Course overview

Globalisation, complexity and ever increasing competition have meant that the global demand for qualified accountants has never been higher. Accountants are at the centre of every organisation, and the work they do has become increasingly complex and diverse, offering great opportunities for accounting graduates.

In addition to a wide range of careers in accounting, finance or financial services, an accounting degree can also offer a proven route into general management.

Our BA (Hons) Accounting is an innovative four-year programme aimed at preparing our students for a career in the accounting profession.

Accreditation

The programme is designed to enable you to maximise on professional accreditation opportunities to fast-track your chosen career path. Typically, students find jobs in either industry or professional practice and go on to complete the higher level exams for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) or the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

We maintain close links with the key professional accounting bodies to maximise graduate employability including ACCA and CIMA. We have ‘Partner in Learning’ status with the ICAEW, and our one-year placements are recognised for separate awards by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), and City and Guilds.

Bloomberg Suite

Students can access the same data, analytics and software used by city traders by using one of the terminals located in the University of Portsmouth’s Business School Bloomberg Suite. Bloomberg terminals, used by financial professionals daily to make fast-paced investment, trading and financial decisions will allow students to monitor and analyse real-time financial market data movements and trade virtually.

Created by the Mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg, the system is used by over a quarter of million finance professionals globally. Our investment in this resource provides students with an essential business research tool and real-life financial experience helping them to enhance their employability skills in order to “hit the ground running” once they join the workforce.

Accreditation and exemptions

In addition to obtaining a degree in accounting, this programme also offers an accelerated route to qualifying with one of the professional accounting bodies such as ICAEW, CIMA and ACCA.

Work placement

This degree has the option to undertake a one-year placement working in a paid, full-time role with continuous progression and a suitable level of responsibility. More information on the placement year can be found in 'Course content'.

The Placements Office will support you during your placement search, the subsequent recruitment processes, and when you have secured your placement and are working away from the University.

Career focus

The entrance criteria of this degree have been designed to comply with the requirements of the major accounting firms' graduate programmes.

Links with the profession

We constantly work to build and maintain our links with accounting and finance professionals, which brings practical benefits to our students. One example is our professional mentoring scheme, by which level two and three students may be paired up with a practising accountant in the area to enable them to get real-world advice and feedback.

Counselling

We are proud to be able to offer some students the opportunity to train as financial counsellors, and use their new skills to help others. In particular, each year a small number of students train as Citizens Advice Bureau counsellors in order to specialise in offering debt advice to the population of Portsmouth.

Course content

Year one

In your first year, all units are core and common to all of the undergraduate accounting and finance degrees. Accountancy does not exist in a vacuum; to apply and fully understand the techniques and concepts that you will study in the second and in the final year, you will need an appreciation of the other key business disciplines. The units you will study during your first year provide that firm conceptual and technical knowledge that will form the essential foundation for your development.

They include:

• Essentials of Financial Accounting
• Economics for Accountancy
• Toolbox for Accounting Professionals
• Organisational Management Accounting
• Business Law for Accountants
• Quantitative Methods for Accountants

Financial and study skills workshops will also help you get the most from your course.

Year two

The second year has a very different feel. Alongside the core elements of your degree, you will be able to choose from a range of interesting options, allowing you to tailor your study to your interests and career choice.

Core units

• Financial Reporting
• Operational Management Accounting
• Business Finance
• Corporate Governance, Ethics and Controls

Optional units

Optional units include:

• Taxation for Accounting Programmes
• Professional Advisor
• Personal Finance
• Financial Crime and Fraud Investigation
• Management Science
• Accounting packages and information systems
• Language

Placement year

This degree includes the opportunity for a one-year placement working in a paid, full-time role with continuous progression and a suitable level of responsibility. You will return to your studies from your placement with contemporary business experience, which will improve your ability to engage in debate and develop your strategic thinking, and perhaps indirectly boost your degree classification.

With employers now requiring graduates to have the key business competencies and experience alongside a good degree, work experience is more vital than ever. Due to its very nature a placement year is the best and most involving type of work experience you can do during your time at university. As such, a placement will help insure you are as employable as possible upon graduation.

The Portsmouth Business School Placements Office will support you not only during your placement search and the subsequent recruitment processes, but also once you secure your placement and are working away from the University. Our students have gained much from their work placements – listen to some of our students' experiences.

Final year

This year represents the culmination of your studies. You will undertake a project or dissertation, which allows you to carry out an in-depth investigation of a subject of your own choice. Optional unit choices will enable you to further tailor your degree to meet your own interests and needs.

Core units

• Advanced Financial Accounting
• Accounting for Strategic Management and Control

Optional units

Optional units include:

• Auditing
• Advanced Business Finance
• Integrated Management
• International Financial Management

Teaching and assessment

Teaching and learning are usually undertaken in lectures supported by smaller group seminars, workshops, tutorials and practical sessions. Extensive use is made of information technology and other teaching innovations. Staff research and consultancy expertise also actively contribute to the relevance of the programme.

You will encounter a range of assessment methods. Many units use a combination of formal examinations and coursework assessment. Coursework can be the analysis of topical case studies, written reports and essays and presentations. The assessed work you complete from the start of the second year onwards can count towards the class of degree you will be awarded.

