Accountants are best known for validating company accounts – or auditing – but they also devise and operate financial systems, conduct investment analysis, advise on business matters, and handle individuals’ and corporations’ tax affairs.
Kent Business School has expert accounting staff from the business world and our links with global business ensure that our teaching is always internationally relevant.
Our Accounting & Finance degree responds to the needs of the profession and is accredited by the UK’s accountancy bodies. We also offer a qualifying taxation module, which is not available at many other universities.
Kent Business School (KBS) provides a friendly, student-focused environment, which helps you to make the most of your studies. Based in our brand-new building, you also benefit from up-to-date teaching facilities.
The programme begins with an introduction to accounting, including computer-aided systems, economics and, if you choose, business law. You then go on to focus in greater depth on subjects such as strategic management, investments and the role of the accountant in international markets.
You can choose from a wide range of accounting and finance options in your final year of study, allowing you to develop specialist knowledge.
You have the option to take this programme with a year abroad or in industry. For details, see Accounting and Finance with a Year Abroad / Accounting & Finance with a Year in Industry.
Kent Business School has excellent links with business schools globally, including in China, USA, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Italy. Our wide array of exchange partners give you the opportunity to gain international experience. Our partners are committed to enhancing their international outlook while providing excellent teaching. You will gain invaluable work experience, develop your understanding of a new culture and improve your language skills.
Our exchange partners include these top ranked institutions amongst others:
Alongside your studies, you can discover how to turn your idea into a successful business at our ASPIRE centre, which provides practical advice and support, and runs our Business Start-up Journey initiative.
Kent Business and Kent Enterprise are two of our student-run societies. Their activities have included events with guest speakers from industry and support for budding entrepreneurs.
Kent Business School also puts on special events and schemes. These may include:
At Kent Business School, we pride ourselves on the strength of our global connections. These include links with:
Kent Business School is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). We are committed to excellence by providing world-class, thought-provoking programmes. We champion sustainable innovation through high-quality research and education, impacting business and society and are committed to developing employable, ethical graduates who can make a positive difference.
All of our programmes at Kent Business School address the challenges of modern global business and we aim to meet industry demands of producing quality graduates by ensuring we unlock our students’ potential, expand their thinking and nurture their talent.
There’s great variety in the modules, and I think this must help give you a more open choice of careers.
Viththiya Nagendram - Accounting and Finance BA
The University will consider applications from students offering a wide range of qualifications. Typical requirements are listed below. Students offering alternative qualifications should contact us for further advice.
Please note that meeting this typical offer/minimum requirement does not guarantee an offer being made.Please also see our general entry requirements.
If you’ve taken exams under the new GCSE grading system, please see our conversion table to convert your GCSE grades.
BBB
Mathematics grade B
The University will not necessarily make conditional offers to all Access candidates but will continue to assess them on an individual basis.
If we make you an offer, you will need to obtain/pass the overall Access to Higher Education Diploma and may also be required to obtain a proportion of the total level 3 credits and/or credits in particular subjects at merit grade or above.
The University will consider applicants holding BTEC National Diploma and Extended National Diploma Qualifications (QCF; NQF; OCR) on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us for further advice on your individual circumstances.
A typical offer would be to achieve Distinction, Distinction, Merit
34 points overall or 16 points at HL, including Mathematics 4 at HL or SL (Mathematics Studies 5 at SL)
The University welcomes applications from international students. Our international recruitment team can guide you on entry requirements. See our International Student website for further information about entry requirements for your country.
However, please note that international fee-paying students cannot undertake a part-time programme due to visa restrictions.
If you need to increase your level of qualification ready for undergraduate study, we offer a number of International Foundation Programmes.
For more advice about applying to Kent, you can meet our staff at a range of international events.
Please see our English language entry requirements web page.
Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of 'pre-sessional' courses in English for Academic Purposes. You attend these courses before starting your degree programme.
