Accounting and Finance (Top-Up) BSc (Hons)
1 Year Full Time | September Start

This module is designed for business students to develop a non-technical understanding of the key aspects of corporate financial theory and practice. The module covers the core aspects of raising capital and determining financing, though to investing capital in major corporate decisions, and finally returning value to shareholders.

Specifically you will study in the module; Sustainable Value Management, Stock Market Efficiency, Capital Asset Pricing Model, Portfolio Theory, International Cost of Capital, Capital Structure Decisions, Dividend Policy, Corporate Valuation and International Merger & Acquisition activity.

The module has a focus on business responsibility of all of those areas, concentrating on professional codes of conduct in areas such as the banking industry, accounting and similar finance areas, and the types of dilemmas that graduates could face in professional practice. This module will develop you as a critical and reflective practitioner. In the module you will become more aware of the issues that responsible businesses face when attempting to implement financial concepts and theories into practice.

On completion of this module you will have produced a reflective learning journal (in the form of a Blog) based on your evaluation of theory to real world scenarios. As part of that journal will have watched and reflected on appropriate financial documentaries and movies which explore responsible financial management issues. Finally you will be apply your academic knowledge to a real world case and be able to critically evaluate the tensions between the financial academic theories as a responsible business attempts to maximise shareholder wealth.
critically evaluate the tensions between the financial academic theories as a responsible business attempts to maximise shareholder wealth.

You will learn how to read and critically interpret both the financial information and narrative content of company reports. To do this, you will study the theory and context of corporate reporting, including ethical issues, and the international framework for reporting, as well as very practical techniques such as ratio analysis. Building on the calculation of ratios studied in previous modules, you will use ratios to help you analyse a company’s performance by selecting appropriate comparators and considering the figures in the context of a company’s industry and its business strategy. You will also consider the role of integrated reporting and sustainability reporting.

You will study impression management theories and apply these to evaluate how companies present themselves in their corporate reports.

The syllabus includes:
• regulatory and ethical framework, including the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting
• Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP) and convergence towards International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
• the constituent elements of financial statements: balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, statements of changes in equity, notes to the accounts and accounting policies, and how to interpret these
• other elements of the annual report, such as the corporate governance report and auditor’s report, and how to interpret these
• progress in integrated reporting and sustainability reporting
• efficient market hypothesis, and how the market views the information in corporate reports
• impression management in corporate reporting
• current issues arising

On this module you will develop an understanding of the nature of Strategic Management Accounting and its use in strategic decision making, planning and control. There is emphasis on the use of information that relates to factors external to the firm, as well as non-financial and internally generated information. Historic approaches of traditional management accounting have been criticised for providing misleading information and are compared and contrasted to more modern methods of Strategic Management Accounting to assist in business decision making.

You will also gain an appreciation of the ethical issues facing the profession.

In particular you will study the following:

• The nature of devolved decision making
• Traditional costing vs alternative costing methods
• Issues affecting Transfer pricing
• The impact of modern manufacturing & the cost of quality
• Environmental & Sustainability factors
• The use of non-financial information & the Balanced Scorecard
• Management control systems (Budgets)
• The concept of Beyond Budgeting

On completing the module you will have an appreciation for Strategic Management Accounting and its role in the strategic management of businesses. You will be able to use that knowledge to aid businesses in the decision making process.

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Dissertation writing requirements
• Research Skills
• Ethical considerations
• Understanding research limitations
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

This module has twin aims, firstly supporting your transition into UK higher education by developing your academic skills in the context of your business, management and finance studies. The second aim is to equip you with the necessary knowledge and transferable skills to maximise your future employability and career development. As a student on level 6 top up programme you may have limited experience of higher education in the UK, hence this module begins by supporting you as a final year undergraduate student to understand, enhance and demonstrate advanced academic skills. The first part of the module will therefore help you strengthen and enhance your academic writing skills, progress your critical thinking ability and enable you to understand research and how to use academic journal articles. The second part of the module will focus upon your employability and leadership attributes, exploring key aspects of your knowledge, skills, personality, values and abilities to enable you to make well-informed career choices.

The topics covered on this module will include:
• Academic writing skills;
• Understanding learning styles;
• Working in teams;
• Enhancing critical thinking and writing skills;
• Understanding research and the effective use of journal articles;
• Developing a literature review;
• Understanding Employability and leadership attributes;
• Evaluate the global graduate labour market;
• Design career personal development plan.

This module aims to develop and empower you as a student to become a critical and reflective thinker with respect to both your academic development and to your future career planning.

In this module you will learn about the context of responsible strategic thinking, how to identify and explore sustainable business opportunities as a source of competitive advantage. You will gain an appreciation of the overarching principles of setting and executing a responsible and sustainable organisational strategy. Within the setting of these strategic objectives, you will understand how the associated responsible decision making will impact on both internal and external stakeholders. Your learning will span across private and public sector organisations, MNEs and SMEs and how each of different organisations and industries interact with the responsible and sustainable business opportunities and challenges.

This module will draw on your student learning across your undergraduate programme of study, the module aims to provide you with the opportunity to engage in depth with contemporary research in your specialist named degree. You will learn about critical thinking and reflection, and doing so, you will develop the necessary critical skills to perform both of these effectively as a learner in higher education. You will develop an enquiring mind and undertake a critical review of existing literature on a contemporary issue within business and management disciplines, applying appropriate methods to collection and analysis of extant research, including reviewing literature and critical evaluation of business practice and academic theory.