BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance

Year 1 Core Modules

You must study and pass all six core modules

Brief description

Business Analytics is generally thought to comprise three broad categories: descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics. You need no prior higher education experience in statistics.

Indicative content

• Descriptive statistics: Descriptive statistics to summarize data. Modifying data using Excel, measures of location, measures of variability, measures of association between two variables and data cleansing.
• Data visualisation: The most common forms of visualising data and when each form is appropriate. The human mind can process visual images such as charts much faster than it can interpret rows of numbers.
• Probability - modelling uncertainty: Basic relationships of probability, conditional probability, random variables and probability distributions.
• Descriptive data mining: Cluster analysis, association rules and text mining.
• Statistical inference: Sample selection, point estimation, sampling distributions, interval estimation, hypothesis tests.
• Simple linear regression: The least squares method and the fit of the model.
• Multiple linear regression: Extension of the simple linear regression model to incorporate multiple independent variables. Statistical inference in regressions, categorical independent variables, model fitting and prediction using regression models.
• Time series analysis and forecasting: Time series patterns, forecast accuracy, moving averages and using regression analysis for forecasting.

Brief description

Different forms of taxation and calculations. 

Indicative content

• Pension contributions: Registered pension schemes: Tax relief for contributions  by scheme members; Tax relief for contributions  by employers; Annual allowance charge; Lifetime allowance charge.
• Chargeable gains for individuals: Introduction to capital gains tax; Calculation of capital gains/losses and liabilities arising on disposals; basis of assessment; Rates of CGT; Administration of CGT; Chattels and wasting assets; Gains and losses on the disposal of shares and securities; CGT reliefs.
• Corporation tax and corporate groups: Introduction to corporation tax; Scope of corporation tax; Accounting periods; Taxable total profits; Trading income; Corporate chargeable gains; Computation and payment of  the corporation tax liability; Corporation tax losses; Close companies and investment companies; consortia; Groups of companies and reconstructions. 
• Value added tax: Principles; Taxable persons and supplies; exemptions, zero rated, partly exempt businesses; Registration and Deregistration; Accounting for VAT; Administration of VAT.
• Inheritance tax: Chargeable transfers of value; The use of exemptions in deferring and minimising inheritance tax liabilities; Inheritance tax payable on chargeable lifetime transfers; Inheritance tax payable on death; Valuation; Business property relief; Agricultural property relief; Administration of Inheritance tax.
• Overseas taxation: Residence and domicile; Double taxation relief ; Diverted profits tax ;controlled foreign companies; Overseas aspects of personal and corporate taxation.

Brief description

Techniques used in financial and management accounting.

Indicative content

• Basic financial accounting: Double-entry bookkeeping. Internal Control: errors - their prevention, detection and correction; accounting ledger systems, trial balance, suspense accounts and journals. 
• Incomplete records: Preparation of final accounts of a limited company from incomplete records, and prepare bank reconciliation statement. 
• Accounting for costs: Accounting for material: FIFO, LIFO, Weighted Average. Accounting for labour: labour costs, idle time, incentives and labour turnover. 
• Pricing methods and pricing decisions: Cost plus, target costing, price skimming, penetration pricing 
• Budgeting: The context of budgets. Approaches to budgeting. Interpreting and acting on budgets. Preparation of functional budgets from given data. Budgeting and performance analysis in not-for-profit organisations and the public sector 
• Taxation: The impact of taxation on companies, calculating corporation tax.

Brief description

The fundamental areas of civil law.and an understanding of the 'legal system' in general. 

Indicative content

• Legal systems: The nature of law; the distinction between civil and criminal law;sources of law; the structure of the courts; impact of EU law on Scots law.
• Contract: Nature and formation; essential features and validity; terms of the contract; breach of contract; extinction of contractual obligations.
• Delict: Nature of delict; culpa and negligence; strict and vicarious liability; Consumer Protection Act 1987; defences to an action in delict.
• Employment law and business organisations: Nature of employment and contractual relationship; unfair and wrongful dismissal; health and safety in the workplace. Business Organisations and legal framework - Law of Agency, Partnerships and Company law.

