Accountancy and Finance
By Emma Prest
Published: 15 August 2004
What do you come out with? BA for combined accountancy and finance, BA for single honours accountancy and BSc for straight finance degrees.
Why do it? Because you want to earn a good salary and you know where you're going.
What's it about? Accounting and finance can be studied as separate degrees or combined at most universities. Students study accounting and finance together because they want something broader than straight accounting. They want to learn about the stock exchange and financial markets as well as areas like taxes and auditing. At Manchester the first year is made up of broad based compulsory units. You then go on to specialise in the second and third years choosing from options such as public sector accounting, corporate finance, auditing or business studies. At Essex the structure is similar with compulsory modules in the first year (it is easy to change degrees within the school in the first year) and then a wide range of choice after that. Some of the most popular options include business, law and banking. The LSE have compulsory economics, maths and statistics courses in the first year. Popular options in the second year are management, organisational theory and commercial law. In the third year you choose to specialise in areas such as corporate finance, quantitive finance or accounting.
How long is a degree? Three years.
What are the students like? The students know they want to go into business and are well grounded, according to Stuart Manson from Essex. Many are overseas students. At Essex roughly 40 per cent come from abroad to study accounting and finance. At the LSE, overseas students account for 60 per cent of the student body. It is half and half men and women at the LSE.
How is it packaged? At Essex, it is half exams, half coursework in the first year and in the second and third years the ratio is more like 70:30. At LSE it is almost all exams.
How cool is it? It's not, but you will probably earn more money than all your friends combined, so do you really care?
What A-Levels do you need? Most universities accept almost anything, although some of the more prestigious institutions want traditional A-level subjects as opposed to business studies. All require at least maths GCSE.
What grades? LSE want ABB; BBC at Manchester and Newcastle; BCC-CCC (240-280 UCAS points) at Bangor.
Will you be interviewed? Only if you are a mature student at Manchester and Essex.
Will it keep you off the dole? Without a doubt.
What do students say? Nick Burlington, Business Accounting and Finance BA, Newcastle. "The work placement element of the programme greatly appealed to me, it's more than just a degree, it's work experience and technical practice too."
Where's best for research? LSE and Manchester scored an impressive 5*; Bristol, Durham, Essex, Exeter, Newcastle, UWE, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paisley, Stirling, Strathclyde and Bangor got a 5; Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow Caledonian received a 4.
Where's the cutting edge? Essex is developing its areas of banking and financial theory. At the LSE, it's management accounting in the digital economy, financial reporting, corporate finance and investments and financial risk.
Who are the stars? Professors Jerry Coakley and John Nankervis are both well known in the field of finance and Professor Prem Sikka in accounting at Essex. Professors Michael Bromwich (accounting) and David Webb (finance) at the LSE.
Related courses: At Manchester you can combine accounting with law, business information systems or economics. Alternatively finance can be combined with economics. Accounting with economics and social policy is also on offer. At Essex, accounting can be combined with economics, management or maths. Finance can be studies with maths or as financial management. Business management is also a popular choice. Bangor offer related degree in administration and management, management with accounting and management with banking and finance. Newcastle run a degree called business accounting and finance, along with a straight accounting and finance BA. You can partner accounting with computer science, information systems, maths and statistics.
