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Accounting and Finance with Foundation Year

Entry requirements


Access to HE Diploma

M:15

Access to HE Diploma from a QAA recognised Access to HE course. Normally we require 15 credits at level 2 and 45 at level 3. At least 15 level 3 credits must be at merit grade or above from a QAA-recognised Access to HE course, or an equivalent Access to HE certificate.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

English Language at grade C or 4 or equivalent, and Maths at grade C or 4 or equivalent.

UCAS Tariff

64

This must include at least 32 points from one A level or equivalent BTEC National qualifications excluding general studies. For example: CC at A Level, MPP in BTEC Extended Diploma, Pass overall from a T level qualification with D or E from core, or a combination of qualifications, which may include AS levels and EPQ.

About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

4years

Full-time including foundation year | 2024

Other options

5 years | Sandwich including foundation year | 2024

Subjects

Accounting

Finance

**Please check the Sheffield Hallam University website for the latest information.**

**Course summary**

- Experience practical accounting in our renowned Sheffield Business School.

- Explore topics from legal and ethical to economic and capital market environments.

- Learn from professionally qualified experts who are active in research.

- Gain work-ready experience with real-life projects and placements.

On our BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance course you’ll gain a thorough understanding of financial and management accounting, auditing, tax, corporate reporting, governance, financial management and professional ethics. You'll learn the creation, analysis and critical evaluation of financial information – enabling you to make sound decisions and communicate complex data effectively.

If you don't meet the entry requirements for our BA (Hons) course, or you’d like extra preparation before starting degree-level study, we recommend you join the foundation course – which has been designed to encourage exploration and experimentation.

**How you learn**

All our courses are designed around a set of key principles based on engaging you with the world, collaborating with others, challenging you to think in new ways, and providing you with a supportive environment in which you can thrive.

**Key Themes**

You’ll start by gaining a solid foundation in accounting and finance, along with practical skills for collecting and using accounting data to communicate with stakeholders. You’ll simultaneously enhance your understanding of the processes, tools, technologies and project management practices you’ll need to be successful.

As you progress, you’ll further refine these fundamentals through real-world projects – collaborating in teams to create reports, presentations and recommendations inspired by real industry challenges. This hands-on approach prepares you for careers in professional accountancy, business and finance, within a supportive learning environment.

In your final year, you'll undertake a consultancy project for a real organisation, guided by a dedicated project supervisor. In this capstone project, you'll conduct research and apply the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired throughout your studies.

We promote flexibility, aiming to empower you to customise your course to align with your interests and aspirations. Previous students have chosen elective pathways including forensic accounting, sustainable accounting/environmental accounting, sports finance and other traditional routes.

**Applied learning**

**Live Projects**

In the first and second years of your course, you’ll have opportunities to work for real client-based projects. Students have often found placements with their host company as a result of the excellent work they’ve done on these live projects.

You’ll carry out research and analysis to generate findings and recommendations that address clients’ business problems – which in the past have included product development for Marks and Spencer and Costa Coffee. You’ll present your findings to your clients, gaining valuable experience in professional practice.

Throughout all modules you study, we incorporate work-relevant content – including simulations, case studies, guest speakers and experiential activities. These not only help you seek potential career opportunities, but also feel confident in pursuing them.

**Work Placements**

You’ll have the opportunity to take part in an extended work placement between the third and fourth years of the course. This gives you hands-on work experience to prepare you for your future career – as well as an Applied Professional Diploma to add to your CV.

Previous students have worked at organisations such as AstraZeneca, BHP, GE Capital, IBM, Jaguar Land Rover, Mitchell’s Chartered Accountants, Morrisons, Nestlé, the Metropolitan Police, the NHS and the Royal Mail.

Modules

Module and assessment information for future years is displayed as currently validated and may be liable to change. When selecting electives, your choices will be subject to the core requirements of the course. As a result, selections may be limited to a choice between one of two or more specified electives in some instances.

You will be able to complete a placement year as part of this course. See the modules table below for further information.

**Year 1**

**Compulsory modules**

Accounting In Context
Economics, Finance And Investments
Going Global
Preparing For Success

**Year 2**

**Compulsory modules**

Business Economics
Financial Accounting
Law, Corporate Governance And Ethics
Management Accounting And Financial Management

**Year 3**

**Compulsory modules**

Audit And Assurance
Financial Accounting And Reporting
Management Accounting Applications

**Elective modules**

Cyber Crime
Fraud Analytics
Global Climate Emergency
Principles Of Tax
The Sport Business Industry

**Year 4**

**Optional modules**

Placement Year

**Final year**

**Compulsory modules**

Consultancy Project (Accounting)
Corporate Reporting And Governance

**Elective modules**

Accounting For Sustainable Development
Advanced Financial Accounting And Reporting
Corporate Finance
Forensic Accounting Techniques
Forensic And Fraud Examination
Professional Team Sport Finance 
Social And Environmental Accounting
Sport Governance, Ownership Structure & Regulation

Assessment methods

Coursework, Exam, Practical

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£16,655
per year
International
£16,655
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

Extra funding

Scholarships, discounts and bursaries may be available to students who study this course.

The Uni


Course location:

Sheffield Hallam University

Department:

College of Business Technology and Engineering

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

71%
Accounting
72%
Finance

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Accounting

Teaching and learning

70%
Staff make the subject interesting
83%
Staff are good at explaining things
72%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
76%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

78%
Library resources
81%
IT resources
84%
Course specific equipment and facilities
62%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

94%
UK students
6%
International students
66%
Male students
34%
Female students
64%
2:1 or above
14%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

D
C
C

Finance

Teaching and learning

70%
Staff make the subject interesting
86%
Staff are good at explaining things
71%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
78%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

81%
Library resources
80%
IT resources
84%
Course specific equipment and facilities
69%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
78%
Male students
22%
Female students
69%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Accounting

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£22,000
med
Average annual salary
93%
med
Employed or in further education
56%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

33%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
28%
Administrative occupations: finance
14%
Business, research and administrative professionals

You don't have to be an accountant if you take this degree, but over half of graduates take a look at the rewards on offer for accountancy trainees and go into the job. Many others go into other parts of the finance industry as advisors or book-keepers, and some go into management or marketing. London is very popular for accountancy graduates going into their first job, but it's also quite common to work in Scotland, with Glasgow a perennial hotbed of Scottish accountancy recruitment. If you want to find a job in finance as an accountancy graduates, recruitment agencies were particularly important last year, so try to get in touch with one as soon as you can to improve your chances.

Finance

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,500
med
Average annual salary
92%
low
Employed or in further education
53%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

29%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
18%
Administrative occupations: finance
13%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

Over 2,000 students graduated with a degree in finance in 2015, and a sign of the strength of the finance industry, numbers are on the up. Over half of finance graduates go into the finance industry, with accountancy and financial advice roles particularly popular. It's also quite common for finance graduates to go into jobs which require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications — finance graduates who take further study are more likely to be studying accountancy than finance. About a third of graduates start their careers in London - but Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham are other popular locations for finance graduates to work.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Accounting

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£20k

£20k

£26k

£26k

£30k

£30k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Finance

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£20k

£20k

£26k

£26k

£30k

£30k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
Coventry University | Coventry
International Finance and Accounting
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 120
Lower entry requirements
University of Plymouth | Plymouth
Accounting and Finance with Foundation Year
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 32-80
Nearby University
Staffordshire University | Stoke-on-Trent
Accounting and Finance (with a Placement Year)
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 112-120
Same University
Sheffield Hallam University | Sheffield
Accounting and Finance
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 112

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here