Overview

By 2050, the UK alone will need around 80,000 additional accountants (Onrec, 2021), making accounting and finance skills highly desirable.

The BSc Accounting and Finance programme will help you build all-round business knowledge, with additional expertise in accounting and finance as well as transferable professional and managerial techniques. The course provides excellent preparation for a career in finance, banking, government, and general business leadership.

Key facts

  • Learn about contemporary issues in accounting and finance
  • Boost your personal and career progression options with employability and academic-focused modules
  • Top up your existing qualification to a UK honours degree with direct entry onto Level 5 or 6
  • The Newcastle Business School is part of a select group of business schools worldwide, following accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in business and accounting – the first in Europe to gain the double accreditation

 

What will I study?

The BSc (Hons) Accounting & Finance programme has been designed specifically to provide you with first-hand experience of financial market facilities and the chance to touch real-time data taught by experts from the accounting and finance industry.

The programme makes use of appropriate technologies to support and enhance your learning experience. These technologies include an online learning platform that provides access and supporting learning materials, where appropriate lecture capture is used to support and review your learning. Additional materials include an online reading list and guidance and direction for your independent learning.

How will I be taught and assessed?

  • Teaching is delivered through a mix of lectures, interactive seminars, computer-based workshops, and self-directed and group activities, totalling 9 hours per week.
  • You’re expected to engage in independent study, around 40 hours per week.
  • Assessments take place through coursework only.
  • Taught by experienced lecturers and academics who use their industry experience to demonstrate how theories translate into real-life situations.
  • Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is embedded throughout the course to guide your preparation for seminars and independent research
  • Benefit from weekly academic support sessions designed to build your ability and confidence as an academic learner
  • You will be assigned a guidance tutor at induction who you will meet regularly during your studies

Careers and further study

Graduates of this programme are well placed to progress into accounting and finance roles, including training contracts with leading accounting practices. After your studies, you will be able to head-start a career in accounting and finance, both in the UK and around the world. Typical jobs include:

  • Consulting Financial Analyst
  • Bank Branch Manager
  • Banking Analyst
  • Global Commodity Manager
  • Asset Liability Manager

This programme will boost your employability outcomes by providing you with a key set of sought-after skills. At Northumbria, you will develop critical reflection, self-learning, collaboration, curiosity, and the ability to apply your knowledge to solve problems in sustainable and ethical ways.

Graduates of this programme will also be ready to specialise further through postgraduate studies in Accounting and Finance related Master’s programmes in UK or abroad.

Academic & English requirements

  Academic entry criteria English language requirements
International Year One (Level 4) Good High School Grades or equivalent IELTS 5.5 with no element less than 5.5
Year Two (Level 5) GCSE English & Maths at minimum grade 4/C

Level 4 qualification with a pass grade in a business and management-related field

IELTS 6.0 with no element less than 5.5 (or approved equivalent)
Year Three (Level 6) GCSE English & Maths at minimum grade 4/C

BTEC HND/Foundation Degree or equivalent in a related subject*

 

*If you have taken a BTEC HND programme, we will usually expect you to have performed to an average of Merit standard. If you have taken a Foundation Degree, we will be looking for performance to Commendation level, or 60% average. Applicants holding a relevant business and management qualification in addition to one of the following will also be considered: DipHE, any Level 5 award such as Certificate, Diploma or NVQ.

Level 4 (Year One) entry: If you have good High School Grades or equivalent and IELTS 5.5 with no element less than 5.5, you can apply to study the International Year One.

Non-standard entry: Please note that applicants without formal qualifications yet with appropriate work experience are also encouraged to apply. Non-standard qualifications/work experience will need to be considered on an individual basis.

International entry equivalencies

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Please visit our entry requirements page for country-specific qualifications.

Please note that if your qualifications are not in English, we might need certified translations in order to proceed with your application.

Enquire now

  • Year One
  • Year Two
  • Year Three

International Year One (Level 4)

Students with good high school grades (or equivalent),  joining on Level 4 will study our International Year One.

This module will introduce you to key marketing principles and strategies used to research, design, produce, distribute, sell and manage products and services to satisfy a variety of target markets.

You will also gain insight into the various career options within the industry, developing your knowledge and ability to apply marketing principles to different types of organisations, using a variety of marketing tools. Finally, you will boost employability skills including teamwork, presentation delivery, research and the use of IT.

This module will allow you to explore the driving forces shaping how business interacts with society and the economy.

Your tutors will introduce and create a research-rich learning experience through informative lectures and practical tutor-led workshops. Wherever possible, this will simulate ‘real-world’ scenarios and you’ll work on a series of tasks during the semester to prepare for the final assessment.

