Course Overview
Course summary
This degree is designed to equip you with a unique set of accounting and managerial skills to analyse and evaluate company and industry trends. You’ll learn how to receive, interpret and communicate financial and other information in a globalised profession. Gaining a deeper understanding of how finances affect company performance, you’ll be better placed to help firms make effective business decisions. Upon completion of the degree, students will be eligible to apply for eight CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) exemptions and up to six ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).
In this fast-changing business world, there is a shortage of graduate talent with both accounting and business management education and skills. Our course covers management accounting, business and management education, and financial strategy. Generating value for the organisations you work in, you’ll look to the future, analysing the performance of business, advising or creating strategies to solve problems, adapt to changing circumstances and market conditions.
Taught by academics with professional experience as accountants and managers, there is an emphasis on learning through practice, so you graduate with the breadth of knowledge and capabilities to respond proactively and creatively to contemporary business issues and challenges. Throughout the course, you’ll also develop a range of transferrable skills highly prized by employers, such as critical evaluation, self-direction and problem-solving, as well as a sound grasp of analysis, presentations and negotiation techniques.
In December 2021, the University of Westminster received the CIMA Prize-Winner Excellence Award 2021. The Prize-Winner Award recognises university partners with top-performing CIMA students in Case Study exams. The CIMA Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding academic partners, education providers and students who have made significant contributions to the accounting profession and the Institute over the past year.
Top reasons to study with us
- Accredited by CIMA with eight examination exemptions on successful completion and up to six ACCA exemptions depending on your choice of modules
- Large range of optional modules covering specialist topics such as taxation or commercial law, as well as generalist activities like creating and managing an online presence
- Programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body, who come from professional practice and/or regularly publish in top international journals
- Optional placement year and study abroad semester to gain valuable work experience
- Opportunity to undertake an internship, which has enabled previous students to gain experience with the NHS and with Disney
- Participate in Westminster Working Cultures trips to understand working cultures within businesses abroad, which in the past have included Berlin, Mumbai and Washington DC
- Business School graduates have gone on to work for large banks, including Standard Chartered, Citibank, Société Générale and Paribas, and governmental agencies, such as the World Economic Forum and Taiwanese government
Course structure
This degree combines general business knowledge with specialist financial analysis and reporting that helps inform and monitor business strategy. In each year of study, you will take a combination of core modules and one optional, which cover specialisms such as personal finance or international financial management, for example, or an elective module, which includes the Polylang languages programme.
The following subjects are indicative of what you will study on this course.
You are introduced to the functions of business organisations, the broader business environment, and key management skills and competencies, including information gathering and analysis, accounting, marketing and organisational behaviour. We consider business organisations – their purposes, structures and governance in a global context, together with cultural differences and ethical constraints. You’ll learn about basic management accounting concepts and deepen your understanding of company financial information, in particular how this information gets reported and analysed. Drawing on real-life data, you’ll be tasked with analysing the financial performance of an organisation of your choice.
Subjects of study may include:
- Accounting and Finance Fundamentals
- Fundamentals of Management Accounting
- Marketing for Finance and Accounting
- Organisational Behaviour for Finance and Accounting
- Quantitative Methods for Accountants
You will also have the opportunity to take one option module from: Creating and Managing an Online Presence, The Role of the Manager. You may also choose a foreign language as your option module.
Credit Level 4
You’ll take financial statement analysis to the next level by analysing the annual report of a chosen real-life company. Applying a ratio analysis, you will provide recommendations to existing and potential investors and present your findings in the report. Management modules will also concentrate on developing key transferable skills more, such as looking into explaining the process of managing the project, evaluating the role of individuals in a company and how this can be used to plan a business better. You’ll learn to make decisions regarding overall resource management and how to influence a company’s future direction and strategies to add value.
Subjects of study may include:
- Financial Reporting and Analysis
- Intermediate Management Accounting
- Managing and Leading People for Finance and Accounting
- Project Management
Plus two options from: Corporate Governance, Digital Business for Finance and Accounting and other areas of business including languages.
Credit Level 5
Optional work placement/study abroad year
Between Years 2 and 3, you can take an optional work placement or study year abroad. The work placement year is a one-year full-time business work placement.
Past students have completed placements in a variety of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and prestigious organisations, including Barclays Bank, British Airways, Disney UK, IBM and the National Health Service (NHS).
The study abroad year allows you to follow a programme of study at one of our partner institutions, giving you an opportunity to experience life in another country and learn Business from a different cultural viewpoint.
You can also choose to split your year abroad into a first semester exchange and a second semester work placement, both conducted overseas.
Learn more about undergraduate placements
Find out more about the costs involved in taking a study abroad or placement year.
