Introduction To Accounting And Business Technology

This unit covers the fundamentals of accounting and forms part of core units that are the essential building blocks of the learning journey for students studying accounting and finance. This focuses on introductory level accounting and understanding of business and the role of accounting and other functions in the business environment.  

1. To develop knowledge and awareness of business and its environment, and relevant financial systems and procedures.  
2. To develop skills in the preparation accounts and interpretation of the published accounting statements. 
3. To develop an understanding of the theories, concepts and principles underpinning the disciplines of finance and decision-making process 
4. To introduce students to the main analytical tools which are used in financial analysis of capital projects. 
5. To understand the use of technology in the preparation of accounting statements and finance models.

Introduction To Economics And Finance

The unit covers the fundamentals of Economics and Finance and introduces you to knowledge and understanding Economic and Finance concepts, definitions, and theories. The unit focuses on two main pillars of Economics (Microeconomics and Macroeconomics), and the underpinning principles of Finance. It contributes to the requisite knowledge and and skills required at a higher level in accounting, finance, and economics degrees. 
The main aim is to 

• Build understanding of how models of markets are developed and used by economists to explain the pricing of goods and services and how is the whole economy structured. 
• Provide a solid foundation for later work in both the theoretical and the applied field of economics and helps you gain an understanding of current economic events and policies.
• Develop your understanding of the fundamental theories, concepts, and techniques of finance, and the underlying principles of the field of finance
• Develop ability to solve simple finance and economics problems using relevant tools and techniques 

Applied Numeracy For Business

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you through the begin stage at Level 4, to the thrive stage at level 5, to succeed stage at level 6.  
This unit is designed to support your Begin stage at level 4, it develops the numeracy skills and abilities you need to succeed in your studies and in the business world. The unit is designed to support you and develop your confidence in essential mathematics and statistics techniques, it applies these techniques in business context to give you an understanding of how they are used to solve problems and make decision in business organisations.

The connected core spine of units also enables you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.¿¿¿ 

The unit aims to achieve 

• provide students with the fundamental knowledge and understanding of numeracy in business.   
• develop student confidence in a range of numerical and statistical techniques.
• enable students apply a range of numerical and statistical techniques to practical business problems.   

Beginning Your Professional Business Journey

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you from the Begin stage at Level 4, to the Thrive stage at Level 5 through to the Succeed stage at Level 6. This unit is designed to support the Begin/Thrive/Succeed stage by introducing you to the skills that you will require in order to develop your professional practice.

The connected core spine of units also enables you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.  

This unit will help you to begin your journey in Business and provide you with the support you will need to develop your professional practice.

In this unit you will be presented with Business challenges which will allow you to collaborate with peers, and provide an insight in to a professional Business environment. 

Personal Development And Employability

The purpose of this unit is to prepare students for the transition to the workplace by providing the transferable and fundamental job-relevant competencies necessary for success. The unit focuses on applying and practising specific skills using exercises based on real life situations. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of transferable core skills and their relevance and application to working life. The unit builds on the development of competencies established in Year 1.
In the contemporary world of business and finance, graduates need a broad range of skills as in addition to subject knowledge. They will work in a wide variety of roles, in different sectors with some going on to take professional qualifications, whilst others perhaps specialising in research.
A number of research projects have noted that employers require finance professionals to be effective networkers; to have good communication skills, to be able to work in effective teams and to have a good business overview. In other words, organisations want accounting and finance professionals who are competent in a broader range of business skills.
The central question that the unit intends to address is: What are the demands and expectations placed on finance professionals and how adequately equipped are you as an individual to meet those expectations?

Management Accounting

The main aim of the unit is to enable you to understand how relevant accounting information can be harnessed to assist and inform management in planning, decision-making, performance measurement and control.

This will involve identifying relevant and limiting factors, performing complex analyses and providing comprehensive solutions that assist and inform management in planning, decision-making, performance measurement and control.

The content of this unit is informed by the curriculum of the ACCA’s paper F5: Performance Management

The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role and impact of management accounting information in the planning, decision-making, performance measurement and control of an organisation?

Corporate Governance And Financial Regulation

The main aim of the unit is to provide a thorough knowledge of corporate governance and financial regulation. It will introduce you to the nature, purpose and scope of corporate governance and financial regulation as a mechanism for corporate accountability.