Brief description

The basics of management accounting in its role in shaping long term decisions, in planning and in control and presenting reports to management.

Indicative content

• Further issues in costing: Overhead allocation, apportionment and absorption; compilation of process costing statements and joint costing statements using FIFO and Weighted Average considering opening and closing stocks; throughput costing.
• Marginal costing: Cost-volume profit analysis for multi-product. Absorption and Marginal costing compared.
• Capital investment appraisal: Investment appraisal methods; Net Present Value, Payback, Internal Rate of Return and Accounting Rate of Return. Strengths and weaknesses of these methods. Sensitivity analysis applied to capital investment appraisal. 
• Working capital: The nature and importance of working capital. Management of working capital. Determining working capital needs. 
• Variance analysis: Calculation and interpretation of variances. Reconciliation of actual to planned performance by means of variances. Distinguish between planning and operational and operational variances. Role of MRP and ERP systems in supporting standard costing systems.Material mix and yield variances, sales mix and quantity variances.

Brief description

This module seeks to expose students¿ to regulatory frameworks that underpin the preparation of financial statements for different forms of business organisations. It also seeks to develop students¿ ability to prepare partnership accounts and limited liability companies¿ general-purpose financial statement based on relevant standards issued by the IASB.

Indicative content

• Introduction to accounting and reporting frameworks: Accounting framework for a sole trader, a partnership and a limited liability company.
• Partnerships: Legal background. appropriations, admissions/retirements, dissolutions and conversion to a limited company.
• Financial statements for limited liability companies: Preparation and presentation of general purpose financial statements based on the provisions of relevant IASs/IFRSs issued by IASB.
• Accounting treatments for current assets (inventories IAS2, trade receivables)
• 5. Accounting treatments for non-current assets (tangible/intangible/impairment IAS36)
• Calculation and interpretation of accounting ratios and trends; Earnings per shareIAS33 limitations of ratios. 
• Prepare and report financial performance to address financial information users and stakeholder needs. 
• Financial Reporting and basic group accounting with associates IFRS3, IFRS10

Year 3 Core Modules

You must study and pass all three core modules

Brief description

The use of management accounting for management control and advanced numerical techniques in decision-making.

Indicative content:

• Control: Divisional performance appraisal. Transfer pricing. Aspects of modern management practice and accounting issues within different sectors (including social enterprise). Business Plans and management reports. Life-cycle costing.
• Decision analysis: An introduction to Activity Based Costing and Activity Based Management. Decisions under uncertainty, including decision trees and the value of information.
• Strategic management accounting techniques: Value Management: value chain analysis, economic value added. The use of strategic management accounting techniques within an organisation: target costing, linear programming, Learning Curve and Experience Curve and Regression analysis and cost estimation and other forecasting techniques. Performance analysis in NPF organisations and the public sector.

Brief description

Introduction to corporate finance. Gain knowledge of the main sources of corporate finance and the ability to apply key techniques to use and manage finance in large and small organisations.

Indicative content:

• Time value of money: Future Value and Present Value; Annuities and Perpetuities; Quotes rates, Effective Annual Rate and Annual Percentage Rate.
• Bond valuation: Bond Pricing; Bond Ratings; Interest Rate Risk; Determination of Bond Yields.
• Equity valuation: Ordinary and Preference Shares; Cash Flow Valuation.
• Capital budgeting: Net Present Value, Payback Rule and Other Investment Criteria; Pro forma Financial Statements; Special Cases of Discounted Cash Flow; Scenario Analysis; Sensitivity Analysis; Break-Even Analysis.
• Risk and return: Expected Returns and Variances; Systemic and Unsystematic Risk; Diversification and Portfolio Risk; Systemic Risk and Beta; the Security Market Line and CAPM.
• Cost of capital: The Cost of Equity; the Cost of Debt and Preference Shares; the Weighted Average Cost of Capital.
• Financial leverage and capital structure policy: The effect of Financial Leverage; Capital Structure and the Cost of Equity; Modigliani & Miller Propositions and the value of the firm; Optimal Capital Structure; the Pecking-Order Theory.
• Dividends and pay-out policy: Cash Dividends and Dividend Payments; Does Dividend Policy Matter? Low vs. High-Dividend Pay-out; Shares Repurchases.
• Short-term financial planning and management: Reasons for holding Cash; Understanding Float; Investing Idle Cash; Determining the Target Cash Balance; Optimal Credit Policy; Inventory Management.