This module introduces you to the foundation links and relationships between an organisation, its management and its people. It will help you understand how a heightened awareness of people’s workplace behaviour, actions and attitudes leads to successful organisational sustainability and team performance.

With the chance to apply your learning in a practical, discipline-specific context through case studies, you will boost your employability options and career-ready skills.

This module will equip you with the financial knowledge and numerical and problem-solving skills to support informed and effective business decisions.

You will practise investment appraisal techniques, accounting for risk and uncertainty while developing your ability to make accurate decisions in relation to planning and control for a business as a whole. Through the interpretation of accounts, you will learn real-world skills including how to calculate key measures such as profitability, liquidity, and activity to assess business performance, and how to translate these indicators into meaningful information for key stakeholders.

This module provides essential business skills, giving you a theoretical and applied understanding of statistical and modelling applications supported through practical IT exercises – equipping you with key career-focused skills including proficiency in everyday business software such as Excel.

You will undertake various assessment tasks including a portfolio of preparatory work leading to a short answer examination focused on your findings and problem interpretation.

These analytical, practical IT and interpretative skills are directly transferable to your working life.

This module will enable you to firstly better perform during your International Year One, and secondly develop a range of key academic skills for success.

You will have the chance to practise critical and analytical reading skills, as well as producing informed written and oral responses across a range of content types, including journals, business magazines, data sets, presentations, reports, graphs and charts.

Year Two (Level 5)

Students holding a Level 4 qualification in a business and management-related field, can directly join the programme on the Year Two (Level 5).

This module will support your transition into UK higher education by developing your specific skills and attributes to both manage your studies and communicate your ideas effectively within the academic community.

In this module, you will learn how to effectively manage your studies; how to find appropriate information, develop your academic voice across different communication styles and grow your critical and ethical skills.

You will examine the process of recruitment and selection, and be supported in the production of CVs, cover letters and the use of psychometric tests to ensure that you make an impactful application to any employer.

The internal business and management contexts are likely to be extremely relevant in any organisation you join.

This module will allow you to understand and explore key strategic decision-making aspects and their interface with cultural contexts, including:

  • International market entry and growth
  • Communicating across cultures
  • International business protocol
  • Ethics and responsible business
  • Managing the value chain in international business

In this module, you will learn about the lifetime financial planning process, how to save and build an effective investment portfolio, the impact of personal taxation, how to obtain a mortgage, how to manage debt, how to plan for retirement and even how to manage an estate.

With a focus on both personal and professional outcomes, you will develop the key skills of a financial advisor. As part of your assessment, you will have the chance to prepare a financial plan for a client, based on comprehensive case studies.

This module introduces research methods and analysis, including topics such as study design, participant selection, data collection, data handling and storage and presentation of research findings.

You will learn how to apply quantitative and qualitative methods, covering key techniques including focus groups to collect data, supported by analysis methods including content analysis and thematic analysis. You will also learn to use a range of appropriate software tools, including Excel and SPSS.

This module will provide you with the knowledge and numerical and problem-solving skills that will boost your employability within any business environment. You will be able to assess the performance of a business’s profitability, solvency, financial structure and working capital management by analysing and interpreting their financial statements.

You will also be able to make decisions in relation to both short- and long-term decisions and decide how to use budgets for planning and control purposes. You will also be able to deal with risk and uncertainty in a decision-making situation.

In this module you will explore the nature of assurance and the role of the professional auditor.

You will learn about the practical aspects of assurance engagements, focusing on audit and its role in corporate reporting. You will also explore the theory supporting current audit practice, including audit risk and audit independence and liability. You will have the chance to engage with contemporary audit quality issues, the limitations of modern audit processes and related ethical conflicts. You will participate in ‘audit simulation’ and client ‘case studies’ activities alongside practice-based auditors.

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.

Year Three (Level 6)

Please note continuing students and direct entry students will study a different set of modules.

Continuing students

You will study one of three optional modules plus common modules.

The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to integrate the knowledge acquired during the programme and apply this to a consultancy project for a real organisation. This consultancy project provides a vehicle for participants to develop and demonstrate key employability skills, to relate theory to practice, and to undertake a significant piece of assessed work commensurate with a capstone module.

You will work on behalf of an external organisation, which has identified a business problem or question, requiring a solution, working in small group of typically 4 individuals (you will select their own team members), participating in group and individual activities. The host organisation will provide a project briefing, and review; students will be supported by appropriate academic input and guidance from Newcastle Business School in the form of a mentor and via the Business Clinic.

The Dissertation takes an enquiry research-based approach, providing you with the opportunity to examine, in depth, a  Management-related problem or issue of direct interest and/or that faces you from with your working life or work placement.  Initial weekly lectures build from the Level 5 ‘Management Research and Analysis’.  You then work guided by your supervisor to confirm your research area, to generate empirical (primary) or secondary data, to analyse this data and to draw theoretically informed conclusions.

