Accounting and Financial Management – Page 3

Thinking ahead! Why exemptions are important

With opportunities for achieving professional exam exemptions on our BA Accounting and Financial Management you can get a head start in becoming a qualified accountant, show future employers that your degree meets industry standards and that you are prepared for working in a professional environment. It also means you have fewer exams to do after finishing university!

By choosing a degree with exemptions from professional exams you can be confident that you are learning the right practical skills, and have the knowledge you need to get started in your chosen career after graduating.

Depending on module choices students on our BA Accounting and Financial Management programmes could be eligible for a number of exemptions from ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA, CPA Australia and ICAEW:

ACCA – Six ACCA exemptions at the Fundamental level, awarded upon the successful completion of your degree.*
CIMA – Students can be exempt from foundation CIMA courses after completing our undergraduate accounting courses.*
CIPFA – Five exemptions from CIPFA professional qualifications, meaning you could be fully qualified in two years.*
CPA Australia – Eight exemptions gives students CPA foundation level accreditation upon graduation from the programme, with direct access to the Professional level if continuing studies at masters level.*
ICAEW – Students on our BA Accounting and Financial Management courses can start their ACA training or top-up their business knowledge with ICAEW’s CFAB – Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business.*

These exemptions are subject to change, so make sure you check which are available when you start you studies and that you pick the modules you need to get the exemptions and accreditations you want.

*details are correct the time of publishing. These exemptions apply to BA Accounting & Financial Management students graduating in summer 2015.

Gaining work experience with a year in industry

As a student on our BA Accounting and Financial Management you have the opportunity to convert your degree from three to four years by adding a year in industry between your second and third year, turning your degree into one with employment experience.

An amazing way to really put the theory you’ve learnt in years one and two into practise and also gain valuable industry insight which you can then feed into your final year of study. As well giving you the chance to build a network of contacts for post-graduation you’ll also be building a tool-kit of practical skills such as networking and time-management, not only useful in the working world but also for your final year of study.

Students in previous years have completed placements in companies such as Ernst and Young and National Grid and some of our placement student have been lucky enough to be offered graduate roles – really taking the third year job seeking pressure off!

As well as work experience these placements also give you the opportunity to live and work in a different city, earn a real wage and also to get a real taster of what it is like to work in the field.

Hear from some of our students who have been on a placement and learn more about the process and support available to you.

My favourite modules

By Anamil Kochar

Let me start by telling you something about myself. I am Anamil Kochar, from India and did my most of my schooling in Amity International School at New Delhi, the capital of India. After that I moved to Pune, which is a city in western India and enrolled in an International School, which followed the British Education System. This total change in school environment and coursework, along with the fact that we moved to culturally a different part of the country, has really shaped me as an individual and has been instrumental in leading me to study on the BA Accounting and Financial Management programme at the University of Sheffield.

Sheffield University is one of the best universities in the world for my course as the Management School is a Triple Crown Accredited Business School. This course allows us to not only learn accounting but also understand life in the work place and improve life in general through modules like Professional Self-Management.

Professional Self Management was probably my favourite module in first year. This module had an assignment every two weeks ranging from online self-analysis and group tasks to understanding plagiarism and creating a personal development plan. The self-analysis helped me know my personality and understand my strengths and weaknesses. The other tasks helped me reflect on my learning, performance and aspirations. The personal development plan allowed me to spell out what I wanted to achieve in life and the means to achieve it. Moreover, it also allowed me to plan for my personal, educational and career development. The best thing about this module was the guest lectures from IBM and Grant Thornton. They helped us understand what employers look for when recruiting students for placement, internships and graduate jobs. For example, all the employers want students to be a part of a committee at university level, following this I applied for, worked towards and got elected into the universities Raising and Giving committee as the treasurer. Furthermore, it also helped me understand the recruitment process in detail. This module focused on the development of personal values such as honesty, integrity, self-motivation and loyalty, which are useful for life in general.

Another interesting module in the first year was Business Challenges, where our aim was to run a simulated company over a period of two years making decisions about the pricing of products, amount to be spent on advertising, marketing and production. We then had to determine profit and customer satisfaction at the end of two years. This module looked at all the aspects of running a business and is very useful if someone want to run their own business in the future. Also, it had a trading period every 10 days, and within the last week of the semester, we had a presentation and an essay due, so we had to work with very tight deadlines. One thing that I learnt from this module is that anything can happen in business world, be it a challenge, a deadline or a strategic decision, you have to be ready to expect the unexpected.

The other main modules such as Introduction to Management Accounting, Financial Accounting, and Business Economics helped me understand the details and techniques of Accounting, the importance of accounting in real life and practical approaches to the subject. This structured and supportive approach in all the modules also helped me achieve an internship in a financial company at the end of first year; you can read more about this in another blog post coming soon!

To conclude, I would like to say that I am really proud that I came to study at the University of Sheffield and I am enjoying every bit of my student life as well as every aspect of my course.

What you study in first year

By Robbie Bailey

Hi guys!

I thought I would tell you about my experiences during my first year here at Sheffield and the modules that you can expect to study if you choose to study at our Management School.

As Accounting and Financial Management students you will, of course, study various modules in accountancy. For me, this consisted of two separate modules: Introduction to Financial Accounting and Introduction to Management Accounting. These modules aim to give first year students an understanding in the differences between financial and management accountancy. Financial accounting covers things like financial reports and the accounting regulations that must be followed in practice. These reports and the financial performances of businesses are the basis for the decision making processes which are covered in the Management Accounting module studied during the first year of this degree.

The ‘Financial Management’ part of this degree is covered by a range of modules that are studied alongside the core accountancy modules. These include: Introduction to Financial Management and Analysis for Decision Making. Introduction to Financial Management covers the basics of various topics involved in money management and includes more mathematical material. Topics covered include risk and return, financial derivatives and interest rates. I have really enjoyed studying this module this year as I have a strong mathematical background and Financial Management has provided me with a great opportunity to learn how to use my skills within a specialised financial environment.

The Analysis for Decision Making module studied during the first year here in Sheffield is the most mathematical of all the first year modules. It is effectively a continuation of a level mathematics, particularly Statistics. However, do not worry if you have not studied any maths at a level! Students are separated into those who have a level (Analysis for decision making A) and those who don’t (Analysis for decision making B). Both groups study the same material; however, those in the B group have one extra hour of contact time per week. This module covers topics such as probability, investment appraisal and normal distribution. Those of you who, like myself, have studied a level statistics modules, will enjoy this module as you will find that the skills you have learnt prior to studying here in Sheffield are easily transferable. The Management School here at Sheffield also provides Microsoft Excel workshops during this module and these are spread throughout the year. These workshops provide a sound understanding of the functions of Excel and the skills learnt in these workshops will be crucial during the later years of this degree and in future life.

During my first year at Sheffield I have also studied various other modules on topics surrounding finance and management. First years are required to study a module of Business Economics as well as additional management school modules in Self-Management and Organizational Behaviour. All these modules provide students with a great all round understanding of the financial world and cover a whole variety of subjects. The broad range of study is helpful when students must select their own module choices in later years.

Personally, I have really enjoyed my first year here in Sheffield and the first year of studying for the Accounting and Financial Management degree. Sheffield University and the Management School are truly world-leading and this high standard can be seen throughout all the aspects of the education provided here. The staff provide an excellent learning environment and the various forms of assessment used throughout the year have allowed my studies to remain enjoyable and challenging.