Brief description

The application of financial accounting theory and practice to current issues in accounting, and the development of international financial accounting theory and practice.

Indicative content:

• Statements of cash flows IAS7: Preparation of statements of cash flows. Cash and cash equivalents; classification of cash flows by activities, Indirect and direct methods. The Interests, dividends and taxes on cash flows. Working capital changes and cash flows.
• Accounting for groups: The conceptual basis of accounting for the investment of one entity in another entity; preparation of group accounts including inter- company balances, unrealised profit on inter-company sales and acquisitions during the year.
• Accounting treatments under IAS and IFRS: Provisions IAS37, post balance sheet events IAS10 Leases, IAS17, IFRS16 Financial instruments. IAS32, IAS39, IFRS7, IFRS9.

Year 3 Option Modules

You must study and pass one option module from Term 1 and two from Term 2

Brief description

How companies can improve their competitiveness by using digital solutions.Exploiting technology to transform service delivery through Internet portals, intra-corporate connected environments, social networks. Transforming internal processes and ways of working with partners are strategic issues considered by most organisations, both large and small. 

Indicative content

• Meaning and scope of e-business and e-commerce: Introduction and overview: current trends and issues. The evolution of e-business.
• Analysis of firm's external environment: The macro-environment and implications for e-business ventures. Defining industry, segments and target markets for e-business.
• Analysis of firm's internal environment: The meaning of core competence in e-business; the four virtual spaces of the ICDT framework for interaction with customers; the meaning of the company's value chain and value network.
• Foundations of value creation in e-business: Understanding of what the value is and elements that contribute to value creation; the value grid and levers of e-value creation.
• Dealing with disruptive innovations in e-business: Successful imitation and the barriers to imitation; how companies can assess the threat of a disruptive innovation; the ways to deal with a disruptive innovation in e- business. The trade-off between richness and reach in e-business; customer relationship management in the digital context; the concept of mass-customisation.Business models and revenue models in digital business; Digital transformation: a blend of digital technology, people, innovation and creativity; Doing digital (i.e. tactical solutions) vs being digital (i.e. strategic solutions); Implementation by creating a competitive advantage; Protecting digital business from imitation.

Brief description

The societal and political pressures organisations face to rapidly reach achieve zero carbon emissions. Develop the skills needed to evaluate an organisation's current environmental impact and create and implement a new strategy to reduce this impact. 

Indicative content

• Examine why environmental stewardship is important for any business to pursue, and why that importance will likely grow stronger in the future.
• Methods for evaluating an organisations current environmental impact
• Defining initiatives that fill gaps between the current state and the future vision and constructing a roadmap for achieving the vision.
• To introduce and explain business process transformation methodologies, with supporting technology and tools, that focus on increasing operational efficiency and reducing waste. E.g. IBM’s Green Sigma methodology.
• Frameworks for developing and implementing a green strategy, and illustrate the benefits many organisations have realised in each strategic area.

Brief description

The theory of policy development and its effects on organisations and vice versa. 

Indicative content

• What is public policy: The process by which governments translate their political vision and ideologies into programmes and actions to deliver outcomes and desired changes in the real world. 
• The policy process: The foundations, importance and goals of public policy. The stages of the policy cycle and the political factors that influence them.
• Theories of power and the policy process: Apply the theory such as, Rational Actor Theory and Institutional theory to real-world policy case studies. 
• How organisations shape and impact on policy: How organisations and industry representatives such as lobbyists can inform, persuade, pressure and influence governments, policy makers and public policy to help serve their interests. 
• Public policy and the operation of organisations: How public policies and government influence markets for sustainable businesses; Why public policy is important to sustainable business and business more generally; Key influencers and the impacts of relationship of public policy and why public policymaking does not always serve the public interest.