Duration: 3 years full-time, 6 years part-time
The course structure provides a sample of the modules available for this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take ‘elective’ modules from other programmes offered by the University in order that you may explore other subject areas of interest to you or that may further enhance your employability.
This is an introductory module to introduce students to the role and evolution of accounting
Topics to be covered may include: single entry accounting; double entry bookkeeping; financial reporting conventions; recording transactions and adjusting entries; principal financial statements; institutional requirements; auditing; monetary items; purchases and sales; bad and doubtful debts; inventory valuation; non-current assets and depreciation methods; liabilities; sole traders and clubs, partnerships, companies; capital structures; cash flow statements; interpretation of accounts through ratio analysis; problems of, and alternatives to, historical cost accounting.
The module introduces students to theories of management beginning with classical management perspectives through to contemporary management concepts. It will illustrate the continuities and transformations in management thinking throughout the 20th and 21st century. The main topics of study include: Scientific Management; Human Relations Approach; Bureaucracy and Post-Bureaucracy; The Contingency Approach; Culture Management; Leadership; Aesthetic Labour; Extreme Management.
The law affects the commercial world in many ways. This module focuses on its impact on how businesses conduct transactions; how they are structured; how they operate; how they employ staff, and how they manage and avoid disputes. By enabling students to become familiar with those parts of the law they are most likely to encounter in their careers and in business the module will help them better understand the obligations that parties have to each other in law.
The module covers the following topic areas: the English Legal System, Legal Process and Dispute Resolution; Law of Contract – formation, terms, vitiating elements, discharge and remedies; Law of Negligence – general principles and negligent mis-statement, particularly the issues faced by accountants in the area of negligent advice; Law of Business Organisations - classification of business organisations; main principles applying to general and limited liability partnerships and registered companies; directors' duties, and insolvency; Employment Law - the general scope of the legal obligations owed by employers to employees, including the employment contract, discrimination and dismissal
The following topics will be taught:
• Summarising data with frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, spread and skewness. Visual representation of data in the form of graphs and charts.
• Probability: The relationship between probability, proportion and percent, addition and multiplication rules in probability theory, Venn diagrams.
• Distributions: Discrete (Binomial, Poisson) and Continuous (Uniform, Exponential, Normal).
• Sampling and hypothesis testing and its use in inference; applications of sampling in Quality Control, business and accounting.
• Regression and correlation: scatter plots; simple regression.
• Decision making: payoff tables and decision strategies; decision trees; the Bayesian approach.
• Functions, equations and inequalities: linear functions, solving linear equations and solving simultaneous linear equations graphically; simple polynomials such as quadratic and cubic functions; manipulation of inequalities.
• Linear Programming – problem formulation and the graphical solution method.
• Calculus: The concepts of differentiation and integration, and their relationship; stationary values.
• Financial mathematics: Logarithms and exponential functions. Simple and Compound interest, annuities and perpetuities, loans and mortgages, sinking funds and savings funds, discounting to find NPV and IRR and interpretation of NPV and IRR.