The unit will provide you with an understanding of the relationship between corporate governance and financial regulation and their impact on corporate performance. You will acquire the knowledge and skills to evaluate the theoretical aspects of corporate governance and financial regulation. You will also debate the merits and recognise their limitations of either a voluntary or regulatory approach, the local context and legal frameworks within which they operate.

The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role of corporate governance and financial regulation in the decision-making process of primary users and the impact of the different frameworks and codes of practice?

Data Analysis For Finance And Economics

This unit aims to provide detailed knowledge and skills to apply and interpret the results of a variety of statistical techniques from both descriptive and inferential statistics. You will use appropriate software in order to collect, summarize, and process primary and secondary data, identify relations between economic variables and use this information to interpret the outcome in the context of economic policy or business decision making processes.
The central question that the unit intends to address is: How statistics is used in the process of asking a research question, gathering the data to address this question(s), analyzing the data, and making conclusions.

Taxation [Uk]

The main aim of the unit is to enable you to understand the complex principles of taxation and the workings of the UK tax system and analyse how taxation depends on the capacity in which a person acts, whether as a sole trader, a partner or a company. At the same time, you will cultivate personal skills and attributes essential for discharging your responsibilities as a tax professional.

You will evaluate the importance and the impact of tax rules on financial and investment planning and decision-making for both the individual and the corporation.

The content of this unit is informed by the curriculum of the ACCA’s paper F6.

The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role and impact of tax rules and regulation in planning and decision-making for both individuals and organisations?

Financial Markets: Theory And Practice

The main aim of the unit is to examine the role of the financial markets in providing the basis for organized investment activity at both the macro- and micro- economic levels. You will become familiar with the principal markets and the instruments available for managing the financial needs and exposures of the organisation.
This will involve analysis of the core financial statements, the identification of relevant revenues and costs, managing limiting factors, performing analysis and providing solutions that assist and inform management at all levels. The unit also addresses the core finance theories and practice financial structuring, risk mitigation, long-term capital planning and short-term working capital management that augment the management accounting theories and techniques to inform management decision-making.

Social And Environmental Reporting

The main aim of the unit is to provide a thorough knowledge of social and environmental reporting theory and practice. It will introduce you to the nature, purpose and scope of social and environmental reporting as an alternative mechanism for corporate accountability.

The unit will provide you with an understanding of the relationship between corporate performance and the social, environmental and ethical impact of business activities. You will acquire the knowledge and skills to evaluate social, environmental and ethical reports, recognise their limitations and understand the basis and objectives of eco-audits as an independent validation process.

The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role of social, environmental and ethical reporting in the decision-making process of primary users and the impact of different frameworks and codes of practice?

Financial Management

The main aim of the unit is to provide a thorough knowledge required for financial and investment decision making. At the same time, you will cultivate personal skills and attributes essential for discharging your responsibilities as a finance professional.

Financial Management is the process of putting available funds to the firm’s best advantage given its long-term business objectives. However, since the array of decisions is wide and varied, the study of Financial Management focuses on those economic strategies and decisions that have a direct financial impact on the maximisation of the firm’s net present value and the allocation of scarce capital resources between competing opportunities.

The content of this unit is informed by the curriculum of the ACCA’s paper FM: Financial Management.

The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role of financial management in the allocation of scarce financial resource and the maximisation of shareholder wealth?

Financial Reporting

The main aim of the unit is to provide a thorough knowledge of accounting theory and practice in all areas identified for this course. At the same time, you will cultivate personal skills and attributes essential for discharging financial reporting responsibility at a professional level.

The financial reporting process is tightly constrained by law and pseudo-legal “standards” that provide guidance to the preparers of the accounts. This unit examines the financial reporting process and the primary vehicle to achieve this is the construction, presentation, analyses and interpretation of single entity and consolidated financial statements employing International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and European Public Accounting Standards (EPAS).

The content of this unit is informed by the curriculum of the ACCA’s paper F7: Financial Reporting and CIPFA’s professional diploma level paper: Public Service Financial Reporting.

The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role of financial statements in the decision-making process of primary users and the impact of regulation?