The module aims to equip you with the necessary intellectual and practical skills for undertaking your individual learner-led, responsible, ethical investigation, while concurrently you will further develop key transferable, employability and enterprise skills including: problem-solving and analysis, creative-thinking, time and project management, negotiation, communication (written, aural and verbal), persuasion and influence, discovery, initiative.

The Management Enquiry module is your chance to undertake your own independent investigation into an applied business problem or issue. It builds on the knowledge you’ve already developed on the Management programmes, with initial lectures introducing you to the underpinning knowledge

and theories needed to get you started. Associated workshops then support you in putting this knowledge into practice, covering such topics as critically reviewing the literature, ethical research, and quantitative and qualitative research and analysis techniques.

Once you’ve submitted your enquiry proposal, you’ll work though one-to-one or small-group supervisions with your allocated supervisor. They’ll provide you with on-going formative feedback on your progress as you engage with the Management Enquiry process.

 

Direct entry students

Students directly joining on Level 6 will study the below modules plus common modules listed below.

This module will help you draw on your range of knowledge and skills developed during your studies to review research literature and evaluate business and management responses to a contemporary issue. You will undertake an individual investigation into an applied business problem related to your programme specialism.

Upon successful completion of the module, you will have an advanced understanding of a business topic of contemporary interest and a practical understanding of how to use research in evidence-based decision-making in a global business world. This module will make you aware of current issues and areas of importance within your chosen academic discipline, thus giving you an advantage in the employment market.

The focus on the contemporary knowledge base, supported by investigative study skills, will be useful for those students aspiring to higher-level studies such as Masters’ programme.

This module equips you with the necessary knowledge and transferable skills to enhance your employability, future career development and academic studies for final year undergraduate study.

The module has been designed to develop your academic skills to support your current studies and ensure your transition into higher education. You will enhance your academic writing skills, develop your critical thinking ability, understand the role and value of research and understand how to effectively use academic journals, all within the context of business and management.

This module will also support your future employability and career development, exploring and reflecting upon your knowledge, skills, personality, values and interests to support you in making well-informed career choices.

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.

 

Common modules (all students) 

In this module, you will learn about the context of responsible strategic thinking and how to identify and explore sustainable business opportunities as a source of competitive advantage. Working together with your academic tutor and your peers, you will engage in theoretical debates and challenge current business thinking and practices to further advance the application of responsible strategy within the complexities of the global business environment. You will gain an insight into responsible decision making and how it impacts internal and external stakeholders.

The module will make use of digital learning tools to support the students’ learning and skills development.

In 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.

By the end of this module you will develop critical evaluation skills necessary for your career. This will be gained through critically evaluating Strategic Management Accounting concepts and applying them to practice. You will acquire analytical, analysis and evaluating skills that are important for employment purposes.

The aim of this module is to equip you with the ability to comprehensively understand corporate reports, including financial statements. You will learn to analyse the performance of a company and critically evaluate the quality of the information given in its corporate reports, from an end user’s perspective.  This is essential for many business roles, and not limited to roles in finance.

In studying this module you will learn about current reporting issues both from an academic, research-based perspective, and from a practical, business perspective.  The assignment and the exercises you will be using for practice are based on actual company reports, so that you are working with and experiencing real world documents.

You will learn how to use appropriate technology to conduct research for your assignment.

Responsible financial management is at the heart of business decision making. How much should we spend? How much should raise the money? What sustainable value are we creating? These are all crucial international corporate finance questions. This module takes a holistic and reflective approach to your learning, with you developing a portfolio of your consideration of financial topics. You will engage with financial news stories in the Financial Times or Bloomberg and apply your learning on the module to them, as well as your reflections on financial documentaries, movies and leading applied research in the area which are available on the modules eLP. This module will develop you to have an awareness of contemporary financial events and the underpinning academic literature surrounding them, so that when you go for an interview with an employer you are able to display a reflective, evaluative and critical understanding of the financial challenges modern business face.

 

All modules on this course are core and 20 credits unless otherwise stated.

The course information displayed on this page is correct for the academic year 2024/25. We aim to run the course as advertised however, changes may be necessary due to updates to the curriculum (due to academic or industry developments), student demand or UK compliance reasons.

 

 

Tuition fee 2024/25

  • UK/Home students: £9,250 per annum
  • International students: £19,750 per annum

This course is eligible for student finance through Student Finance England (for eligible home students). For more information, please visit our dates & fees page.

