Undergraduate Blog

What you study in first year

By Alex Martinsmith

When I first applied to study business, I was really unsure as to what area I would like to focus my learning on.

In the first year the Management School provide a very rounded view of business management with modules covering every aspect of the discipline. Because of the fact I didn’t really understand what I wanted to focus on before university, it was definitely helpful that the Management School gave me a broad scope of modules in first year. Now I’m in second year, I can use my experience of the different topics I studied in first year to select the modules I want to study this year.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the modules I studied in first year:

ECN101 – Business Economics

An introduction to basic economic principles and theories. It’s come in handy numerous times in my other modules and is useful knowledge for life in general. Although not hugely advanced economics, it does require a bit of work to get your head around some of the topics, especially if you’ve not done economics before at A Level. This module only lasts half a semester.

MGT120 – Introduction to Behaviour at Work

As with ECN101, MGT120 lasts for half a semester. It runs through some of the core theories regarding organisation behaviour and draws on sociological and psychological work. It covers topics such as work structure and organisation, scientific management and misbehaviour at work.

MGT133 – Accounting and Finance for Managers

Provides a comprehensive understanding of accounting for business management students. It covers everything from simple cash flow forecasts and other financial documents right up to accounting rules and regulations and asset management. Coming from someone who had never done accounting before, it was very well explained and easy to understand when it we ran through it in seminars. It also helps get to grips with some of the terms used in business management when referring to accounting.

MGT134 – Business Management in Context

This module covers some of the important themes that managers encounter in business, mainly focusing on ethics and corporate social responsibility. This is a topic that is becoming ever more prominent in business and some of the issues covered are really interesting; such as the treatment of animals by McDonald’s.

MGT136 – Management Themes and Perspectives

The themes and perspectives covered in this module include marketing, strategy and supply chain and logistics. These all become separate core modules in second year and so this module gives you a useful grounding in the subjects. The module is assessed by writing an assignment for each topic. The frameworks and principles used in each of these areas are used frequently in other modules in both first and second year.

MGT138 – Analysis for Decision Making

This is a statistics based module that revolves around calculations for investment and finance. The topics themselves are relevant to any business career and are explained thoroughly. As someone who only did maths to GCSE level I didn’t struggle in this module at all and can genuinely say that it has come in useful a lot more than I thought it would.

MGT139 – Professional Self Management

A module designed to help business students become more employable by focusing on things like CV writing, skills development and employment processes. As someone who has just been through the recruitment process for a placement, I can say that this module was invaluable. I had no idea what an assessment centre even before studying this module and I’ve managed to secure a placement for next year with Boeing.

MGT140 – Business Challenges

This is your only optional module in first year. It can be swapped out for an unrestricted module which is basically a module of any other subject in the university such as History, French, Sociology, Politics etc. A majority of students tend to pick Business Challenges though. This module runs four students- run challenges that are to be completed in groups over the course of the first semester. My task was called ‘Steelers Challenge’: we had to design and then execute a marketing campaign to sell tickets to the Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey games to the student market. This module is really hands on and is a totally different learning style to the rest of the course.

Click here if you would like to see the course structure.

Careers support that helps you get noticed

By Shameen Amjad

I am in my final year studying on the BA Accounting and Financial Management and employability doesn’t hit you, until you’re in your final year and suddenly realise you won’t be a student forever!

While a job search is very personal, there is lots of help and support available to us as part of the Management School. I’m doing applications every week, and without the help of Management School advisers, in all honestly, it wouldn’t have been possible, graduates roles are highly competitive and demanding and if you don’t get it right first time, you don’t get it at all!

The Employability Hub exists, purely for the benefit of Management School students, I have had a wonderful personal experience with one of the advisers, who ensured my applications were written professionally and developed my approach to some of the questions, so that they were structured very well. I couldn’t stress more how vital it is to take advantage of this facility to get the guidance you need to develop yourself. They also offer opportunities to give you a taste of work, and run skills sessions on CV writing and interview skills/techniques to build your career. Booking your one-to-one session is really easy and something I would really recommend to you.

Top 10 tips for studying AFM

By Annabel Faulkner

1. Understand the reason behind the answer rather than just regurgitating it by memory – this will ensure you understand the topic fully. This will also help you later on in the course because accountancy builds on previously taught topics – if you’re unsure of something then make sure you understand it before you move on.

2. Prepare fully for lectures, seminars and tutorials to make sure you reap the benefits. Print lecture hand-outs to ensure you can engage fully with the lecture and do the tutorial work prior to the tutorials so you can ask for clarification from your tutor for parts that you don’t fully understand.

3. Questions can often be wordy in exams so make sure you read questions carefully and thoroughly, and always double check your answers to avoid easy mistakes and errors.

4. Join the Management Society as it is a great way to make friends and offers lots of exciting opportunities from socials to trips abroad to careers event.

5. Practice exam style questions in preparation for exams so you understand how to lay out your answers correctly – in accounting there are often easy-to-pick-up-marks for the layout.

6. Work with course friends in revision time and in preparation for tutorials – they can help you and you can help them.

7. Keep up-to-date with current affairs, for example, by subscribing to the Economist, as this will help you with your degree as well as interviews and beyond.

8. Make the most of the career events run by the Management School, ManSoc and the central careers service – they are free to attend and you can build up your own industry links!

9. Look in to taking a placement year in industry or doing an internship as this can give you real life experience which will make you stand out when it comes to interviews. It also is a great way to see if you enjoy working in that environment.

10. Use your personal tutor in the Management School; they are experts in their field and understand how to structure essays and how to prepare for exams. They are there to help you or point you in the right direction of someone who can.

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.