The work of accountants permeates all aspects of management. Accountants provide information that is relevant to both managers and external stakeholders in the context of planning and controlling an organisation. This module introduces the principles and techniques used by management accountants who provide appropriate financial information to managers and help them make better informed decisions. Topics may include:
• An introduction to management accounting
• The role of management accountants in an organisation
• Cost terms and purposes
• Cost determination
• Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) analysis
• Measuring relevant costs & revenues for decision making
• Job order costing
• Cost allocation
• Activity based costing
• Joint and by-product costing
• Pricing, target costing and customer profitability analysis
• Motivation, budgets and responsibility accounting
• Flexible budgets, variances and management control
• Value based management and strategic management
• Performance management and management control
• Environment cost accounting: Sustainability
This module is concerned with the principles which underlie the investment and financing decision making process. Before a rational decision can be made objectives need to be considered and models need to be built. Short-term decisions are dealt with first, together with relevant costs. One such cost is the time value of money. This leads to long term investment decisions which are examined using the economic theory of choice, first assuming perfect capital markets and certainty. These assumptions are then relaxed so that such problems as incorporating capital rationing and risk into the investment decision are fully considered. The module proceeds by looking at the financing decision. The financial system within which business organisations operate is examined, followed by the specific sources and costs of long and short-term capital, including the management of fixed and working capital
The module will aim to cover the following topics:
• the conceptual framework of financial reporting
• the financial reporting environment
• the regulation of financial reporting
• group accounting
• the International Accounting Standards Board
• content and application of International Accounting Standards as appropriate
• accounting standards
• accounting for transactions in financial statements
Strategic Management aims to provide an understanding of strategic analysis, strategic decision-making and strategic processes within and between organisations. The module content combines approaches to strategic management, concepts and frameworks, and issues in strategic management. In particular, the themes covered include: internal and external environment analysis, strategic options, selection and evaluation, organisational structure and culture, the role of knowledge, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, not-for profit and social enterprises, corporate social responsibility, international strategies, strategic change and building a cohesive strategy. Case studies, which are used throughout the module, provide a vehicle for exploring the relationship between theory and practice in organisations and analysing the implications for strategic direction.
The module helps prepare students to acquire and develop the employability and transferable skills necessary to search and successfully apply for work experience and graduate opportunities in the commercial and public sector and postgraduate study.
The curriculum builds on employability support offered at Stage 1 providing intermediate level knowledge and exercises in application writing, CVs, careers advice, interview and assessment centre techniques, numeracy and competency tests, and psychometric evaluation.
The module helps prepare students to acquire and develop the employability and transferable skills necessary to search and successfully apply for work experience and graduate opportunities in the commercial and public sector and postgraduate study.
The curriculum builds on knowledge and experience gained in related employability modules delivered at Stages 1 and 2, providing further guidance and more advanced practical exercises in application writing, CVs, careers advice, interview and assessment centre techniques, numeracy and competency tests, and psychometric evaluation. The aims here are to support students during their final year in applying for good graduate jobs and MSc degree programmes.
This module begins with a focus on the financial system of the UK, including the major players in the markets and key interrelations. It then proceeds to cover key topics, including: advanced portfolio theory, the capital asset pricing model, arbitrage pricing theory, the implications and empirical evidence relating to the efficient market hypothesis, capital structure and the cost of capital in a taxation environment, interaction of investment and financing decisions, decomposition of risk, options and pricing, risk management, dividends and dividend valuation models, mergers and failures and evaluating financial strategies.
This module will cover the following topics:
• The historical development of auditing
• The nature, importance, objectives and underlying theory of auditing
• The philosophy, concepts and basic postulates of auditing
• The regulatory and socio-economic environment within which auditing process takes place
• Auditing implications of agency theories of the firm
• Auditing implications of the efficient markets hypothesis
• The statutory and contractual bases of auditing, including auditing regulation and auditors' legal duties and liabilities
• Truth and fairness in financial reporting
• Materiality and audit judgement
• Audit independence
• The nature and causes of the audit expectation gap
• Auditors' professional ethics and standards
• Audit quality control, planning, programming, performance, supervision and review
• The nature and types of audit evidence
• Principles of internal control
• Systems based auditing and the nature and relationship of compliance and substantive testing
• The audit risk model and statistical sampling
• Audit procedures for major classes of assets, liabilities, income and expenditure
• Audit reporting.
The module examines contemporary management accounting issues at an advanced level. It takes an interdisciplinary perspective and draws on the knowledge and techniques acquired in Stages 1 and 2 core modules. The module explores the role of management accounting within the context of strategic management and management control. The module traces and evaluates recent major changes in management accounting and aims to increase students' awareness of how management accounting is used in managing organisations and the impact of organisational and social context on management accounting practice and effectiveness.
This module is designed to build upon financial accounting topics taught in previous modules and assess them at a more advanced level. It will also introduce topics, not previous taught.
