Program Overview

Accounting and finance data informs business decision-making every day so it is vital for organisations to employ accounting and finance professionals who understand how to meet business objectives.

Our MAcc Accounting and Finance offers you an integrated Bachelors and Masters degree, allowing you to progress seamlessly from your undergraduate to postgraduate studies within a single course.

We not only teach you how financial information underpins leadership, strategy and planning, but how financial decisions can impact society and the economy. We develop your understanding of governance and ethics, so you can take actions for the good of organisations and the wider world. You further your understanding of advanced accounting and corporate finance and can tailor your studies to your professional ambitions by choosing from a range of optional modules.

You explore areas such as:

• The preparation of financial statements and budgets
• Accounting standards and corporate governance
• Financial theory
• Portfolio management
• Options and futures markets
• Risk management

MAcc Accounting and Finance includes an introductory first year to familiarise you with wider business topics, such as management and marketing.

In your third year, you have the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice by completing an in-depth, independent research project or dissertation. This will give you the chance to further develop vital employability skills in areas of research, time management and critical thinking. You will further supplement this with the development of your own research portfolio in your final year.

Essex is one of just three UK universities to have received Q-Step Affiliate status, including for our MAcc Accounting and Finance course, to support the way we develop the quantitative skills of our graduates.

This means we can provide work placement bursaries to develop your skills in evaluating numerical information, analysing data and designing research. We also offer the opportunity to follow a specialised degree path, where you graduate with enhanced quantitative skills. These are evidenced on your degree transcript, to help give you the competitive edge in the graduate job market.

MAcc Accounting and Finance is taught at Essex Business School. Our finance group is one of the largest and most respected in the country and our students and staff join us from all over the world.

Placement year

Alternatively, you may decide to take on a placement year to gain relevant work experience within an organisation. A placement year can give you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and provide you with key contacts within the industry.

The Student Development Team can offer bespoke support throughout the process of researching, applying and interviewing for placements. However, it is your responsibility to apply, prepare for and secure your own role. We also offer a number of other employability opportunities during your studies. Our students have gained placements with organisations such as BMW, Samsung and Cummins.