Skip to content

ASP._Page_site_elements_razor_entry_records_course_record_cshtml

What makes Accounting and Finance at Worcester special?

Our degree in accounting and finance aims to build your skills portfolio for a rewarding career in business, in the field of accountancy or finance.  You'll actively engage with employers and the leading professional bodies during your time at the University, as you position yourself to enter this highly influential sector.

With its strong focus on business sustainability, including environmental, social and governance issues, this degree will show you're a highly analytical, numerate and commercially-driven graduate. You'll also be able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills that employers value, and have the opportunity to gain 'real world' experience through the optional placement year.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • In the latest graduate activities survey 100% of graduates are in work or further study 15 months after completing the course
  • Gain exemptions from professional exams (as attached handbook), plus Associate Membership of the IFA
  • Enhance your employability in a one-year paid placement, internships, consultancy projects and company visits
  • Compete for the Hereford & Worcester Chamber of Commerce prize for 'Outstanding Performance in Accountancy & Finance', the Bishop Fleming Award for ‘Excellence in Financial Reporting’, the Haines Watts ‘Audit Excellence Award’, and the Ormerod Rutter Award for 'Excellence in Taxation'
  • Experience international cultures through opportunities to work and study abroad  

Register your interest

Enter your details below and we will keep you up to date with useful information about studying at the University of Worcester.


Accounting and Finance partner logos

Exemptions and Memberships

Our accounting and finance degree is designed for maximum exemptions from professional examinations, including:

  • ACCA
  • ICAEW
  • CIMA
  • CIPFA

You will also be able to apply for Associate Membership of the IFA.

"The University is in a lovely, friendly city which offers really interesting modules for the Accounting degree."

Jasmine Hopkins, BA (Hons) Accounting graduate.

adam ashley profile image

Adam Ashley

“I’m delighted and excited for what the future holds now that the hard work has paid off,' he said.

“I am currently working at a leading accountancy practice in the West Midlands with clients spanning across the whole of the United Kingdom,” he added. “I am studying towards my ACCA qualification and due to the exemptions gained from the University of Worcester, I only have to take four exams to become qualified.”

“In the long term I aim to be running my own accountancy practice which has been an ambition of mine since I began studying Accounting at the University of Worcester.” 

Charlotte Joanne Gymer

Charlotte Joanne Gymer

Charlotte is currently an ACA trainee working in the tax department at Hazlewoods LLP, in Cheltenham. She said: “I still have plenty of hard work ahead of me, but I can’t wait to become an ICAEW chartered accountant at the end of my three-year training contract.”

Kristina Petrauskyte

Kristina Petrauskyte

Kristina, who decided to change careers by taking up an Accounting and Finance degree, cared for her mother after she was diagnosed with cancer during her second year.

She praised the support she had had in her learning journey. “I had a wonderful and very supportive course leader, who was the best tutor and course leader at that time,” she added. “She provided all the support and help I needed at the beginning of my course, as it was all very new to me and, being a much older student and a foreigner, I was worried I wouldn't fit in or be good.”

Kristina, who did a 14-month work placement in a firm’s accountancy department as part of her degree, has started working in an accounting firm in Bromsgrove as an Associate Assistant and plans to get experience and complete the necessary courses to become a fully qualified accountant.

Read Kristina's full case study here.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

112
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

112 UCAS tariff points 

The normal minimum entry requirement is 2 A Levels (or equivalent Level 3 qualifications).

Applicants with no formal qualifications may be considered for Mature Student Entry Routes.

T Levels may be used to meet the entry tariff requirements for this course. Find out more about T levels as UCAS tariff points here.

Other information

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from http://www.ucas.com

Visitors at a University of Worcester open day

Book your place at an Open Day

Want to know why so many students love living and studying in Worcester?

Our Open Days are the perfect way to find out.

Book your place
Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Introduction to Management Accounting
  • Introduction to Financial Accounting
  • Law for Accounting and Finance
  • Unlocking Individual Potential

Optional

All first and second year modules are mandatory. This enables you to acquire the core knowledge and skills that you need for the rest of your degree, maximise professional body accreditation and identify specialist topics which interest you and may wish to select in Year 3.

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Financial Reporting
  • Management Accounting
  • Financial Markets and Investment
  • Unlocking Organisational Potential

Optional placement year or year abroad

You can choose to take a placement year and convert your degree to a 4-year sandwich degree with virtually all of our full-time Single Honours degrees in Business or Computing by taking a year in industry between your second and final years.

You will be able to apply to spend your placement year at an organisation of your choice, anywhere in the UK. Placement opportunities are available in all business sectors, including accounting, finance, banking, economics, marketing, advertising, PR, HR and business management.

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Audit and Ethics
  • Strategic Financial Management
  • Advanced Financial Reporting
  • Advanced Management Accounting
  • Strategic Business Management

Optional

  • Taxation
  • International Banking and Finance
  • Applied Economics
  • Rethinking Organisational Value
Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

The University places emphasis on enabling you to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching, academic support through integrated coaching and the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.     

Accreditation

All of our courses and modules have been mapped to take advantage of professional body accreditations: see more information above.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars, laboratory practical sessions, fieldwork, practical activities, etc. Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and laboratory practical sessions are focused on developing subject specific skills and applied individual and group project work.

In addition, meetings (both individual and group) with personal academic tutors are scheduled throughout the academic year. There is an opportunity to undertake a year-long placement in the third year of the course, supervised by a work-based mentor and a University tutor. Depending upon the course, there may be an opportunity to study abroad at one of our exchange partner universities.