The following is an indicative list of topics to be covered:
• Accounting for complex transactions in financial statements
• Analysing and interpreting financial statements
• CSR
• Preparation of financial statements including those for complex groups
• Content and application of International Accounting Standards, as appropriate.
A synopsis of the curriculum
The module will aim to cover the following topics:
• The UK tax system including the overall function and purpose of taxation in a modern economy, different types of taxes, principal sources of revenue law and practice, tax avoidance and tax evasion.
• Income tax liabilities including the scope of income tax, income from employment and self-employment, property and investment income, the computation of taxable income and income tax liability, the use of exemptions and reliefs in deferring and minimising income tax liabilities.
• Corporation tax liabilities including the scope of corporation tax, profits chargeable to corporation tax, the computation of corporation tax liability, the use of exemptions and reliefs in deferring and minimising corporation tax liabilities.
• Chargeable gains including the scope of taxation of capital gains, the basic principles of computing gains and losses, gains and losses on the disposal of movable and immovable property, gains and losses on the disposal of shares and securities, the computation of capital gains tax payable by individuals, the use of exemptions and reliefs in deferring and minimising tax liabilities arising on the disposal of capital assets.
• National insurance contributions including the scope of national insurance, class 1 and 1A contributions for employed persons, class 2 and 4 contributions for self-employed persons.
• Value added tax including the scope of VAT, registration requirements, computation of VAT liabilities.
• Inheritance tax and the use of exemptions and reliefs in deferring and minimising inheritance tax liabilities. Introduction to international tax strategy, implementation, compliance and defence. An understanding of principles of normative ethics in business and in taxation from local and global perspectives.
• The obligations of taxpayers and/or their agents including the systems for self-assessment and the making of returns, the time limits for the submission of information, claims and payment of tax, the procedures relating to enquiries, appeals and disputes, penalties for non-compliance.
Students will be expected to develop the ability to use appropriate techniques of analysis and enquiry within Operations and Service Management and to learn how to evaluate the alternatives and make recommendations. Topics include:
• The nature of services and service strategy
• Service development and technology
• Service quality and the service encounter
• Project/Event management and control
• Managing capacity and demand in services
• Managing inventories
This module will cover the following topics:
- Features of debt instruments and risks associated with investing in these instruments
- Debt and money markets (participants, operations, trading activities)
- Fixed-income instruments (Government bonds, corporate bonds, credit ratings, high-yield bonds, international bonds, mortgage-backed securities, etc.)
- Money market instruments (Treasury bills, commercial paper, repurchase agreements, bills of exchange, etc.)
- Fixed-income valuation (traditional approach, arbitrage-free approach, yield measures, volatility measures)
- Term-structure of interest rates and classic theories of term structure, derivation of zero-coupon yield curve
- General principles of credit analysis (credit scoring, credit risk modelling, etc.)
- Fixed-income portfolio construction and management strategies (portfolio's risk profile, managing funds against a bond market index).
This module will examine how Excel can be used for financial data analysis.
A brief revision of each financial concept will be presented. The syllabus will typically cover:
Introduction to Excel:
• Basic functions, mathematical expressions
Data Analysis with Excel:
• Data analysis, charts, solver, goal seek, pitot tables and pivot charts
Financial Valuation:
• Applications of time value of money
• Applications of capital budgeting techniques in Excel (IRR, NPV, Scenario Analysis, Monte Carlo simulation)
• Company Valuation Models
Portfolio Analysis and Security Pricing:
• Portfolio models, calculations of efficient portfolios, variance-covariance matrix
• Beta coefficient estimations and security market line
• Bond Valuations
• Binomial option pricing, Black-Scholes model.
This module is concerned with International Investment Banks’ products and strategies that involve the description and analyses of the characteristics of more commonly used financial derivative instruments such as forward and future contracts, swaps, and options involving commodities, interest, and equities markets. Modern financial techniques are used to value financial derivatives. The main emphasis of the module is on how International Investment Banks value, replicate, and arbitrage the financial instruments and how they encourage their clients to use derivative products to implement risk management strategies in the context of corporate applications.
