Postgraduate Accountancy 2024-2025

The fact that money (and understanding money) really matters in business and all managers need to understand issues like cashflow and profit might depress you, but it is true. Financial viability of customers? Deciding on the likely financial viability of a project? Reporting to shareholders about performance? Does the word “sustainable” appear in a finance dictionary? All questions we will try and address.

This module is designed to develop students understanding and skills in key areas of accounting and finance. It starts from interpreting financial statements to use financial information in short-term and long-term decision making. It enables the practical application of key concepts of strategic analysis and gives a broader breadth of experience and cross-fertilisation of ideas across industries and management disciplines.

This course provides non-accounting students with an introduction to accounting’s role inside of organisations and how accountants produce and disseminate financial information that helps managers and employees make operational decisions.

The course will introduce students to the theory and practice of accounting techniques that are important for organisational decision making, including:

• measurement of costs and revenues
• planning, control, and performance measurement
• and strategic planning and objectives

The fact that money (and understanding money) really matters in business and all managers need to understand issues like cashflow and profit might depress you, but it is true. Financial viability of customers? Deciding on the likely financial viability of a project? Reporting to shareholders about performance? Does the word “sustainable” appear in a finance dictionary? All questions we will try and address.

Corporate governance has become one of the most significant challenges for organisations and for the managers who work within them. The reasons for this include high-profile corporate scandals, conflict of interests, manipulations of financial statements, ethical dilemmas, crises like  the global financial crisis credit crunch or even pandemic, and a growing need to demonstrate corporate accountability, transparency and ethical practices. The “Issues in Corporate Governance and Ethics” course will deepen students understanding and stimulate critical thinking in these areas. Students will study and critique theory and practices of corporate governance models and ethics guidelines  as well as its relation to boards, professional bodies (accounting/audit firms), investors and wider stakeholder groups. 

This course provides students with basic knowledge of financial accounting, its sources including double entry bookkeeping, its processes, and its uses; financial reporting, its regulation, interpretation, and audit; accounting theory; and how financial reports are used when conducting a fundamental analysis of an entity.

Inanalysis - A framework for analysis: Accounting ratio analysis, Common size analysis, Stock market ratios, Credit ratings, Z scores.
Forecasting - A framework for forecasting: Parameter estimation, Financial forecasting models.
Issues in analysis - The links between the stock market and accounting: International accounting issues.
Introduction to accounting - Key accounting concepts: Financial reporting, Financial statements.

If you do not wish to undertake the CFA exam, then you will be choosing this course. This is designed for those seeking a more theoretical rather than professional edge to their MSc. You will be teamed with a member of faculty to develop a literature review of a mutually agreed area of finance research.

The capstone of your programme. A significant individual piece of work showing your ability to think, research, organise and analyse. You will work with a member of faculty to develop a proposal that you will then turn into 10,000 words of reality!

This course expands knowledge and understanding of modern portfolio theory in a real-world setting. Our theme is to use a trading simulator to develop and use investment strategies to trade at market prices with an allocated capital sum. Techniques of financial analysis using established ratios and company analysis are developed in a practical manner and portfolios of assets can be built with transactions logged, and comparisons of asset performance with other asset classes and market indices.

This course applies the knowledge acquired on fundamental analysis from BU5574. It involves preparation of a business analysis report on a comparative appraisal of the financial position & performance of 2 companies in the same sector. The appraisal includes preparation of a SWOT Analysis for each of the 2 companies informed in part by horizontal & vertical analysis, trend analysis & ratio analysis. The principal sources are the published Annual Reports of the 2 companies, the company websites, information found online on the industry they are in, & any other relevant information.