We’ll look in-depth at financial information analysis, building your competence to use relevant and emerging technologies in the field of accounting and management. You’ll analyse detailed accounting information, including consolidated financial statements, making informed decisions and reviewing current research in the area of accounting. You’ll also explore the process of working in a team, applying personal and professional responsibility. Consolidating your learning, you will explore strategic leadership and assess the international environment of an organisation in the complex and unpredictable competitive environment of today’s turbulent economy.
Subjects of study may include:
- Accounting Theory and Practice
- Advanced Aspects of Management Accounting
- Financial Management
- Strategic Perspectives for Finance and Accounting
Plus two options from: Company Law, Taxation and other areas of business including languages.
Credit Level 6
Programme recognition
The Accounting and Business Management BA is accredited by CIMA, the world's largest professional body of management accountants. Students aiming to obtain the internationally recognized CIMA qualification can receive exemptions from eight exams upon successful completion. For those pursuing ACCA accreditation, the global body for professional accountants, the number of exemptions depends on your choice of optional modules and can be up to seven. Additionally, for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), four to five exemptions can be received depending on your choice of optional modules.
For more details on course structure, modules, teaching and assessment Download the programme specification (PDF).
To request an accessible version please email [email protected]
Get your copy of the University of Westminster prospectus and browse the range of courses on offer.
Contact us for general course enquiries:
+44 (0)20 7911 5000 EXT 65511
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Careers
This degree is designed to prepare you for a financial management and management accounting roles across all sectors of business, anywhere in the world. You will become a confident analyst and advisor, learning to interpret cost or profit figures produced by an accountant to support managerial decision making. You will graduate with knowledge and professional skills, and a heightened sense of commercial awareness that will be immediately transferable in a business environment. You could enter a wide range of business careers such as banking, insurance, financial services and general management. Many of our students go on to postgraduate study here and at a range of other universities.
The University's Careers and Employability Service has built up a network of over 3,000 employers around the world, helping all our students explore and connect with exciting opportunities and careers.
Develop your innovation and entrepreneurial skills
Develop your innovation and entrepreneurial skills in The Big Idea competition, sponsored by Santander.
Kickstart your career
Learn how to use social media in your job hunt or LinkedIn to kickstart your career.
Develop your CQ
Develop your cultural intelligence – or ‘CQ’ – studying alongside students and staff representing more than 100 nationalities.
Industry links
Westminster Business School is one of London’s leading centres for business education based in the heart of London and its political, media and financial services scene. Through our connections with professional bodies, our alumni network and Employability Advisory Board, we have excellent links with industry. Staff who currently teach on this course have extensive professional experience in a range of business sectors with many staff maintaining links with industry through consultancy and training work.
Job roles
This course will prepare you for roles such as:
- Analyst or researcher
- Business development manager
- Business partner
- Business sales executive
- Financial advisor
- Management accountant
- Management consultant
Graduate employers
Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:
- Bank of England
- Barclays
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts
- BT
- Coca Cola
- EE
- HSBC
- NHS
- PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Transport for London
Westminster Employability Award
Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.
The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, allowing you to choose from a set of extracurricular activities.
Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up to a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.
Read more about our Westminster Employability Award.
International Opportunities
Many of our courses offer international study and work experiences, and the University provides other global opportunities that all students can apply for - so whatever you're studying, you'll have the chance to go abroad.
Opportunities could include:
- Taking part in semester or year-long exchanges at institutions around the world
- Attending an international summer school or field trip
- Developing your CV through volunteering or work placements abroad
International experience broadens horizons, boosts self-confidence, and improves global understanding, alongside being fantastic for your career.
Find out more about our international opportunities, including funding options and where you can go.
Course Leader
Dr Prem Puwanenthiren
Senior Lecturer
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA Australia), Prem’s early career began in Sri Lanka, where he both lectured at the University of Jaffna and practised accounting for the country’s third largest private sector bank.
He subsequently lectured in the Business School at La Trobe University in Australia, where he obtained his PhD in 2016, having previously received an MBA from Kelaniya University, before moving to the UK to lecture, first at Roehampton University, then joining Westminster Business School in 2019.
A senior lecturer and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Prem’s teaching excellence has been recognised by previous employers on several occasions. His teaching interests lie in audit practice and ethics, corporate accounting, financial accounting, management accounting, and accounting information systems.
He was a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Accounting and Business Management and acts as a reviewer for the Pacific Basic Finance Journal. Areas in which he has previously published, include the subject of Auditing, Earnings Management, Corporate Finance, Financial Reporting, Corporate Governance, and Mergers and Acquisitions.
