This exciting specialist accounting degree is designed specifically to meet the needs of a talent pool for the changing accounting services sector. Education in this subject area is in high demand in a wide variety of sectors and industries where accounting specialists manage budgets, prepare financial and annual reports and also are involved at Board level to inform the development of strategy and guide business decisions. Our degree is the first step to becoming a qualified accounting professional with potential to develop a rewarding career in large and small firms as a consultant or in a business start-up.

This professionally accredited degree offers a rounded business education designed to develop your understanding of accounting theories and practice, together with the business acumen, team-working, problem-solving, communication skills and the commercial awareness needed in a complex global financial world.

Raising your awareness of the global, social and ethical professional environment within which the accounting profession operates, you’ll learn to appreciate accounting issues within the wider business context, able to guide decisions on anything from cost-cutting and outsourcing to operational planning and environmental policy, for example.

Taught by academics with professional experience as accountants and managers, there is an emphasis on learning through practice, so you graduate with the breadth of knowledge and capabilities to respond proactively and creatively to contemporary business issues and challenges. You’ll develop practical skills, receiving hands-on training in specialist accounting software such as Sage, Bloomberg and SPSS. In our state-of-the-art Financial Markets Suite (FMS), you’ll also have access to live and historical financial reports, experiencing the same Bloomberg platform used by leading global investment banks.

Changes in technology and regulation mean that the accounting industry is constantly evolving. On our course, you’ll have the chance to focus your studies from the start, blending a conceptual theoretical framework with practical 'real-world' application as the curriculum progresses from basic to more specialised and advanced applications. Upon completion, you will be part-qualified, eligible to apply up to nine exemptions with ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and up eight exemptions with CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants).

Our programme will equip you with the required skills and attributes needed for an engaging and successful career in accounting or related fields in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. It will assist you in developing excellent conceptual knowledge and technical skills in financial accounting, management accounting, corporate finance, taxation, auditing, and financial analysis, as well as the required attributes to excel in the modern global business environment. Past graduates have gone on to a range of accounting and other professional posts in the private and public sectors, including ACCA and Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) training contracts, and finance posts in the public sector.

Placements

Between Years 2 and 3 you may choose to study English-taught courses for a year at one of our overseas partner institutions. Currently, you can take a Year Abroad studying in Berlin, Bologna, Copenhagen, Madrid,  Paris, and other locations including Brisbane, Sydney (Australia), Japan, Canada and the USA. There are also many opportunities for those with appropriate language skills to study in the local language in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, among others. You can also choose to split your year abroad into a first semester exchange and a second semester work placement, both conducted overseas, or undertake a placement year overseas.

Alternatively, between Year 2 and Year 3 you can undertake a one-year, full-time business placement as a Professional Experience Year within the UK. Past students have completed placements in a variety of prestigious organisations, including AMEC, Barclays Bank, Commerzbank, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, GE Capital, HSBC, IBM and the NHS, as well as in smaller businesses.

Career

This course will prepare you for roles such as:

• Audit manager
• Chartered management accountant
• Financial controller
• Tax consultant