Official TSR Accounting and Finance Society

I need help

1) What is the difference between an 'Accounting' 3 years BA Hons degree & a 1 year foundation degree of Accountancy & Finance...any major difference & what's the best one? (I suspect the first?)



I'm taking A levels at the moment, just finished Year 12 at 6th form! So will start applying this coming academic year after this six week break

Just want to get some general info on the accountancy course? Is it advised I take Maths & Law into my 2nd year as well as my first to get a full A level in them?

I can't wait to do this at either Northumbria/Sunderland (need BBB at Northumbria & BBC at Sunderland...both highly achievable!)

I see accountancy degree is a fantastic degree & great experience...I'm only taking it due to the obvious financial security you can gain and the relevance to maths it has (which I'm superb at -- maths I mean)

please answer, thank you

I need help

1) What is the difference between an 'Accounting' 3 years BA Hons degree & a 1 year foundation degree of Accountancy & Finance...any major difference & what's the best one? (I suspect the first?)



I'm taking A levels at the moment, just finished Year 12 at 6th form! So will start applying this coming academic year after this six week break

Just want to get some general info on the accountancy course? Is it advised I take Maths & Law into my 2nd year as well as my first to get a full A level in them?

I can't wait to do this at either Northumbria/Sunderland (need BBB at Northumbria & BBC at Sunderland...both highly achievable!)

I see accountancy degree is a fantastic degree & great experience...I'm only taking it due to the obvious financial security you can gain and the relevance to maths it has (which I'm superb at -- maths I mean)

please answer, thank you

Where are you looking? You may not have that much Maths in your course. I did very basic stats and some GCSE level stuff; only in my Masters course have I been expected to do more advanced statistics and so on.

Contrary to popular belief, there isn't a huge amount of Maths involved. If you can use a calculator you're most of the way there. I'm awful at maths If you want to do Maths, I'd suggest doing a Mathematics degree and then an accountancy qualification (e.g. CIMA/ACCA). I've also seen 'Financial Mathematics' courses (and you can probably do innumerable combinations of joint honours).

Northumbria university is the place I'm looking at primarily!

I am well aware that there isn't much mathematics in an accounting degree -- the maths that is involved though is numbers, my fave kind of maths.

That is the reason i don't want to do a maths degree...a maths degree will contain letters (algebra) and ridiculous formulations that will make physicits explode!

Do you think I should mention (in a personal statement) the fact I got a B in GCSE Business Studies? I know it's only GCSE but I do imagine Business is another thing associated with accountancy?

Business
Law
Maths

Them 3 surely make the most of the degree?

The maths involved is adding up You might have to do stats, which is definitely algebra (I'm awful at it), so check the modules. If it's a third year module it may get complicated.

Nope, all that information will be elsewhere in your UCAS, so you don't need to mention any qualifications in your PS. Remember to use the PS Wiki and PS Help service

Good! Adding, subtracting, division and multiplying -- the way maths should be

I'm decent at algebra, not a fan of it though!

Ahhh right, so don't write it in the Personal Statement...I just had a look at the wiki there -- very helpful but am I right in just thinking that accountancy is mainly built around Business; Maths & Law

Ahhh right, I am starting to get the picture now

Well, the modules at Northumbria uni are:



Year 1

BM0118 - Data Analysis Techniques (CORE, 20 Credits)

FN0137 - Financial Environments and Markets (CORE, 10 Credits)

FN0146 - Directors, Shareholders and Rewards (CORE, 20 Credits)

HR0154 - Management (CORE, 20 Credits)

SM0117 - Business Organisation (CORE, 10 Credits)

FN0135 - Financial Decisions and Accounting (CORE, 20 Credits)

MN0119 - Management Decisions and Accounting (CORE, 20 Credits)

Year 2

HR0273 - Employment Law (CORE, 10 Credits)

LA0009 - Company Law (CORE, 10 Credits)

MN0218 - Financial Modelling (CORE, 10 Credits)

FN0204 - Taxation (CORE, 10 Credits)

FN0247 - Corporate and Group Accounting (CORE, 20 Credits)

FN0248 - Conceptual Frameworks for Financial Reporting (CORE, 10 Credits)

MN0250 - Management Information Systems (CORE, 20 Credits)

MN0254 - Managing Financial Performance (CORE, 20 Credits)

MN0256 - Introduction to Managing Corporate Finance (CORE, 10 Credits)

Year 3

FN0301 - Auditing Process and Theory (CORE, 10 Credits)

FN0309 - Issues in Contemporary Auditing (CORE, 10 Credits)

FN0322 - Further Taxation (CORE, 10 Credits)

FN0346 - Current Issues in Financial Reporting (CORE, 20 Credits)

FN0347 - Undergraduate Dissertation (CORE, 30 Credits)

FN0360 - Ethics and Governance (CORE, 10 Credits)

MN0368 - FINANCIAL APPRAISAL, RISK AND CORPORATE VALUE (CORE, 20 Credits)

MN0369 - Management Accounting Today (CORE, 10 Credits)



If you don't have the time or simply can't be bothered, please don't put yourself through explaining the module, it's just I'm trying to see what the accountancy degree really contains

Thanks for all your help

Well all the modules with finance in the name will have alot of pure maths involved (i.e. algebra) as for the rest, the level of maths involved will be adding, subtracting, multiplication and divisions (very basic) and for law related modules, well you may have guessed, no numbers in there. hope that helps

What about Taxation & Further Taxation? That have a bit of maths involved?

Im doing taxation next year (final year Accounting) and as far as im concerned yes there will be basic maths involved i.e. adding/subtracting but not pure maths like algebra or what have you

Ahhh cool

How've you done so far in the first 2 years? Are the exams easy-ish or an absolute pain?

Congratulations. You are studying possibly the most boring degree known to mankind, and also possibly the most useless considering you can go straight into accountancy without an A&F degree. Again, congratulations.

Congratulations. You are studying possibly the most boring degree known to mankind, and also possibly the most useless considering you can go straight into accountancy without an A&F degree. Again, congratulations.

How many exam exemptions do you actually get? And is spending £3375 a year plus (or £9000 from now on) for 3 years worth a little bit less stress? My brother, who is a chartered accountant at a big 4 firm, did an A&F degree. He told me it was a complete waste of time:
1) If you are dead set on accountancy, why not join a school-leavers scheme at a big 4 and start getting paid straight away instead of ending up in £££££'s of debt?
2) If you are not certain about what you want to do in the future, why take a vocational course like A&F and severely limit your future options? A standard traditional course like Economics or Maths would not only be more interesting and challenging, but you'd also have a lot more opportunites job-wise
3) The course content is easy and monotonous, and what's more, it becomes even more tedious once you have to start learning it all over again when you start studying for an accountancy qualification