BSc Accounting and Finance

Our BSc Accounting and Finance (Including Foundation Year) could be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entry requirements for a three-year version of our business and economics courses and you want a programme that improves your skills to support your academic performance.

Open to UK and EU applicants, this four-year course includes a Foundation Year (known as Year Zero) which is delivered by our Essex Pathways Department followed by a further three years of study in our Essex Business School.

During Year Zero you will study on our Business and Economics Pathway which will cover topics such as the basics of business setup; and necessary mathematical and statistical skills. At the end of Year Zero all students who pass the Business and Economics Pathway will have a choice of which course to progress with. As well as BSc Accounting and Finance, students on the Business and Economics Pathway could also study BSc Business Management or BSc Economics.

From Year One of BSc Accounting and Finance, you will have access to our virtual trading floor, where you make use of real-world Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE), information and analytics to practice trading stocks and securities in the type of environment found in City finance firms.

You study a wide range of topics and develop your quantitative skills, giving you the flexibility to pursue a career in finance, accounting or business management after graduation. You'll explore areas such as:

• the preparation of financial statements and budgets
• accounting standards and corporate governance
• financial theory
• portfolio management
• options and futures markets
• risk management

BSc Accounting and Finance (including foundation year) includes an introductory first year to familiarise you with wider business topics, such as management and marketing.

In your final year, you have the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice by completing an in-depth, independent research project or dissertation. This will give you the chance to further develop vital employability skills in areas of research, time management and critical thinking.

The University of Essex is one of just three UK universities to have received Q-Step Affiliate status, including for our BSc Accounting and Finance course, to support the way we develop the quantitative skills of our graduates.

This means we can provide work placement bursaries to develop your skills in evaluating numerical evidence, analysing data and designing research. We also offer the opportunity to follow a specialised degree path, where you graduate with enhanced quantitative skills. These are evidenced on your degree transcript, to help give you the competitive edge in the graduate job market.

BSc Accounting and Finance is taught at Essex Business School. Our finance group is one of the largest and most respected in the country and our students and staff join us from all over the world.

We not only teach you how financial information underpins leadership, strategy and planning, but how financial decisions can impact society and the economy. We develop your understanding of governance and ethics, so you can take actions for the good of organisations and the wider world.

Essex Business School is an Investment Management Certificate (IMC) Advantage Partner and this course is aligned to the IMC syllabus, the industry's benchmark entry-level qualification.

Our expert staff

Our Essex Pathways Department is a gateway to the University of Essex, helping students without standard entry requirements to grow in confidence, unlock their potential, and nurture their ambitions so they can progress in academic study.

From Year One of BSc Accounting and Finance, you will learn from academics and industry practitioners whose research continues to have a real-world impact. Many of our highly qualified and enthusiastic team are published in world-leading journals and publications.

Our staff specialise in areas including:

• accounting and economic development in the public and third sectors
• regulation and corporate social responsibility
• finance and banking
• accounting and finance in developing economies
• contemporary financial markets and their participants
• corporate governance in developing countries

Dr Silvia Gaia, Lecturer in Accounting at Essex Business School, researches the fields of Corporate Governance, financial and social-environmental reporting. She has publications in academic journals such as Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, British Accounting Review, Journal of Business Ethics and International Business Review.

Our staff embed the latest research into your course, so you learn about real-world issues affecting accounting right now.

Specialist facilities

During Year Zero, you will have access to all of the facilities that the University of Essex has to offer, as well as those provided by our Essex Pathways Department to support you, such as:

• computer labs for internet research; classrooms with access to PowerPoint facilities for student presentations; AV facilities for teaching and access to web-based learning materials
• our new Student Services Hub will support you and provide information for all your needs as a student
• a social space stocked with magazines and newspapers, providing an informal setting to meet your lecturers, tutors and friends

Our BSc Accounting and Finance is also based on our Colchester Campus, within the Essex Business School.

In our landmark Essex Business School building (the first zero-carbon business school in the UK), you'll see our sustainable approach to business first-hand. Surrounding a lush winter garden is a wealth of inspiring teaching and study zones for you to enjoy.

Our custom designed building provides you with superb facilities:

• a virtual trading floor with Bloomberg Terminals offering direct use of Bloomberg data, information and analytics
• light and spacious lecture theatres with ‘listen again' recording to aid your study
• study pods and innovation booths for group working
• a café and adjacent foyer to enjoy on-site fresh food and drink
• study skills support provided by the Essex Business School Learning Team

Discover our trading floor:

Our Colchester building is located on the Knowledge Gateway, an innovation park housing some of the East of England's most exciting science, technology and creative businesses. Parkside Office Village sits on the site, providing potential opportunities for networking, internships and work experience directly on campus.