In particular, students will first cover the topics related to forward, futures and swap contracts. They will then be introduced to options and various strategies thereof. Valuing options using Black-Scholes model and binomial trees is also an important part of the module. The important finance concepts of no-arbitrage and risk-neutral valuation and their implications for pricing financial derivatives are also covered in the module. This will help students to learn the techniques used in valuing financial derivatives and hedging risk exposure.
Successful completion of the module will provide a solid base for the student wishing to pursue a career in International Investment Banking and Treasury Management. The students will have the knowledge of essential techniques of risk management and financial derivative trading.
This module is designed to provide students across the university with access to knowledge, skill development and training in the field of entrepreneurship with a special emphasis on developing a business plan in order to exploit identified opportunities. Hence, the module will be of value for students who aspire to establishing their own business and/or introducing innovation through new product, service, process, project or business development in an established organisation. The module complements students' final year projects in Computing, Law, Biosciences, Electronics, Multimedia, and Drama etc.
This module facilitates the development of an entrepreneurial mind-set, and equips students with necessary cutting-edge knowledge and skills vital for generating value in a knowledge based economy. The curriculum will include the following areas of study:
• Broader application of entrepreneurship
• Co-creation as a new form of generating value in an innovation ecosystem.
• Managing innovation entrepreneurially
• Entrepreneurial opportunity
• Entrepreneurial Motivation
• Entrepreneurial Marketing
• Entrepreneurial Finance – Finance fuels entrepreneurship.
This module presents an overview of what workforce diversity is and its relevance and usefulness in improving our understanding and management of people (including ourselves) at work. The demographics of the population and the workplace are changing drastically because of a number of factors, such as an increasing number of ethnic minorities and women in the workforce and in management. Accordingly, there is a need to effectively understand and manage workforce diversity not only to increase organisational business outcomes but also to create an inclusive workplace in a socially responsible manner.
The module will examine issues confronting managers of a diverse workforce. In particular issues such as ethnicity, race, language, ageing, disability, gender, and intersectional identities will be discussed. Two key approaches towards managing diversity will be explained, i.e. the social equity case of managing diversity, and the business benefits case of managing diversity. The module will explore a range of diversity related concepts and topics, such as social identity, stereotyping, discrimination, intergroup conflict, structural integration, and organisational change.
Indicative topics are:
• Origins of diversity and equal opportunity in the workplace context;
• Social and psychological perspectives on workplace diversity;
• The UK and European diversity contexts;
• Business benefits case and social equity case of managing diversity;
• The legal framework for diversity;
• Organisational approaches to diversity;
• Contemporary issues central to the experiences of diverse individuals in the UK and in organisations across a range of diversity dimensions;
• Diversity management in an international context
The module aims to provide a critical understanding of the challenges of managing creativity and innovation within contemporary organisations. The experience of work and employment, management practices are affected by rapid technological change, intensifying global competition and changing demographic profiles and values of the work force. Contemporary organisations are pressurised to tackle these developments through creativity, innovation and new organisational forms. This module examines the nature, antecedents, processes and consequences of creativity and innovation and their complex links with organisation, while also exploring major social and technological changes relating these to organisational creativity and innovation. Students will be introduced to the main concepts and theories on creativity, innovation and organisation through readings and discussions of the main themes and debates in the field. Case studies will be used to illustrate how these concepts are connected together and how they could impact upon management decision making within contemporary organisations. Students will be encouraged to explore some of the most notable historical and contemporary shifts in media and technology and discover how new organisational forms and methods have been devised to exploit them. They will develop awareness for the cross-fertilisation between disciplines in analyzing the dynamics of creativity, innovation and organisation and their complex relationships.
Topics include:
• Conceptual foundations of creativity, innovation and organisation
• Personality and individual creativity
• Organisational creativity and innovation
• Cognition, knowledge and creativity
• Models and processes of innovation
• Organisational culture and systems for supporting creativity and innovation
• Leadership and entrepreneurship
• Creative organisations across fields/ industries
• Socio-technological change and new forms of organisation.