Audit And Assurance

This unit aims to develop knowledge and skills of the audit process and the assurance function which is a vital part of the modern financial system by providing evidence of compliance with corporate governance regulation and assurance of the integrity of financial control systems and processes.

In this unit, you will identify and assess financial control systems and processes relevant and necessary for the modern organisation and evaluate the different methods by which their effectiveness can be monitored. It will employ International Standards on Auditing (ISA) in this process.

The content of this unit is informed by the curriculum of the ACCA’s paper AA: Audit and Assurance.

The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role of Audit and Assurance in the decision-making process of primary users and the impact of regulation?

Specialist Project Unit (Accounting, Finance And Economics)

This Unit aims to develop your knowledge and skills to conduct sound academic research and/or a practical project in accounting, finance and economics using a range of methodological tools and approaches.
Working independently as well as in a group setting, it aims to equip you with the technical skills to critically review prior research as well as plan your own research or practical project in accordance with both academic and ethical standards.
Through the research process you will develop the qualities and transferrable skills required for continued research and future

English Language Foundation

This unit focuses on your ability to understand and use the English language accurately when you read, speak, listen and write. We will concentrate on the English you need for undergraduate level study in your chosen subject area, covering grammar, subject area vocabulary and the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.

A key element of the unit is the grammar of the language, and particularly the verb tense system in English, because your ability to use the verb tense system accurately will be extremely important when you come to write essays and reports. This unit will focus in particular on the grammar of the language.

We will also focus on reading, listening and speaking skills in the context of your chosen subject area. Beginning with short texts, we will practise each skill and practise it again, so that gradually you will see, hear and feel that your command of the language is improving. 

A recurring focus of the unit will be your acquisition of 'learner autonomy'. This means your ability to acquire the language yourself, without needing a teacher's help. This is important because from next year you will not have an English teacher to help you. So we will consider and practise strategies to help you gain confidence in your own ability to increase your knowledge of and ability to use the language, including for instance guessing meaning of difficult words, deciding which words are important in a text, recognising differences between formal and informal language, and other strategies, so that as the first semester continues, you begin to feel more confident in your use and experience with the English Language.

Academic Skills Foundation

When you begin your undergraduate level studies, you will be expected to have knowledge of and ability to use a large range of 'study skills'. You will also be expected to have some knowledge of the subject area you will  be studying. This unit deals with both of these aspects of your preparation for undergraduate level study. 

All of the academic skills are practised in English, so you will use your developing acquisition of the language from the partner unit 'English Language Foundation' to practise and gain mastery of these skills. You will also use your language and study skills as you learn the foundation of your subject area, putting the skills into practice as you learn.

Developing English Language Skills

This unit builds on the progress you made during its partner semester 1 unit 'English Language Foundation' and increasing your level from that which you had achieved by the end of semester 1. 

We will recycle the tense system in English and other elements of the grammar system, but you will  now learn how to use other aspects of the grammar, including the passive voice, as well as linking words and phrases and devices which enable you to write longer sentences but retain grammatical accuracy. 

You will notice that we gradually introduce more specialist language that you need in preparation for your degree and we will expect you to use and develop the skills that you gained in the previous units so that you are able to work more independently.

Academic Skills Development

This unit builds on the skills learnt and practised in its partner semester 1 unit 'Foundation Academic Skills'. We will add more skills to the list, including summarizing and synthesising, argumentation, critical thinking and referencing and citation skills, as well as several others and practise and test them in the same way as with the semester 1 unit.

We will also investigate the research skill and you will learn how to prepare a research proposal and conduct a literature review, and how to plan a research project, learning about the research tools available and how they can be used to conduct research in your chosen field. 

You will continue to broaden your knowledge of key current issues and theory in your chosen subject area, and apply the critical thinking and argumentation skills you acquire in this unit to argue for and against propositions you have studied in the form of in both essays and presentations and in seminar situations, ensuring that you are ready to step up to your chosen undergraduate course with a base level of subject area knowledge from which to continue your academic development as you progress to level 4 study.

Professional Practice Year (Accounting, Finance And Economics)

The aim of this unit is to provide the opportunity to undertake career-related experience which will allow you to understand and undertake responsibilities in the work place at an appropriate level and use the opportunity to assess your readiness to undertake a career in your chosen field.