Contact time

In a typical week there will be at least 12 hours of timetabled teaching in lectures, seminars and small-group work. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected. If the degree requires a Research or Consultancy Project, students will have guided supervision time with a Project Supervisor.

Typically class contact time will be structured around:

  • Information giving, facilitated discussions, small group work, presentations
  • Practical skills – the opportunity to practise group facilitation, presentation, communication and listening skills
  • Visiting speakers and opportunities to visit other settings are regular features of the course

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, full-time students are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week, plus additional preparation for assessments and examinations. Typically, this will involve meeting with individual tutors to discuss progress and feedback, completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online. In addition to this, students will spend time sharing ideas with fellow students, taking part in extra-curricular learning activities and engaging with external employers.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources as well as our network of employers and entrepreneurs.

Teaching Staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners with industry experience and business leaders and employers.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and many lectures are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy work carried out by staff and staff profiles can be view at the WBS Staff Profile Page.

Assessment

The precise assessment requirements in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken. The assessment strategy has been designed so that:

  • All modules have both formative and summative assessment elements. Formative assessment allows tutors and students to recognise strengths and weaknesses in learning and to address those issues immediately. Summative assessments are graded and count towards the final module grade, and they are assessed against the specific module learning outcomes
  • Typically 15 credit/ one semester modules will have one assessment item; 30 credit/ two semester modules will have 2-3 assessments
  • Across each individual year and cumulatively across all three years the concept of continuous assessment and/or building up expertise in different assessment types applies. A variety of assessment types (reports, portfolios, presentations, essays and a final year research or consultancy project) are designed to suit different learning styles
  • There may be some specialisation by subject: e.g. exams are more common in Accounting, Finance and Economics modules because the professional bodies prefer this method of assessment for exemption/ accreditation purposes and many of our modules are linked to those bodies in order to obtain such exemption/ accreditation
  • Different types of employability skills are embedded in all modules

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal coursework assessments. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader.

Feedback is intended to support learning by indicating how you can improve in future assignments and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors to help support personal and academic development and enhance employability skills.

Feedback on formal course work assessments is normally provided within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners with industry experience and business leaders and employers.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and many lectures are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy work carried out by staff and staff profiles can be view at the WBS Staff Profile Page.

jamie-wells

Jamie Wells

Jamie has spent the past nine years working within the accounting and finance team. Areas of teaching expertise are financial management and auditing. Jamie also has a particular interest in accounting education research, developing research on the use of simulations in the teaching of auditing. Jamie has also published a paper, which looked at the role of universities in developing softer skills in accountancy. Before working at Worcester, Jamie spent three years in practice for a large professional services firm specialising in forensic accounting and assurance. She also spent time working for HM Treasury within the Welfare to Work Team.

Simon Quigley

Simon trained with a large firm of Chartered Accountants in the areas of audit, accounts preparation, taxation and insolvency. Working in industry, his roles ranged from Group accountant, Project accountant and Treasury.  

Since the move to lecturing, Simon has taught on a range of provisions, including ACCA, CIMA CIPD, AAT, HND as well as undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

jane-keenan

Jane Keenan

Jane is an experienced academic having taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels for over 24 years. Her subject areas include finance, accounting and economics. Jane tries to use real-life scenarios and examples during her lectures and seminars to bring the subject material to life.

Rachel Cooper

Rachel Cooper

Rachel has been working in higher education since 2006. Before working in education, Rachel spent several years working as a management accountant in the aerospace industry with a focus on cost management, project planning and performance reporting.


Careers

Careers

Employability

Studying accounting and finance will prepare you for a range of business careers including in accountancy or financial services, for example:

  • Accounting
  • Audit
  • Finance
  • Banking
  • Insurance
  • International trade

On our accounting and finance degree, you'll also get the chance to work with accountants and finance specialists from organisations such as KPMG, PwC and HM Treasury. These professionals have experience of management, consultancy or running their own business across sectors including banking and manufacturing.

Benefits

Throughout your course, you will receive integrated career coaching to help you develop your CV and interview technique.

There are also a range of extracurricular opportunities offered by the Business School. You can develop your own business through our Enrich Business Support Programme or take part in various careers events where you can meet employers to help develop your employability skills.

Graduate Employability

Our accounting and finance graduates have secured jobs with companies such as:

  • BDO LLP
  • Ernst & Young LLP
  • KPMG
  • NFU Mutual
  • Lloyds Bank
  • PwC
Two students are walking next to each other and smiling

Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential

“It is great to be able to obtain maximum exemptions for professional qualifications whilst completing your degree.”

Connor Tracey, Accounting student

Costs

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £9,250 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £16,200 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the academic year 2024/25 are £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20-credit module, £2,312 per 30-credit module, £3,083 per 40-credit module, £3,469 per 45-credit module and £4,625 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If you decide to take up the optional placement year accommodation and travel costs may be incurred dependent on location of placement. As placements are paid by the employer at minimum wage plus these costs can be covered by the student’s wage. During this year you will pay 10% of normal academic fees to the University. You are provided with a placement tutor, and have access to the advice of the full placement team, as well as all University student support and services. You may need to pay for a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check for your placement.

There are also occasional trips which may require you to incur travel costs.

There will be a charge for membership of the professional bodies.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £131 per week to 'En-suite Premium' at £221 per week (2024/25 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.

How to apply

How to apply

Applying through UCAS

  • Accounting and Finance BA (Hons) N402
  • Accounting and Finance (Placement Year) BA (Hons) N403

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.

John Gardener

Admissions tutor