Direct entrants to stge 3 can also choose this module as one of their two.

ANF206 Tax 2

Brief description

Introduction to financial markets and institutions. The role, functions and tools of the financial services industry in the context of both domestic economies and the world economy and international trade.

Module content:

• Money and the financial system: The Six Parts of the Financial System; What is Money and How Can We Measure It? The Payment System.
• Bond markets and interests rates: The Bond Market and the Determination of Interests Rates; Ratings and the Risk Structure of Interests Rates; The Yield Curve; Theories of the Term Structure of Interests Rates.
• Stock markets and derivatives: The Essential Characteristics of Common Stock; Measuring the Level of the Stock Market; Investing in Stocks for the Long Run; What are Derivatives?; Forwards and Futures; Options; Swaps.
• Financial institutions: The Role of Financial Intermediaries; Information Asymmetries and Information Costs; Bank Management; Bank Risk: Where it comes from and what to do about it?
• Central banking and monetary policy: Understanding the Central Bank's Balance Sheet; Monetary Base; the Money Multiplier and Money Supply; Monetary Policy; Unconventional Monetary Policy Tools.
• Regulation and financial crises: The Need for Regulating the Financial System; The Government Safety Net; Regulation and Supervision of the Financial System; Financial Crises.
• Foreign exchange: Exchange Rates Determination and Foreign Exchange Markets.
• Current topics on financial markets and institutions: The Euro Debate; Socially Responsible Investment; Islamic Finance; Microcredit.

Brief description

Spend a specified time in a business environment working in an area related to your programme.

Module content:

• Placement preparation: Placement workshops (max 3 x 1 hour) to prepare for the placement, including CV preparation. Discuss placement options with placement tutor.
• Placement briefing: Responsibilities of all parties involved; expectations; professional conduct.
• Experiential learning: Supervised placement carried out 1 day per week for 10 weeks (preferred structure) or 10-day block; feedback; employer assessment, student reflection on performance while on placement.
• Placement check: Discussions between the placement tutor, student and employer to ensure satisfactory progress is being made.
• Placement presentation: Poster presentation on your placement learning and employability skills development, and on learning through experience to peers and employers.
• Business investigation/Business project: Research within the placement organisation, a business/management issue, or participate in a workplace project and report on the findings/outcomes.

Brief description

The challenges facing contemporary business organisations in an operating context in which they are expected not only to demonstrate an economic contribution and shareholder value, but increasingly, to do so in a manner that reflects the interests of a range of stakeholder groups and being sustainable.

Indicative content

• The changing context of business: The changing nature of organisations: from industrial to post-industrial society; globalisation structures, processes and arguments; 
• Sustainable business practice: Corporate social responsibility and The Business and Society Relationship; Corporate Citizenship: Social Responsibility, Responsiveness, and Business Performance 
• Employee well being at work: Employees as stakeholders: issues relating to privacy, safety and employee well-being 
• The role of third sector organisations; Social and economic exclusion and business; understanding the conditions of inequality and social exclusion; factors influencing social mobility, The social contribution of third sector organisations
• Corporate social responsibility:  Public Policy and governance: public and third sector 

Brief description

The skills and knowledge needed to launch a small business successfully. Acquire the personal and professional skills needed in order to develop a professional career and/or to succeed as entrepreneurs in Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Indicative content

• An introduction to entrepreneurship and an analysis of the skills and qualities associated with successful entrepreneurs.
• Generating successful business ideas.
• Environmental scanning.
• Developing a credible business plan that includes evaluating business ideas. Assessing risk and uncertainty; identifying potential customers, markets and market segments; assessing operations, USP and competition; price vs quality and profits.
• Presenting the business idea.