Please note that your tuition fees do not include the cost of course books that you may choose to purchase, stationery, printing and photocopying, accommodation, living expenses, travel or any other extracurricular activities. As a Northumbria University London Campus student, you will have full access to our online digital library with over 400,000 e-books and 50,000 electronic journals.

The modules you will study do not require you to purchase additional textbooks although we recommend you allow an additional £250 for the duration of your studies should you choose to purchase any additional reading materials.

Information for international students

Northumbria University is committed to providing the best possible experience to all our students. To ensure you secure your place with us, we require our international students to pay a deposit towards their fees. More information can be found here.

Your tuition fees cover far more than your time in class with our expert academics, it covers the cost of providing you with excellent services and student experience.

  • Contact time in class – typically in lectures, seminars and tutorials
  • Access to facilities, including computers, on-campus Wi-Fi, printers, vending machines, quiet study spaces
  • The support of our Careers & Employment Service who help you to become more employable, secure placements and run workshops
  • Academic support – our ACE Team run multiple sessions on academic writing, presenting, exam techniques throughout the semester, as well as 1-2-1 appointments and drop-in sessions
  • Student support services such as our Ask4Help Service. Find out more about the services available to you on our Student Support page
  • Access to online resources, including a 24/ 7 Library with over 400,000 e-books and 50,000 electronic journals.

 

Scholarships and bursaries for international students

Depending on the country you are from, you may be eligible for a country bursary and/or scholarship when studying this undergraduate programme.

All of our scholarships and bursaries are automatically applied when we process your application and one of our team will be able to confirm your eligibility.

London Cost of Living Bursary

Eligible international students will receive an automatic bursary for £1,334, covering one month’s living costs in London*, applied at the Conditional Offer as a fee discount. This bursary is effective for intakes in January 2025 and May 2025. This offer excludes Pre-sessional English, standalone Graduate Certificate programmes and sponsored applicants.

If you receive this bursary, you may still be eligible for additional bursaries and scholarships, these will be confirmed at the Unconditional Offer stage. Full maintenance costs still need to be evidenced when applying for your visa.

This bursary is only available for international students from specific countries. Please visit our Scholarships page for more information.

*As defined by UKVI

Scholarships and bursaries

Payment plans for self-funded students

If you need support to spread the cost of your tuition, you may be eligible for our payment plan.

Payment plans

How to find out more

Enquire now to find more information about the course, studying with us, the application process, and to ask any other questions you may have.

Enquire now

Once you’re ready to apply, if you are a UK or a Home student, you will need to apply via UCAS. If you are an international student, you can apply to us directly following the below instructions.

UCAS applications – UK/ Home students

To apply through UCAS, you will need to use the following codes:

Institute UCAS code: N77
Course UCAS code: N421 (level 6), N422 (level 5)

Find out more about applying through UCAS here

How to apply

Direct applications – international students

We strongly recommend that you submit your application as early as possible to allow you to complete all of the preparations needed to study in the UK. After receiving an offer it can take time to arrange your finances and apply for your visa and it is important that you arrive in good time to enrol on your course. Please refer to the Dates and Fees page.

You can apply online to study the BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance. This method allows you to upload your supporting documents at the time of application and automatically receive your student application number.

Please note: For 2025 applications you will be redirected to the Northumbria website to select which intake you would like to apply for.

Apply for 2025
Year One entry*

Year Two entry

Year Three entry

 

*Please note: to join the first year of this programme you’ll need to apply to the International Year One in Business.

Supporting documents

For us to assess your application in a timely manner, it is important that you provide us with the following documents:

  • Fully completed application form
  • Personal email address must be included on the application form
  • Transcripts and/or certificates (including a certified translation if not English)
  • Passport – copy of personal details page
  • Proof of financial sponsorship if applicable
  • Reference
  • Confirmation of immigration history including copies of previous and current visas if applicable

You can check more information on how to apply here, including guidelines for the application forms.

Information For Disabled Applicants

At Northumbria University London we welcome applications from disabled students and are committed to ensuring an equal and accessible application journey. Your application will be considered on an equal basis to all other applications. Please contact us if you require any assistance. This website is continually optimised to adhere to accessibility best practice guidelines; tools to assist users with specific accessibility requirements have also been provided. More information is available in our accessibility statement.

 

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Course Information

Level of study:

Undergraduate degrees

2024/25 Tuition fee:

UK/Home Fee: £9,250 per year
International Fee: £19,750 per year

Entry requirements:

Entry points directly onto Year 2 and 3 available

English language requirements:

IELTS 6.0 with no single element below 5.5, or equivalent

Mode of study:

Full-time classroom

Duration:

1-2 years (depending on entry point)

Assessment methods:

Coursework

Scholarship or bursaries:

Available

Student finance:

Available

Payment plan:

Available

Starts:

January, September

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