Accounting (including foundation year)

Description

Our BSc Accounting and Finance provides a powerful combination of two important disciplines. Your second- and third-year modules provide you with an academically rigorous education in accounting and finance.
Your financial and management accounting modules not only provide you with technical knowledge about the preparation of financial statements and budgets, but also the conceptual framework of accounting, the need for accounting standards and the importance of corporate governance. Your finance modules provide you with knowledge of financial theory, portfolio management, option and futures markets and how risk can be managed with the use of derivative instruments.

Why study BSc Accounting and Finance at Essex?

Our Essex Business School has an international reputation for cutting-edge research in accounting, finance, management and entrepreneurship. This was confirmed when we were ranked second in the UK for accounting and finance research, with 95 percent of our research graded as of international quality. Our work is informed by a broad range of social science theories and concepts, much of it addressing the important issues currently being faced by commercial businesses, public sector bodies and not-for-profit organisations.
We are recognised for being at the forefront of research in: business ethics and corporate social responsibility; organisation studies; leadership and strategy; finance and banking; risk management; and international management. Many of our academic staff have world class research reputations and have written about, or worked in, a wide range of organisations and this experience is incorporated into your learning experience within our School.

Why study this subject?

Financial information plays an important role in society because of its centrality in decision-making within a variety of organisations. For example, financial information is vital in decisions such as: What effect will an increase have on a company’s profitability? Will it be beneficial for a company to change its method of production? What will be the effect of a reduction in the funding of local government on the level of services that can be provided? How much additional funding does a hospital need to substantially decrease its waiting lists?
Our courses include a range of modules that provide you with the tools to begin to answer some of these questions. As well as familiarising you with the techniques used in accounting, our teaching also focuses on the critique and evaluation of current accounting practices and techniques, such as the appropriateness of information disclosed to shareholders, the effectiveness of regulation and auditing. Depending on the course you study, you will also have the opportunity to study finance, management, law and economics.

Our facilities

As well as access to all University of Essex facilities, including the Library and computing laboratories at our Colchester and Southend Campuses, our Essex Business School students benefit from our strong industry links across the public and private sectors and our international focus in teaching and research.

Study abroad/placement opportunities

Within our Essex Business School, we offer an international exchange variant for this course. This enables you to broaden your understanding of the subject by studying at a partner institution in the EU or in the rest of the world, as the third year of this four-year course. Apart from your year abroad, our international exchange variant of this course is identical to our corresponding three-year course.

Detailed Course Facts

• GBP 9000 Year (EEA)
• GBP 12500 Year (Non-EEA)

• English

Course Content

The special characteristics of our courses are flexibility and choice. In your first year, you usually take four or five modules that include pre-requisite(s) for your course but, in many cases, mean you can try subjects you have not come across before. If you are taking a humanities or social science, then you have the greatest choice, as most of our first-year modules do not assume any specialist knowledge.
With a small number of exceptions, if you successfully complete the first year of your BA, then you are qualified to enter the second year of that course and a range of other courses: for example, if you take economics, politics, philosophy and sociology, then you have a choice of at least nine possible single or joint honours courses at the end of your first year. This means you can change your course, providing you have taken the appropriate pre-requisites and places are available. We offer a range of optional modules in your second- and final-years and most courses allow you to undertake a final-year project, an individual piece of research on a topic that interests you.
We operate a credit framework for our awards, which is based on principles widely used across the UK university sector. Each module has a credit rating attached and our standard three-year course consists of 360 credits (120 credits in your first year, and 240 credits across your second and final years).
Please note that module information on our course finder provides a guide to course content and may be subject to review on an annual basis.

Year 1

Compulsory
Introduction to Accounting; Quantitive Methods and Finance; Introduction to Management; Economics for Business;

Year 2

Compulsory
Financial Reporting and Analysis; Management Accounting I; Corporate Finance; Financial Modelling; Management Accounting II; Portfolio Analysis
And one other Essex Business School (Colchester Campus) option.

Year 3

Compulsory
Current Issues in Financial Reporting; Advanced Management Accounting; Options and Futures; Bank Risk Management;
Optional
A final year Accounting or Finance option;
Accounting or Finance option;
Essex Business School (Colchester Campus) option OR outside option

English Language Requirements

IELTS band : 6

To study at this university, you have to speak English. We advice you to

Requirements

• A-levels: AAB - ABB
• GCSE Mathematics: C
• GCSE English: C
• IB: 33 - 32 points, including Standard Mathematics grade 4 (we consider IB certificates at the Higher level on a case-by-case basis)
• BTEC qualifications, in relevant disciplines, will be considered on an individual basis, depending on the units studied. The standard required is generally at Distinction level.
• Achievement of the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 6 level three credits at distinction and the remainder at merit (or above).

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 6.0 overall with minimum 5.5 in each component (or equivalent). Different requirements apply for second year entry.

Work Experience

No work experience is required.

Related Scholarships*

• Academic Excellence Scholarship

  "The Academic Excellence Scholarship can provide up to a 50 % reduction in tuition per semester. These scholarships will be renewed if the student maintains superior academic performance during each semester of their 3-year Bachelor programme. The scholarship will be directly applied to the student’s tuition fees."

• Access Bursary

  Bursary for UK students all subjects where the variable tuition fee rate is payable.

• Alumni Bursary

  Alumni Bursary for UK Undergraduate students

* The scholarships shown on this page are suggestions first and foremost. They could be offered by other organisations than University of Essex.

Funding

For up-to-date information on funding opportunities at Essex, please visit: www.essex.ac.uk/studentfinance.