Overview
Accounting and finance data informs business decision-making every day so it is vital for organisations to employ accounting and finance professionals who understand how to meet business objectives.
Our MAcc Accounting and Finance offers you an integrated Bachelors and Masters degree, allowing you to progress seamlessly from your undergraduate to postgraduate studies within a single course.
We not only teach you how financial information underpins leadership, strategy and planning, but how financial decisions can impact society and the economy. We develop your understanding of governance and ethics, so you can take actions for the good of organisations and the wider world. You further your understanding of advanced accounting and corporate finance and can tailor your studies to your professional ambitions by choosing from a range of optional modules.
You explore areas such as:
- the preparation of financial statements and budgets
- accounting standards and corporate governance
- financial theory
- portfolio management
- options and futures markets
- risk management
MAcc Accounting and Finance includes an introductory first year to familiarise you with wider business topics, such as management, marketing and economics.
In your third year, you have the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice by completing an in-depth, independent research project or dissertation. This will give you the chance to further develop vital employability skills in areas of research, time management and critical thinking. You will further supplement this with the development of your own research portfolio in your final year.
Essex is one of just three UK universities to have received Q-Step Affiliate status, including for our MAcc Accounting and Finance course, to support the way we develop the quantitative skills of our graduates.
This means we can provide work placement bursaries to develop your skills in evaluating numerical information, analysing data and designing research. We also offer the opportunity to follow a specialised degree path, where you graduate with enhanced quantitative skills. These are evidenced on your degree transcript, to help give you the competitive edge in the graduate job market.
MAcc Accounting and Finance is taught at Essex Business School. Our finance group is one of the largest and most respected in the country and our students and staff join us from all over the world.
Essex Business School is an Investment Management Certificate (IMC) Advantage Partner and this course is aligned to the IMC syllabus, the industry’s benchmark entry-level qualification. This means that upon graduation you will have completed up to 70% of the IMC qualification which will help you complete the full qualification in a shorter time frame than most other graduates.
Study abroad
The five-year version of this course enables you to study abroad during your third year. In all other areas, this version of the course remains identical to the standard four-year variant.
You can study abroad with one of our exchange partners in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Middle East, Hong Kong and Japan. In doing so, you experience other cultures and languages, meet new people, and gain intercultural skills that are sought-after by employers.
Placement year
Alternatively, you may decide to take on a placement year to gain relevant work experience within an organisation. A placement year can give you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and provide you with key contacts within the industry.
The Student Development Team can offer bespoke support throughout the process of researching, applying and interviewing for placements. However, it is your responsibility to apply, prepare for and secure your own role. We also offer a number of other employability opportunities during your studies. Our students have gained placements with organisations such as BMW, Samsung and Cummins.
Our expert staff
You learn from academics and industry practitioners whose research continues to have a real-world impact. Many of our highly qualified and enthusiastic team are published in world-leading journals.
Our staff specialise in areas including:
- accounting and economic development in the public and third sectors
- regulation and corporate social responsibility
- finance and banking
- accounting and finance in emerging economies
- corporate governance in developing countries
- contemporary financial markets and their participants
Our staff embed the latest research into your course, so you learn about real-world issues affecting business right now.
Professor Thankom Arun is a Professor of Global Development and Accountability in the Accounting Group at Essex Business School. His interdisciplinary research aims to understand the uneven relationships in finance, accounting and development, particularly in emerging nations. You will benefit from Professor Arun’s contemporary research into emerging economies which informs his approach to the application of accountancy theories.
Specialist facilities
Our MAcc Accounting and Finance is based at our Colchester Campus.
In our landmark Essex Business School building – the first zero carbon business school in the UK – you’ll see our sustainable approach to business first-hand. Set around a lush winter garden, it features a wealth of inspiring teaching and study zones.
Our custom-designed building provides you with superb facilities:
- a virtual trading floor with Bloomberg Terminals offering direct use of Bloomberg data, information and analytics
- access to X_TRADER, industry-leading software for trading multiple markets from a single screen
- light and spacious lecture theatres with ‘listen again’ recording to aid your study
- study pods and innovation booths for group working
- a café and adjacent foyer to enjoy on-site fresh food and drink
- study skills support provided by the Essex Business School Learning Team
Why we’re great
- This course offers you an integrated Bachelors and Masters, allowing you to progress seamlessly from your undergraduate to postgraduate studies.
- You’re taught by industry renowned academics and practitioners in the fields of accounting and finance.
- We teach you to be accountable, act ethically and make financial decisions that positively impact both organisations and society.
Structure
Course structure
The structure of this course provides you with an in-depth look at key areas of both accounting and finance. As well as modules focussing mainly on producing financial statements, you’ll also put these into perspective and learn how managers use accounting and financial information to make decisions.
In the first year our current students cover wider business topics that every manager needs to know. However, we are planning some changes to our first year and we’ll be tailoring it more closely to your chosen course. In second and third year you’ll have optional modules to make your course truly unique. In your final year you’ll take Masters modules to take your learning to the next level.
We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists. ?Please be aware that we are planning changes to our first year to make it more relevant to your chosen course.
Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.
Teaching and learning disclaimer
Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.
The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.