I am interested in the way accounting has changed and developed in the years since I qualified as an accountant and how computers now play a significant role in financial analysis. Accounting is so much more than just calculations; it plays a key role in the decision-making process within businesses and helps them make smarter decisions.
Course Team
- Dr Petar Sudar - Principal Lecturer
- Dr Tantawy Moussa - Senior Lecturer in Accounting
- Dr Sudha Mathew - Senior Lecturer
- Neeta Shah - Senior Lecturer
- Dr Ali Sahin - Senior Lecturer
- Dr Kristina Vasileva - Senior Lecturer in Finance
- Dr Talal Kadhim - Senior Lecturer
- Kamala Balu - Senior Lecturer
- Nuala OSullivan - Staff
Accounting and Finance courses
Learn more about Westminster's Accounting and Finance courses from our students and staff. Find out about their experience studying at Westminster, including what it's like to study at the University's Marylebone campus in the heart of central London.
Why study this course?
Combine theory and practice
Link theory to global practice through real-life case studies, guest lectures, field trips and insight from one of the world’s largest financial databases.
Professional software
Enhance your digital literacy and computer skills industry-standard software including Excel, Tableau and FAME.
Build connections
Build connections with peers and future business leaders.
Entry Requirements
- A levels – BBC (112 UCAS Tariff points)
- T levels – 112 UCAS Tariff points
- International Baccalaureate – 112 UCAS Tariff points from all components of the Diploma Programme. International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme will be considered on a case-by-case basis
- BTEC Extended Diploma – DMM
- BTEC Diploma – D*D*
- Access – 112 UCAS Tariff points from the Access course
In addition to one of the above, you should have:
- GCSE English Language grade 4/C – IB grade 4 Higher Level, GCSE Maths grade 4/C – IB grade 4
If your first language is not English, you will need an IELTS score of 6.0 overall, with 5.5 in each component.
We also welcome applications from students who are taking a combination of qualifications listed above. For further information, please contact Course Enquiries.
View more information about our entry requirements and the application process.
- International Baccalaureate – 112 UCAS Tariff points from all components of the Diploma Programme. International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme will be considered on a case-by-case basis. You can refer to the UCAS calculator to determine your point score
- We accept a wide range of international high school level qualifications. Please see information on Country-specific entry requirements
- We work in partnership with Kaplan International College London who provide International Foundation Certificate and International Year One courses for students who don’t meet our entry requirements. Upon successful completion, you can progress to your chosen degree at the University of Westminster. Find out about a range of university preparation courses that are accepted for entry.
English Language Requirements
- If your first language is not English, you should have an IELTS score of 6.0 overall, with a score of 5.5 in each component. Please note we accept a wide range of English language qualifications and assessments. Find out more at English language requirements.
- If you don't meet the English language requirements yet, then we offer online and on campus pre-sessional English programmes to help develop your English language skills to the required level before you start your course. Find out more about our pre-sessional English programmes.
More information
What our students say
Lara Abed-Stephen
Business Management (Accounting) BA Honours - 2018
Finance Analyst | IBM UK Ltd
I chose to do a placement year as I believe it would help me with my future career. I also wanted to see if finance was something I wanted to pursue after I graduated. I study Accounting at Westminster and have been able to first hand see how finance and accounting works in a huge corporation like IBM. My job as Finance Analyst included revenue, cost transfers, and days sales outstanding support. This year has helped me realize my potential, and helped me figure out what career path I want to go down.
Mohammed Mahbub Rahman
Accounting with Management BSc (Honours) - 2015
Business Advisor and Client Engagement Officer | Sinote Consulting
A highlight of my time at Westminster was being the Finance Manager and Managing Director at Westminster Business Consultants, a student-run University consulting company, with which I travelled to over 30 countries representing the University. The University has a bank of knowledge and services that can help you to attain the career you want. I am now a senior executive and board member of a medium management consulting firm.
Learn new skills
Develop your creativity
Develop your creativity to think outside the box.
Learn to critically evaluate
Learn to critically evaluate the strategies that managers use to help organisations adapt in an uncertain or complex environment.
Improve your problem-solving skills
Improve your problem-solving skills to better understand and tackle people management issues.
Westminster Business School blog
Read our blog and get an insight into life and studies at Westminster Business School.
Fees and Funding
UK tuition fee: £9,250 (Price per academic year)
When you have enrolled with us, your annual tuition fees will remain the same throughout your studies with us. We do not increase your tuition fees each year.
Find out how we set our tuition fees.
Funding
As well as tuition fee loans, there is a range of funding available to help you fund your studies.
Find out about undergraduate student funding options.
