BA (Hons) Accounting & Finance

Teaching & Learning

Independent study is a crucial part of learning at university and you will be required to undertake many hours of self-directed research and reading, and preparation and writing of assessments. Your course is delivered through several modules, which will help you to plan your time and establish a study routine. Outside of your lectures, workshops and tutorials, a range of support is available to assist with your independent study. Our subject-specific librarians will be on hand to direct you to specialist learning and study-skill resources. You’ll also be assigned an academic advisor to give you tailored feedback and support.

Year 1

What you'll learn

Business & Legal Foundations

Explore the foundations and understanding of the business and legal structures and environment. You'll relate to the work of the accounting and finance professional as you study the English Legal system, legal business structures, and contract law as it affects business. You'll gain an understanding of business stakeholders and the business environment as it applies to the current climate. You'll also use current business scenarios to further your understanding.

Developing Professional & Academic Skills

Start to develop the soft skills required to begin your career planning journey. You'll begin to gain the digital and professional skills required to work as a professional accountant. This module will also incorporate personal development and resilience tools to enable your success in the modern workplace.

Introduction to Accounting Part 1

This module will provide an introduction to double-entry bookkeeping and base accounting knowledge. You'll start to understand fundamental accounting terms and knowledge.

Introduction to Accounting Part 2

Begin to develop your knowledge base for the preparation of simple financial statements and management accounting concepts. You'll gain further knowledge and continue to build your understanding of accounting terms.

Financial Accounting

Develop the use of double-entry bookkeeping and other techniques to produce company financial statements. This will include the Statement of Cash Flow and the Statement of Changes in Equity. This module also covers the detection and correction of errors in accounting information. You'll start to appreciate how desirable characteristics of accounting information and fundamental accounting concepts are applied in practice.

Themes in Accounting

This module will give you an introduction to the legal and ethical backdrop in which finance professionals operate. It will also demonstrate the importance of ethical behaviour, linking to ethical scandals and poor corporate behaviour.

Management Accounting

Build on the Introduction to Accounting module to develop an understanding of management accounting concepts and principles.

Year 2

What you'll learn

Financial Reporting

This module will enable you to practise applying international accounting standards in the production of financial statements. You'll also evaluate accounting standards in the context of accounting concepts and qualitative characteristics.

SAGE & Forecasting

Develop a range of skills to support your personal development and employability as you contextualise your studies. You'll present your analysis of the business as part of a formal group presentation. Then you'll formally reflect on the experience of this module.

Performance Management for Decision Making

Further, develop skills acquired in the Management Accounting module. You'll continue to explore processing and analysing information for management reporting.

Technical Themes in Accounting

Builds on the skills you acquired in your first year of study. This module will further develop the digital skills and core knowledge areas you'll need to be a business professional of the future.

Financial Management

Understand the structure of business finance and its application to the decision-making processes in organisations.

Group Financial Statements

Develop the skills and techniques to produce and interpret the financial statements of a group of companies. You'll use the qualitative characteristics of useful information and the fundamental bases of accounting you've already studied to explore the conceptual framework of accounting. This module will cover the reporting of financial information for groups by generally accepted accounting principles and relevant accounting standards and the analysis. You'll also study the interpretation of information from financial reports.

Advanced Financial Management

Critically examine the contribution and importance of corporate financial decision-making to the achievement of the enterprise's corporate objectives from a strategic perspective.

Strategic Planning & Control

Practise applying the knowledge and skills you have developed in your degree in the context of a business simulation game.

Accounting Issues

Understand theoretical accounting issues and learn how to evaluate accounting regulation and guidance. Evaluate approaches to ethical issues and use a range of digital resources to explore accounting issues.

Audit & Assurance

Understand the process of carrying out an audit and its application in the context of the professional regulatory framework.

Year 3

What you'll learn

Applied Finance for Enterprise

Learn to select and apply appropriate financial techniques in the production of a realistic and practicable financial business plan.

Finance in Practice

Improve your understanding of the finance sector by studying some of the key aspects of major areas of the sector including banking, insolvency, forensic accounting, money and finance systems, and insurance. Understand the legal, ethical, and sustainable frameworks that surround the sector.

Cross-Cultural Management & Diversity

Develop a critical awareness and understanding of the complexity of managing cross-cultural issues, diversity, and inclusion in the home and global business environment.

Corruption in Business

This module uncovers the dirty secrets of how tax havens work and how they disrupt the global economy. It explores the opaque, secretive, and confusing world of financial crimes saturated with stories, rumours, and anecdotes.

Personal Taxation

Gain theoretical knowledge and practical skills relating to the tax affairs of UK resident individuals.

Governance, Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility

Explore the importance of ethical business decision-making, how the governance of firms should be organised, and the consideration of stakeholders in developing approaches to the social responsibility of businesses.

International Business Finance

This module will examine fundamental concepts of international business finance and international trade. You'll learn about the formation of multinational corporations and the business challenges they face in a dynamic global context.

Corporate Taxation, Theory & Practice

Study the corporate taxation matters that are most significant for UK accounting and business decisions. You will focus on the rules for computing the corporation tax and VAT liabilities of a trading company, and you will adopt how professional accountants conventionally present the results to company directors and the UK tax authorities.

Dissertation (year-long)

You will demonstrate a full range of skills, knowledge, and competencies developed over three years of study. This module provides an opportunity for you to choose and explore a field of study that has particularly engaged your interest.

Work Placement

Apply for a placement and undertake a period of paid employment to allow you to develop business contacts and gain an understanding of the jobs and career market. This course offers the opportunity to take a ‘sandwich’ year – a year of paid employment in industry which will build your skills and experience. This is usually taken between the second and third year of your degree, typically making your course four years in total.

Students who choose the sandwich route find it helps with both their studies and getting a job after graduation. It can build your confidence, contacts, and of course your CV. Leeds Beckett advertises lots of placement opportunities and provides support in helping you find the right placement for you.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Construct and analyse financial statements and financial information using a range of techniques and appropriate e-tools to critically appraise their value in decision-making.
2. Critically appraise current developments in accounting and finance including evaluating contemporary theories and empirical evidence.
3. Recognise the contribution of accounting and finance to a diverse range of enterprises and society as a whole and be capable of describing and commenting on accounting and finance research using appropriate data and methodologies.
4. Engage in the workplace as an ethical professional with the essential graduate attributes of enterprise, digital literacy, and global outlook.
5. Have the necessary knowledge and skills to be an effective communicator of and understand the practical implementation of relevant, sustainable, and socially responsible practices and solutions applicable to a wider role in society.

This accounting and finance course puts you on the fast track to qualifying as a professional accountant. After graduating, you’ll have substantial exemptions from the examinations required to become a member of the major professional accountancy bodies. These could include the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

As well as accountancy, you could enter a wide variety of stimulating and financially rewarding occupations, including accounting, stockbroking, roles in financial services and business management.

• Trainee chartered accountant
• Accountant
• Finance Assistant
• Finance clerk

You’ll have the technical knowledge and professional confidence to move into a job role that suits your career aspirations. Our graduates have joined companies including KPMG, EY (Ernst & Young), Grant Thornton UK LLP, Aviva, Jet2, Evri, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and BDO Accountancy and Business Advice.