Accounting and Finance with Foundation Year

Our BSc Accounting and Finance gives you the opportunity to acquire both the quantitative and analytical skills required for a career in accountancy, alongside a range of transferable skills, including decision-making, management and perceptive abilities.

Why choose this course?

• This course provides you with a good understanding of accounting, finance and the markets in which they operate, which is essential knowledge for a career in this field.

• It also offers you opportunities to interact with accounting specialists and experts in corporate governance, responsible business and international finance.

• It emphasises research-blended learning, with staff who are enthusiastic teachers as well as active researchers, and who regularly publish cutting-edge articles in the world's leading journals.

What you will learn

On this course, you will learn to critically evaluate the use and suitability of accounting and finance techniques in different contexts. You will also learn how to work out processes of calculation, reporting and evaluation, and gain a critical understanding of the factors that influence the financial decision-making process.

How you will learn

Teaching includes lectures, seminars and workshops. You will take tutorials and seminars alongside a diverse range of students, many of whom will have come directly from careers as administrators, clerical workers or managers.

You can study this course full- or part-time. You can also choose your own timetable for the core/compulsory modules selecting whether to study them in the daytime or in the evening.

Foundation Year

If you opt for the Foundation Year route, this will fully prepare you for undergraduate study. It is ideal if you are returning to study after a gap, or if you have not previously studied the relevant subjects, or if you didn't achieve the grades you need for a place on your chosen undergraduate degree.

Highlights

• Birkbeck is an Investment Management Certificate (IMC) Advantage Partner and our BSc Accounting and Finance at Birkbeck is aligned with the IMC syllabus. The IMC is the most widely recognised and established qualification in the UK, which provides the industry's benchmark at entry level. It is run by the Chartered Financial Analyst Society of the UK which represents the interests of around 11,000 investment professionals.

• We have a diverse student community, which creates a stimulating and supportive learning environment.

• Birkbeck is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in teaching, research and consultancy in the broad field of management. Our academic staff are active researchers as well as enthusiastic teachers, and regularly publish cutting-edge articles in the world's leading journals.

• Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the most recent 2021 Research Excellence Framework, with 83% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

• We engage in significant collaborative research and have excellent contacts with many public and private sector organisations, professional bodies and researchers at other academic institutions.

• Goldman Sachs and Birkbeck Diversity Scholarships are available for this course for students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Careers and employability

On successfully graduating from this course you will have gained an array of transferable skills, including:

• data analysis skills

• an understanding of business activities

• the ability to transcribe business activities into financial reports

• sound decision-making.

You will find accounting and finance graduates pursuing career paths in a variety of roles in both private and public organisations, across all industries. Possible professions include:

• chartered accountant

• chartered certified accountant

• chartered management accountant

• management consultant.