The University goes to great lengths to ensure all students have an excellent learning experience. Courses are managed by teams of academic and administrative staff who work together to provide a high level of support.

Each course has a course leader who will maintain a close relationship with you throughout your studies. They are also supported by a number of tutors and the University has a range of additional support facilities such as the Academic Skills Unit, the Maths Café, Careers and Recruitment service and Counselling service that you can access if you need to. You will be assigned a personal tutor who will give you general support and act as the first point of contact for any problems.

In addition, if English is not your first language, there are free courses available to help familiarise you with the use of English for academic purposes.

Career prospects

Careers in accounting and finance

Our graduates are particularly well placed to enter a wide range of interesting and rewarding careers. If you want to forge a career in accountancy, this course will exempt you from some of the professional examinations of the key accounting bodies (e.g. ACCA, CIMA).

Positions include:

• Audit and assurance
• Taxation
• Forensic accounting
• Management accounting
• Financial analysis
• Treasury

Careers in management and commerce

If you wish to widen your focus to industry and commerce, such as to banking, consultancy, fund management, insurance and investment, and law, this highly numerate and practical degree will put you ahead of the game.

Competent students have the opportunity to apply their skills to real-life practical problems as part of the Department’s partnership scheme with local charities. Recent projects have included a re-design of financial reporting systems and identification of weaknesses in financial control over a network of charity shops.

Postgraduate opportunities

Many students have also gone on to do taught or research-based courses at a higher level. The University of Portsmouth is an Accredited Centre for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Business School has developed a range of interesting and relevant postgraduate courses such as the MSc Forensic Accounting. There are plenty of research opportunities at Portsmouth, which you can explore when you join us.

What our alumni are doing now

Emma Lockley
Course: BA (Hons) Accounting with Finance
Current position: ACA graduate trainee, Menzies Chartered Accountants

'I like the fact that my job is very challenging and gives me the opportunity to work on various different aspects of accounting from accounts preparation to taxation and audit. My job gives me the opportunity to meet new people and travel to various different companies to carry out audits. This position also involves studying towards my ACA qualification, so I am able to revise and take my exams while completing valuable work experience, which allows me to put all of this into practice.'

Luke Freeman
Course: BA (Hons) Accounting
Current position: Account Manager, Tennyson Fund Solutions

'The degree followed the structure of the ACCA qualification closely, meaning I found it easier than most when it came to my professional studies. It also combined practical experience with the year in industry, which helped a great deal. Most importantly, the University and course had some fantastic fellow students and lecturers which always helps!

'Being a start-up company means that my role is varied, being involved in all aspects of the running of the company. It also means that I have a great deal of freedom in moulding my role into what I want it to be. I am also in the hedge fund world, an industry difficult to get into and very innovative as the industry grows, which is exciting.'

Linda Luu
Course: BA (Hons) Accounting
Current position: Financial Accountant, Paragon Insurance

'I loved my time at Portsmouth; maybe it was the course, the sea, I have never really thought about it. I was lucky – for my placement I worked for one of the world's largest engineering companies in France. When I left Portsmouth I knew that I wanted to work in the City. It's very social; you could be out every night of the week if you had the energy.'

Jennifer Cave
Course: BA (Hons) International Finance and Trade
Current position: Barclays Capital Money Markets Middle Office

'I studied international finance and trade. The course was varied and not focused on one area. I now work in the money markets middle office for Barclays in Canary Wharf and I will start studying for my Chartered Financial Analyst exams soon.'

Kirsty Smith
Course: BA (Hons) Accounting with Business Law
Current position: Graduate scheme, VT Group PLC

'I love my job. I still don't know exactly what I want to do, so the graduate scheme enables me to develop my career every six months. I get huge support and development, as well as being able to study my MSc part time. The company is very diverse, so I get to work in a multitude of cultures with different customers, and divisional aims. For the past six months I have been working with fire brigades and I am now going to work in the nuclear industry - hugely different jobs and fairly different roles, but the opportunity to do that is amazing. I would thoroughly recommend VT as a company to work for to everyone.'

Sonia Brandon
Course: BA (Hons) International Finance and Trade
Current position: Senior Lecturer, University of Portsmouth

'I left Portsmouth in 2001 after doing both an undergraduate and postgraduate degree within the Department. I then started my ACCA exams whilst working as an analyst for one of the major tour operators. However, I loved the theoretical aspect of my studies and when I had an opportunity to come back to Portsmouth as a lecturer, I jumped at the chance.'

Facilities and features

The University has substantially invested in modern facilities. You will attend lectures in the purpose-built Richmond Building, where the Business School is located. Our lecture theatres are equipped with the latest multimedia audiovisual equipment and we have a computer drop-in centre equipped with state-of-the-art computers and software.

The University Library is at the centre of academic life and is only a short walk away from Richmond Building. Open from 8am until midnight every day during term-time, it provides a variety of information to help with study and research.

The Library has also invested heavily in the purchase of electronic resources. There are thousands of electronic journals and ebooks, which can be accessed across campus, from home or wherever there is an internet connection.

For international students we have a dedicated team of advisors to support you as you settle into life in Portsmouth and at the University. One of the team almost certainly has direct experience of your culture and may even speak your language.

Entry requirements

View all the entry requirements for BA (Hons) Accounting for the academic year 2013/14 (opens in new window).