Scholarships
The University is dedicated to supporting ambitious and outstanding students and we offer a variety of scholarships to eligible undergraduate students, which cover all or part of your tuition fees.
Find out if you qualify for one of our scholarships.
Additional costs
See what you may need to pay for separately and what your tuition fees cover.
International tuition fee: £17,000 (Price per academic year)
When you have enrolled with us, your annual tuition fees will remain the same throughout your studies with us. We do not increase your tuition fees each year.
Find out how we set our tuition fees.
EU Qualifications Welcome Award Scheme
If you are an international student accepted on an undergraduate programme starting in September 2024 or September 2025 at level 3 (Foundation) or level 4 (first year) on the basis of an eligible EU qualification only, you will be awarded a tuition fee reduction which will align your fee more closely to the one for UK students. For more information, see the EU Qualifications Welcome Award Scheme.
International student funding
Find out about funding for international students.
Additional costs
See what you may need to pay for separately and what your tuition fees cover.
Student work
CIMA Prize-Winner Excellence Award 2021
Students on this course have the opportunity to work towards a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) professional qualification. In 2021, one of our students was named CIMA’s Top Student of the Year, having achieved excellent results during the Management Case Study in August 2020. This accomplishment also earned the University of Westminster the CIMA Prize-Winner Excellence Award 2021, recognising the university as a partner institution that trains top-performing CIMA students.
Financial reporting and analysis
When learning about financial reporting and analysis, students choose a real-life company and download annual financial reports to analyse. This exercise helps to illustrate key accounting concepts, such as accrual accounting, cash flow, valuation models, performance analysis ratios. They learn to interpret financial reports and analyse the business information presented to them, for example, forecasting earnings and cash flows for company valuation.
Westminster Business Consultants
Founded in 1995, Westminster Business Consultants is a student-run consultancy service affiliated to the University of Westminster, which offers management and strategic consultancy, specialising in market research, market analysis, brand strategy, feasibility studies, business development, performance improvement and product development. It works with a diverse clientele of emerging start-ups, SMEs and large corporations at home and overseas, giving students opportunities to gain extensive knowledge and experience in various industries.
Teaching and Assessment
Below you will find how learning time and assessment types are distributed on this course. The graphs below give an indication of what you can expect through approximate percentages, taken either from the experience of previous cohorts, or based on the standard module diet where historic course data is unavailable. Changes to the division of learning time and assessment may be made in response to feedback and in accordance with our terms and conditions.
How you'll be taught
Teaching methods across all our undergraduate courses focus on active student learning through lectures, seminars, workshops, problem-based and blended learning, and where appropriate practical application. Learning typically falls into three broad categories:
- Scheduled hours: examples include lectures, seminars, practical classes, workshops, supervised time in a studio
- Placement: placement hours normally include placement opportunities, but may also include live projects or virtual activity involving employers
- Independent study: non-scheduled time in which students are expected to study independently. This may include preparation for scheduled sessions, follow-up work, wider reading or practice, completion of assessment tasks, or revision
How you'll be assessed
Our undergraduate courses include a wide variety of assessments.
Assessments typically fall into three broad categories:
- Practical: examples include presentations, videos, podcasts, lab work, creating artefacts
- Written exams: end of semester exams
- Coursework: examples include essays, reports, in-class tests, portfolios, dissertation
Data from the academic year 2023/24
Supporting you
Our Student Hub is where you’ll find out about the services and support we offer, helping you get the best out of your time with us.
- Study support — workshops, 1-2-1 support and online resources to help improve your academic and research skills
- Personal tutors — support you in fulfilling your academic and personal potential
- Student advice team — provide specialist advice on a range of issues including funding, benefits and visas
- Extra-curricular activities — volunteering opportunities, sports and fitness activities, student events and more
Facilities
The Learning Platform
Lecture theatres
Library
Bloomberg Financial Market Suite
Digital Marketing Lab
Meeting spaces
Cafe
Course Location
Our Marylebone Campus has benefited from a multi-million-pound refurbishment resulting in new workshops, digital studios and development of the Marylebone Library. The campus is home to Westminster Business School and our award-winning Architecture, Planning and Tourism courses. For more details, visit our Marylebone Campus page.
Westminster Business School
Based in the heart of London's political, media and financial services, Westminster Business School has excellent industry links and a strong commitment to social enterprise.
Our courses are accredited by professional bodies including the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Our practical teaching relates learning to the real world, and we develop graduates who are ready to respond to contemporary business challenges.
Contact us
Call our dedicated team on:
+44 (0)20 7911 5000 ext 65511
Opening hours (GMT): 10am–4pm Monday to Friday
Opening hours (GMT): 10am–4pm Monday to Friday
More information
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