UDACFISE - BA (Hons) Accounting and Financial Services (Top-up)

Accounting and Financial Services are subject areas with a high demand for graduates. The course aims to provide students with the opportunity to study the major disciplines in accounting and financial services and to relate these to the business environment. It also aims to provide a sound conceptual foundation for a professional, managerial or business career which will help to understand current thinking, analyse current problems in accounting and financial services and deal with the rapidly changing business environment. It provides an understanding of the multifaceted and diverse roles and functions that accountants and financial services professionals perform in organisational settings.

Completing this stimulating and highly rewarding course will help you to start working in accounting and financial services-related profession. The course will help students to access an extensive national and international network of industry contacts that will enhance students’ employability. This course is taught by professionally and academically qualified lecturers with vast industry experience in the accounting and financial services sectors. The course places particularly emphasis on employability and the students will be supported to gain careers management-related advice from our Employability office.

The Accounting and Financial Services BA (Hons) Top Up is a one-year Level six course aimed at students who have already completed the equivalent of level 5 degree programmes in relevant subjects in the University or elsewhere.

Additional support is offered to students, including those who may have had a break in their education, by means of Academic Mentors and Student Services.

The majority of the modules will be taught through lectures and seminars, where lectures are designed to convey the broad outlines of knowledge pertinent to each module whilst the seminars are built around student activity in response to a set of prepared tasks that require students to apply knowledge, discuss and analyse. Students will be expected to prepare for the seminars using a variety of learning resources that will normally include textbooks, module Weblearn sites including learning/stimulus materials, references to sources in the learning centre, and materials available on academically reputable internet sites

Technical skills are developed, with guidance from the subject benchmark statements. These include, where appropriate, numeracy, technical language and current practices, contemporary theory, technical and qualitative analysis and dealing with empirical analysis of relevant material.

Teaching, study and assessment methods ensure that practical knowledge is developed through lectures and practiced, with guidance in seminars. Direct teaching is supported through text books, journal articles and electronic sources, with every component being supported with its own web site. The knowledge developed and subsequent understanding is assessed in a variety of ways, including reports, essays presentations, group work and unseen examination.

Intellectual skills, identified in the subject benchmarks are developed throughout the courses. These include critical evaluation of arguments and evidence, the ability to analyse and draw reasoned conclusions from a given set of data, the ability to locate, extract and analyse data from multiple sources, including the referencing of sources. Independent and self-managed learning is encouraged and the capacity to develop these skills is developed from the earliest stages of the course. Students are required to develop these essential skills as they are key components to both academic and lifelong learning.

Students are encouraged to engage in their own learning in the subject. This is achieved by relating as much as possible to the real world. This enables participants to understand the relevance of the subject and the work-related learning element embedded throughout the course.

The University, School and course team are committed to social inclusion, and we endeavour to make our website and learning resources as accessible to students as possible.

The course aims to deliver an academically rigorous programme of study, which provides students with the opportunity to study the major disciplines in accounting and financial services and to relate these to the business environment.

The course provides a sound conceptual foundation for a professional, managerial or business career and to help students understand current thinking, analyse current problems in accounting and financial services and help them deal with the rapidly changing business environment.

The course also provides knowledge and understanding of the role of accounting and financial services as to how these affect the business and organisational key decisions to achieve effective and ethical management and its impact on the system and the society at large. It will enable students to enhance their employability and/or gain admission to a Masters programme.

The programme promotes the use of a range of teaching, learning and assessment methods, which develop the students’ intellectual abilities, self-confidence and ability to study independently.

The course has been devised with reference to the subject benchmark statement for Accounting (2019) and Finance (2019) developed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

The University learning outcome that cuts across the entirety of the London Metropolitan University provision, and thus, the BA (Hons) Accounting and Financial Services, is
On completion of this course, students will be able to: demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition and creativity and will act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible professionals in their discipline (ULO)
Thus, upon graduating with an honors degree in Accounting and Financial Services, students will typically:
LO1: Have the confidence needed to take leadership decisions in challenging situations

LO2: Possess the necessary communication skills that will help them adopt a global and multicultural perspective in their professional context

LO3: Be cognisant of the effects of the social and environmental of their decisions and will
remain active citizens of the places they live and work

LO4: Demonstrate application of creative thinking skills to practical problems, and possess the analytical and organizational skills to translate creative ideas to operational solutions.

LO5: Have a wide knowledge and understanding of the broad range of areas of business and management and the detailed relationships between these and their application to practice relevant to the Accounting and Financial Services.

LO6: Consistently demonstrate a command of subject-specific skills as well as proficiency in generic skills and attributes.

LO7: Understand and evaluate the economic, political, regulatory and social environments in which accounting and financial services operate, and the ethical considerations embedded in these operations

LO8: Demonstrate possession of cognitive abilities, subject-specific skills and transferable skills necessary to become confident, creative and connected accounting and financial services professionals and citizens.

QAA Subject Benchmark Statement, Accounting (2019), Finance (2019)

There are a variety of assessment tools used in the core modules. Students will be provided with the opportunity to demonstrate their writing skills by writing essays and reports. Some other modules use more traditional methods of assessment, such as closed book examinations.

There are a range of formative assessments on modules that are designed to enhance student skills development and prepare them for the summative assessments. Feedback and feedforward on coursework will be provided to students as required. Furthermore, individual and generic feedback (common errors identified from previous exam papers and mock exams) will be provided prior to the exam period.

Assessed work will be internally and externally moderated in accordance with the University’s policies and regulations as applicable.

Employability is embedded within course modules, helping students to gain skills and understanding of the expected workplace knowledge, competencies and attitudes to become business professionals.

The course draws on external links with accounting and financial services practitioners in the City and elsewhere in the UK. These links give rise to University and GSBL guest lectures, external speaker seminars and other meetings of interest to undergraduate students. These events throughout the course provide opportunities for students to gain knowledge and experience from outside the University

Modules are required to be taken as indicated in the course structure. Where a student is taking no more than 90 credits in an academic year within the maximum permissible time limit, they may be designated as Part Time.

Modules are required to be taken as indicated in the course structure.

The arrangements for promoting reflective learning and PDP are delivered through the Level 6 Dissertation module that researches issues arising in Accounting and Financial Services subject areas. The module has formative and summative assessment requiring critical self- evaluation and reflection in the context of accounting and financial services professional practices. A Reflective Report records a reflective account of the research journey undertaken by the student, recounting the skills and capabilities acquired from the research project, the rewards and challenges experienced, and the impact on personal development and employability.

Employability and workplace skills are developed in a number of ways throughout the course. Bespoke advice is available to students and alumni from the Careers and Employability office. The University provides talks from guest speakers from both national and international organisations and career skill development specialists. These sessions give students the opportunity to learn more about future career paths and strategies to pursue their own career aspirations. Additionally, these sessions boost students’ confidence, further their personal development and improve their key employability skills.

In addition, students are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities including involvement in peer coaching of students, receiving academic mentoring, volunteering in the not-for-profit sector, joining or setting up student society and national competitions such as the Universities Business Challenge.

The Student Enterprise team based at the University’s specialist off-campus business incubator, Accelerator, provides students with all the advice, support, networks, knowledge and resources to get started. Through one-to-one advice sessions, support and a number of programmes that run throughout the year, Accelerator has helped to launch student businesses and support student entrepreneurship.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have one of the following:

• 240 credits from an Higher National Diploma (HND) or foundation degree or equivalent qualification in relevant subjects in the University or elsewhere including internationally.