Year 4 Core Modules

You must study and pass all five core modules

Brief description

Financial accounting in the context of international business and the financial reporting and accounting complications caused by multinational business activities. 

Module content: 

• International financial reporting and harmonisation: Drivers for international financial reporting; accounting as an international language of business; general financial reporting models; the process of harmonisation and the theory of international disclosure.
• The concept of valuation in accounting: Income measurement and capital maintenance; Income measurement under the conditions of certainty and uncertainty.
• Accounting for changing prices: Criticism against historical cost accounting; current purchasing power accounting; replacement cost accounting; realisable value accounting and current value accounting; fair value measurement and IFRS 13.
• Accounting treatments for Government Grants.
• Accounting treatments for pensions and foreign currency transactions.

Brief description

Corporate finance issues. Develop the ability to critically evaluate and synthesise issues in the control and decision- making process of multinational corporations.

Indicative content:

• The international financial environment: Overview of the MNC and the environment in which it operates (Goals of the MNC, international flow of funds, international financial markets).
• Exchange rates: Factors that affect exchange rates (Determination of exchange rates, links between inflation, exchange rates and interest rates). 
• Managing exchange rate risk: Functions involved in managing exposure to exchange rate risk (measuring exposure to exchange rate movements, hedging that exposure). 
• Management of long-term assets and liabilities: How MNCs manage long-term assets and liabilities (information needs, capital budgeting, cost of capital, country risk, long-term financing decisions, international portfolio investment). 
• MNC portfolio investment: Domestic and international investment in real projects and financial investments.

Brief description

Prepare for graduate recruitment by ensuring you have the professional skills required in the workplace.

Indicative content

• Analysing the job market: Determining the type of job you would like to move into. Thinking about sectors and finding out what employers want. 
• Skills audit: Undertaking a skills audit. 
• Preparing for work: Understanding the trends in the chosen field of employment and employers’ requirements for staff. 
• Topic specific activity: Options for study of different skills and knowledge.

Brief description

The analytical tools to make sound investment decisions. 

Indicative content

• The investment environment: The risk-return trade-off and the efficient pricing of financial assets are central to the investments process. The role of financial markets and their degree of efficiency is an important factor to support investors.
• Fixed-income securities: Debt securities are often called fixed-income securities because they promise either a fixed stream of income or one that is determined according to a specified formula. These securities have the advantage of being relatively easy to understand because the payment formulas are specified in advance and there is no uncertainty about the size and time of their payments.
• Equity valuation: The price of a stock depends on the dividend and earnings that can be expected from the firm. In analysing a firm’s prospects, it often makes sense to start with the broad economic environment, examining the state of the aggregate economy and even the international economy. This analysis combined with the appropriate equity valuation model provides the guidance to the investor to operate in financial markets.
• Portfolio theory and practice: Introduction to Risk, Return and the Historical Record. Risk Aversion and Capital Allocation to Risky Assets. Optimal Risky Portfolios.
• Options, futures and other derivatives: Introduction to Option Markets. Option Valuation. Futures Markets. Futures, Swaps and Risk Management.
• Behavioural finance and technical analysis: Understanding the behavioural critique. Technical Analysis and Behavioural Finance.

Brief description

Students will be expected to undertake some practical research in response to a current business need of a real company and produce a suitable management report with recommendations.

Indicative content

• Analysing a problem: Using different analysis techniques such as data flow diagrams, entity relationship modelling and process mapping, examine problems to better understand the current position of the business.
• Innovation and innovation techniques: Using different creativity and innovation tools to help find solutions to business problems.
• Innovation for global growth (IGG): Work with multiple organisations - public, private and third sector, on a challenge they currently face. This will provide a scoping opportunity for the problem and a chance to test possible solutions. Prior to this event take part in discussions on professional behaviour and communication.
• Developing and presenting the solution: Take the solutions identified during IGG and further investigate their suitability. Develop one or more solutions to provide an implementation plan for the organisation.

Year 4 Option Modules

You must study and pass one option modules of your choosing.