This module presents an overview of what work psychology is and its relevance and usefulness in improving our understanding and management of people (including ourselves) at work. Many work places operate sophisticated and expensive systems for assessing the costs and benefits of various workplace elements but often do not extend this to the management of employees. This module aims to demonstrate the benefits of having a comprehensive understanding of the role psychology can play in the management of people in contemporary organizations. Indicative content includes:
• Work psychology
• Individual differences and psychometrics
• Best practice personnel selection
• Stress and well-being
• Motivation
• Stereotypes and group behaviour
• Leadership and diversity
• The dark side of personality
• Political behaviour in the workplace
• The psychology of entrepreneurs
• Using work psychology to enhance employability
Students will be expected to develop the ability to use appropriate techniques of analysis and enquiry within Operations Management and to learn how to evaluate alternatives and make recommendations. Topics are likely to include:
• Strategic role of operations and operations strategy
• Design of processes and the implications for layout and flow
• Design and management of supply networks in national and international contexts
• Resource planning and management
• Lean systems
• Quality planning and managing improvement
The 2020/21 annual tuition fees for this programme are:
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
Full-time tuition fees for Home and EU undergraduates are £9,250.
For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
Find out more about accommodation and living costs, plus general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.
Usually you spend eight hours in lectures and four hours in seminars each week. Some modules have a number of workshops or sessions in computer laboratories. Most of your modules involve individual study using Library resources.
Most modules have an end-of-year examination that contributes 70% to the final module mark; your coursework provides the remaining marks. Both Stage 2 and 3 marks count towards your final degree class.
For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours which include both direct contact hours and private study hours. The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules. Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.
Methods of assessment will vary according to subject specialism and individual modules. Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.
The programme aims to:
You gain knowledge and understanding of:
You gain the following intellectual abilities:
You gain subject-specific skills in the following:
You gain transferable skills in the following:
For graduate prospects, Accounting and Finance at Kent ranked 8th in The Complete University Guide 2021 and scored over 90% in The Times Good University Guide 2020.
Of Accounting and Finance graduates who responded to the most recent national survey of graduate destinations, over 95% were in work or further study within six months (DLHE, 2017).
Our graduates move into a range of careers within the world of business. Many go on to become chartered, certified or management accountants. The degree can also prepare you for a career in financial services (such as banking, insurance and investment) or in general management.
Recent graduates have taken up positions with a wide range of companies, including:
Kent Business School has good links with businesses globally. This network is very useful when looking for work in industry.
Our friendly Careers and Employability Service can also give you advice on how to:
The Backpack to Briefcase scheme provides bespoke career and skills development events and activities for all Kent Business School students. Available from first year through to graduation, Backpack to Briefcase is designed to prepare you for a successful career after university.
You graduate with an excellent grounding in the main concepts and practical methods of accounting and finance.
To help you appeal to employers, you also learn transferable skills that are useful in any career. These include the ability to:
You can also gain extra skills by signing up for one of our Kent Extra activities, such as learning a language or volunteering.
This degree is accredited by the UK’s professional accountancy bodies. If you’d like to become a chartered accountant, this accreditation allows you to gain several exemptions from your professional accounting exams. (The number of exemptions depends on which modules you choose.)
The number of professional exemptions available to Kent graduates is a key benefit of the programme. For instance, our optional 'Taxation' module confers an important exemption, which is not available at most universities.
Successful completion of the BSc (Hons) Accounting & Finance programme typically provides exemption from the following papers:
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA)
Certified Practising Accountant Australia (CPA Australia)
This course page is for the 2020/21 academic year. Please visit the current online prospectus for a list of undergraduate courses we offer.
Enquire online for full-time study
Enquire online for part-time study
T: +44 (0)1227 768896
T: +44 (0)1227 823254
E: internationalstudent@kent.ac.uk
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