BA Honours Accounting and Finance

In Year 1 you will learn to use CIMA Sage accounting software and gain an official CIMA Sage user’s certificate. Middlesex was the first university in the UK to provide certified CIMA Sage training. From the second year onwards you will choose from an extensive range of modules that explore the broader business environment, and gain an understanding of the pivotal role of accounting to the success of organisations across the globe. You will develop transferable skills to support you in your career journey, such as advanced analytical thinking and problem solving. You will learn how to work effectively in teams as both a leader and collaborator and become a confident communicator both written and verbally, ensuring you can communicate effectively in a business environment.

There are six compulsory modules in the first year. These modules are designed to give a solid grounding in the subject and bring all students to a standard level of competence to pursue further study in the subject.

In the second year you will study three compulsory modules: two are designed to enhance your capabilities in areas of financial accounting and management accounting while the third is Business Law.

The financial and management accounting module that you study in year two depends on the grade achieved in year one. You need to get a grade 8 or above in Financial/Management Accounting (ACC1110/ACC1115) to study the exemptions bearing Advanced Financial /Management Accounting (ACC2120/ACC2125) respectively otherwise you will study Applied Financial/Management Accounting (ACC2810/ACC2820). You will choose one optional module.

In the final year you will study four compulsory modules designed to advance skills and knowledge appropriate to graduate level. You will choose one optional module.

In the second and third years, you are required to devote more time to ethics, governance and controversial accounting principles. You will study accounting rules and apply accounting skills. There is more emphasis on discussion, critical evaluation, reflection and anticipation of likely future developments.

Please refer to our Academic Calendar for further information: http://www.mdx.ac.ae/life-at-university/academic-calendar

Module and programme information is indicative and may be subject to change.

Note: Both core and optional modules are constantly updated and under review. As with most academic programmes, please remember that it is possible that a module may not be offered in any particular year, for instance because too few students opt for it. Middlesex University reserves the right to vary or withdraw any course or module.

• Year 1
  • Financial Accounting (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module is an introduction to bookkeeping and financial accounting. Its main aim is to provide students with the basic techniques and skills required in order to record transactions by the method known in accounting as double entry and then prepare a set of single company accounts based on those records. Students will also start to be able to interpret the accounts prepared by others.
  • Management Accounting (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module aims to provide an understanding of the basic concepts of management accounting. The techniques learned on this module will form the basis for future studies and include investment decision making, the classification and interpretation of cost behaviour in decision making and control.
  • Corporate Responsibility and Ethics (15 Credits) - Compulsory This module introduces the concepts of corporate responsibility and business ethics. It aims to introduce knowledge of key stakeholders, together with the rights and responsibilities that businesses have in connection with them. It explores external influences that affect a business in its environment and examines how behaviour at all levels within business should be underpinned by accepted professional ethics and professional values. The module also provides an opportunity to research and debate how a business should respond to ethical concerns and how it should discharge its corporate responsibility.
  • Financial Business Environment (15 Credits) - Compulsory This module aims to provide you with an understanding of economics from a business perspective. This includes an understanding of how competition, the behaviour of the financial markets and government economic policy can influence an organisation as well as providing the ability to apply economic theory in both microeconomic and macroeconomic contexts.
  • Accounting Information Systems (15 Credits) - Compulsory This module aims to introduce the significant role accounting information plays in each fundamental business transaction process. You will learn to analyse and handle information using accounting systems and advanced IT techniques.
  • Financial Data Analysis (15 Credits) - Compulsory This module provides a thorough grounding of the basic statistical methods and computer software for the analysis and presentation of accounting and economic data. It caters for students with some prior mathematical knowledge, and while students are expected to complete mathematical calculations by hand and using a computer the emphasis is on the interpretation and communication of quantitative results.
• Year 2
  • Applied Management Accounting OR Advanced Management Accounting (30 Credits) - Compulsory

    This module examines the application of management accounting information and its influence on management behaviour and decision making. It will provide you with an opportunity to apply, interpret and analyse management accounting techniques and will enable you to consider their wider and strategic uses. The module will explore the impact on organisations of strategic issues of contemporary management accounting.