Brief description

The essential components of modern corporate finance, equity investment and ethical and professional standards.

Indicative content

• Capital budgeting: Investment appraisal methods, strengths and weaknesses of these methods, cash flow projections, project analysis and evaluation, sensitivity analysis.
• Capital structure: MM propositions without taxes and with taxes, agency theory and agency costs, pecking order theory, trade-off theory, market timing theory etc., practical issues in capital structure policy.
• Working capital management: Inventories management, accounts receivable management, accounts payable management, cash management, treasury management, working capital funding strategies.
• Corporate governance: Definitions, agency theory, conflict between managers and shareholders, conflict between majority shareholders and minority shareholders, a variety of governance mechanisms, such as ownership structure, board of directors, executive compensation, corporate control market, and shareholder activism etc., corporate governance codes around the world.
• Portfolio management and cost of capital: Capital allocation line (CAL), capital market line (CML), security market line (SML), the beta coefficient, the market risk premium, and the Sharpe ratio, WACC, CAPM, APT, Fama & French three-factor model.
• Market efficiency and equity valuation: Weak market efficiency, semi-strong market efficiency, strong market efficiency, behavioural finance, discounted dividend valuation, free cash flow valuation, market-based valuation, residual income valuation, private company valuation, applications and processes of equity valuation.
• Ethics and professional conduct: Components of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct, responsibilities required by the Code and Standards, practices and procedure designed to prevent violations of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct, CFA research objectivity standards.

Brief description

The analytical tools to make sound investment decisions. 

Indicative content:

• The investment environment: The risk-return trade-off and the efficient pricing of financial assets are central to the investments process. The role of financial markets and their degree of efficiency is an important factor to support investors.
• Fixed-income securities: Debt securities are often called fixed-income securities because they promise either a fixed stream of income or one that is determined according to a specified formula. These securities have the advantage of being relatively easy to understand because the payment formulas are specified in advance and there is no uncertainty about the size and time of their payments.
• Equity valuation: The price of a stock depends on the dividend and earnings that can be expected from the firm. In analysing a firm’s prospects, it often makes sense to start with the broad economic environment, examining the state of the aggregate economy and even the international economy. This analysis combined with the appropriate equity valuation model provides the guidance to the investor to operate in financial markets.
• Portfolio theory and practice: Introduction to Risk, Return and the Historical Record. Risk Aversion and Capital Allocation to Risky Assets. Optimal Risky Portfolios.
• Options, futures and other derivatives: Introduction to Option Markets. Option Valuation. Futures Markets. Futures, Swaps and Risk Management.
• Behavioural finance and technical analysis: Understanding the behavioural critique. Technical Analysis and Behavioural Finance.

Brief description

Introduction to international trade. A practical guide to sell abroad profitably including the legal regimes applicable.

Indicative content:

• Introduction to world trade: The economic rationale for international trade, barriers to trade and international markets. World Bank data, current trade developments.
• Building the foundations for exporting: Are you ready for export? Writing an export Business Plan, prepping for exports.
• Creating and using online marketing platforms: Online fundamentals, creating a social media and networking presence, marketing your business worldwide.
• Mapping your export journey: Choosing a product to export, exploring your territory, preparing and adapting your product for the export marketplace.
• Managing the transactions: Transport, logistics and fulfilment options; pricing and preparing quotations; getting paid.
• Some policies of the institutions and organisations: For example the Generalised System of Preferences and the incorporation of Development issues into International Trade regulation.
• The effect on business of the International Regulation: To include the Vienna Sales Convention 1980, with a UK focus, letters of credit, cross border guarantees, international carriage of goods, by land, sea and air.

Brief description

Contemporary accounting, business and management issues and to gain an in-depth understanding of current thinking. 

Indicative content

• Business and management: Contemporary issues in general management 
• Human resource management: Contemporary issues in human resource management, organisation theory and structure
• Marketing: Contemporary issues in marketing  
• Accounting and finance: Contemporary issues in accounting and finance