BSc Accounting & Finance

Understand the business responses of global firms to the features and influences of the business environment. Appreciate the importance and impact of political, economic, social and cultural factors. Read, analyse, and compare different theoretical perspectives on globalisation, convergence and varieties of capitalism, strategic management, and the role and influence of multinational corporations in both the developed world and in developing countries.

Providing you with an understanding of some of the major theories of accounting, the regulatory environment for financial reporting, the techniques underlying current reporting practice. It will also enable you to prepare, read, critically evaluate and interpret financial statements, assess profit performance and understand the information requirements of investors.

You will learn to critically assess the factors that determine the optimal investment, financing and pay out decisions of a firm. Compute the cost of capital of a firm under alternative assumptions. Use alternative methods for valuing firms to gain important insights into value drivers. Discuss the main motives for mergers and acquisitions. Identify the reasons why firms raise capital. Solve structured numerical problems and write informed critiques of important topics in Corporate Finance theory. 

You will learn how to use quantitative tools for pricing stocks, bonds and derivatives, and for measuring risk and return. You will develop a sound understanding of the main theories and models for valuing financial market instruments, and will become aware of key empirical tests of asset valuation models and their implications.

The module builds on core concepts introduced in Year 1 and will further your understanding of how accounting is used within organisations for the planning, control and evaluation of activity with a special focus on the manager's role.  The module covers technical issues in cost management and performance measurement systems, and wider issues concerning the role of management accounting in shaping management structures and decisions in manufacturing and service contexts.

In your second year, you will begin to shape your degree by choosing two accounting or finance elective modules, allowing you to continue to focus your studies around accounting or finance or a mixture of both.Your eighth module can either be another accounting or finance module, a module from a different topic within WBS, or something from another department.

Examples of the modules that you could choose from are shown below: 

Accounting in Context

Explore theories, concepts and empirical material to develop your critical understanding of the power of accounting. This module delves into how accounting (including standard-setting) works and changes. You will investigate its impacts on us: what it enables in economies and societies, what can and does go wrong and what needs changing to deal with current challenges.

Economics of Strategy 

Understand fundamental concepts in micro and macroeconomics, as relevant for the study of strategic decisions of firms. Develop a range of appropriate analytical skills, including descriptive, graphical and elementary mathematical methods used in the economic analysis of strategy. Develop your capacity to apply analytical techniques to real world business problems and strategy choices. 

Finance Reporting 2

Building on Financial Reporting 1, this module aims to develop your understanding of the theories of accounting, the regulatory environment for financial reporting, corporate governance, the structure of group accounts and models of asset valuation; and to develop your ability to prepare, read, critically evaluate and interpret published annual reports in the light of the information requirements of the various stakeholder groups in the business.

Business Law 2 

Build upon your knowledge of contract law from Business Law 1, conduct independent research of set issues using a range of sources and work in teams to prepare and present reasoned arguments. Evaluate current law and reform proposals. 

Financial Econometrics 

Develop an understanding of the principles and techniques of modern financial econometrics. This module is an introduction to key econometric and statistical methods of empirical investigation in Finance and Financial Economics. You will learn how to select the most appropriate model specification and econometric setup to answer a research question in empirical Finance. Assess the robustness and power of statistical and econometric techniques for analysing financial data.