Your future

Experience of the dual disciplines of accounting and finance means that you will be well suited to sector specific roles in chartered accountancy and management accountancy as well as more generalist roles such as management consultancy or financial management.

We embed a series of core and specific skills into our undergraduate curriculum for BSc Accounting and Finance to ensure that our graduates are suited to careers in finance, accounting and management roles.

All of our taught modules embed elements of our skills map which emulate the skills which are required by employers of business, accounting and finance graduates, these generally include:

• Academic and cognitive skills
• Research skills
• Technology skills
• Communication skills
• Data analysis skills
• Soft skills

We embed a structured approach to student development and skills support throughout the curriculum and through additional support from the Essex Business School Learning Team.

Our students have gone on to become financial analysts, accountants, hedge fund managers and insurance trainees, with recent graduate destinations including:

• Private Client Tax Senior Associate at PwC - a multinational professional services network
• Treasury Analyst at Hiscox, a multinational business insurance and home insurance provider
• Junior Tax Consultant at Deloitte – the multinational and financial services network
• Global Finance & Business Analyst at J.P. Morgan – global financial services provider
• Junior Consultant - Valuation & Advisory at Cushman & Wakefield – commercial property and real estate consultants

Our accounting and finance graduates enjoy successful careers in their fields.

Additional to the skills development offered by Essex Business School, BSc Accounting and Finance students can also take advantage of the University of Essex Careers Service which focuses in particular on supporting the development of undergraduate employability, including: careers fairs, career mentoring, skills development, careers advice and guidance, placement year support, job opportunities, start-up support and more.

I chose to study Accounting and Finance because at sixth form I studied accounting, business, economics, maths and further maths so all my subjects were linked to accounting and finance. I realised I liked the subject and chose to study further at university.

I love maths, however, enjoying and loving maths does not equal being good at maths! But, you’ve got to do something you enjoy. I was doing just BSc Accounting at first but at the end of my first year I changed my degree to BSc Accounting and Finance because I really enjoyed the finance modules in my first year because there was loads of algebra and maths in it so I thought “why don’t I take that up?”. It adds a little more spice to my degree, it’s a dual degree so I can go to both branches and it gives me more options.

Fia Almanda, BSc Accounting and Finance.

Clearing entry requirements

We currently have places available in Clearing across a range of our courses with most offers at BBC-CCD (112 – 88 UCAS tariff points) or equivalent. We consider each application individually and requirements may be lower for some of our courses, so please get in touch if your grades are below those outlined here.

English language requirements

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 5.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component, or specified score in another equivalent test that we accept.

Details of English language requirements, including component scores, and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here

If we accept the English component of an international qualification it will be included in the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.

English language shelf-life

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.

Pre-sessional English courses

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Pending English language qualifications

You don’t need to achieve the required level before making your application, but it will be one of the conditions of your offer.

If you cannot find the qualification that you have achieved or are pending, then please email ugquery@essex.ac.uk.

Additional Notes

If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to this degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College

Course structure

The structure of this course provides you with an in depth look at key areas of both accounting and finance. As well as modules focussing mainly on the numbers you'll also put these into perspective and learn how managers use accounting and financial information to make decisions.

Year zero provides with you the necessary skills and knowledge in order for you to progress onto your chosen area of study. Successful completion of year zero guarantees you entry to the first year of your undergraduate degree course.

In the first year our current students cover wider business topics that every manager needs to know. However, we are planning some changes to our first year and we'll be tailoring it more closely to your chosen course. In the second and third year you'll have optional modules and by picking certain modules you'll be able to maximise the number of exemptions available to you from bodies such as ACCA.

We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists. Please be aware that we are planning changes to our first year to make it more relevant to your chosen course.

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The following modules are based on the current course structure and may change in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Teaching

• Your teaching mainly takes the form of lectures and classes, the latter involving about 20 students
• You can contribute and interact in lectures through the use of smart technology
• A typical timetable includes a one-hour lecture and a one-hour class for each of your four modules every week
• Any language classes involve language laboratory sessions
• Our classes are run in small groups, so you receive a lot of individual attention

Assessment

• Your assessed coursework will generally consist of essays, reports, in-class tests, individual or group oral presentations, and small scale research projects