios for private investors or large financial institutions such as insurance companies.

Intermediate Financial Accounting examines the ways that enterprises and other organisations account for the complex financial transactions and the ways in which they interact with financial markets.

All the issues are considered in the international regulatory framework.

You also take an additional module from a range of electives, including:

Applied Financial Analysis
Green Accounting

Third Year

All students take five core modules:

Corporate Finance undertakes an analysis of company financing investment projects, corporate tax policy, financial decisions and real activity, and the interaction of shareholders, creditors and managers.

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

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.

Advanced Financial Reporting or Options and Futures

Advanced Management Accounting or International Finance

You also undertake library or fieldwork research in Business Economics through the Independent Study Project, for which dedicated supervision is provided, as well as a range of electives, including:

Economic and Business Forecasting
Banking
Corporate Governance

Codes and Combinations

Students are candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) (BA Hons).

Single Honours Course and Foundation Year available:

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.

Teaching and Assessment

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.

Programme specifications (new window)

Skills and Careers

Accountancy has been cited in previous years as having one of the highest rates 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 those wishing to pursue a career in accountancy or finance. The course provides a wide range of exemptions to a number of ACCA and CIMA professional examinations. It will also provide a solid grounding for students wishing to follow many careers open to them in the wider business world including the corporate sector, the public sector, charities, industry and commerce.

The course is suitable for anybody who is interested in a following a challenging, exciting and lucrative career in accountancy of the investment management industry. With increasing internationalisation of business activities and globalisation of capital markets the employment opportunities within these fields are endless.

Visit our Careers pages (new window)

The programme offers a range of options in the third year which provides students with the opportunity to specialise in aspects of Finance and Accounting. In the National Students' Survey, Accounting and Finance at Keele receives a high score from students in terms of preparing them for the world of work.