    Please note that you will either complete this module OR the Advanced Management Accounting module depending on your results in the Management Accounting module of Year 1.

    This module aims to provide a critical understanding of the management accounting techniques and practices available today and the development of recent advances in methods of overhead cost allocation to reflect the changing nature of modern business.

  • Applied Financial Accounting OR Advanced Financial Accounting (30 Credits) - Compulsory

    This module aims to develop your knowledge of financial accounting techniques and practices by introducing issues which involve more than one possible accounting treatment and examining the impact of international regulatory frameworks. You are encouraged to adopt a critical attitude to the quality of corporate reporting, particularly in areas of non-mandatory narrative disclosures such as corporate social responsibility and governance.

    Please note that you will either complete this module OR the Advanced Financial Accounting module depending on your results in the Financial Accounting module of Year 1.

    This module enables you to extend your knowledge of the principles and techniques used in financial accounting and reporting. You will develop the ability to understand and critically analyse key techniques and practices within the framework of financial accounting and reporting. You will also develop and refine your transferable skills, including communication, presentation skills, critical analysis, time management and team-working.

  • Business Law (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module will examine the laws regulating the conduct of business and business organisations. The first part of the module sets the context and provides essential material on English Business law (English Legal system, Contract, Tort & Employment) whilst the second part covers Company law and Corporate Governance.
  • Operations Management (30 Credits) - Optional This module aims to broaden and expand students knowledge of the concepts and techniques required for the design, operation and control of business processes. Cases and practical exercises are relevant to a variety of commercial, manufacturing and service organisations. The module builds on the IT and quantitative skills developed in the first year.
  • Personal Financial Behaviour (30 Credits) - Optional The aim of the first part of this module is to introduce a variety of personal finance products and issues so as to increase your financial literacy. The second part will give you an understanding of personal financial behaviour. This includes an understanding of how market anomalies, financial bubbles, fake news and manipulations in financial markets can influence individual financial decision making as well as providing the ability to apply cognitive and emotional behaviour biases in irrational behaviour contexts.
  • Financial Project Management (30 Credits) - Optional This module aims to introduce the techniques and practices in project management. The first part of the module is designed to examine the conceptual framework and key theories that underpins each phase of project management. The second part critically evaluates project optimisation mechanisms and explores ethical issues in project management. You will have the opportunity to manage a simulated project throughout the time of this module.
  • Financial Mathematics (30 Credits) - Optional This module explores the mathematics that underlies financial processes and financial decision making, and complements the study of these areas in economics and accounting. Specific areas include probability, extending interest ideas to annuities and bonds, modelling financial data using time series models and Markov chains, applying discrete methods for option pricing, and using utility to make decisions in risky environments.
• Year 3
  • Corporate Finance (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module aims to provide you with a conceptual understanding of contemporary corporate finance and the practical tools and techniques for the financial decision-making process. The module explores the main aspects of financial management, including capital budgeting and investment decision-making, capital structure and finance decision-making, and working capital management. It will enable you to form a critical appreciation of the link between accounting and finance, and the interaction between financial decision-making and capital market behaviour.
  • Ethics and Sustainability (15 Credits) - Compulsory The aim of this module is to provide you with the critical tools and mindset to analyse and identify responses to modern ethical business challenges. You will be sensitised to different ways of thinking, learning from debating and collaborating with your peers from different cultural backgrounds so as to build your methodological, analytical and communication skills.
  • Taxation (30 Credits) - Compulsory This module aims to introduce students to UK personal and business taxation. It deals with the fundamental principles of UK tax law and practice, including the computation of tax liabilities. This leads students to tackle more complex computational problems and to identify tax planning opportunities. Students are also introduced to tax software packages, and gain hands on experience of their use.
  • Accounting Theory (15 Credits) - Compulsory This module examines accounting theory and its influence in accounting. The module aims to provide students with an opportunity to evaluate and apply different strands of accounting theory to research in accounting. The first part of the module is designed to provide an in-depth exploration of philosophical debates connected to the generation of knowledge, whilst connecting such debates to those currently employed in accounting. The second part module enables students to undertake a research investigation into an accounting area.