Course Structure
The previous professional qualification can be used as 120 credits towards the MSc, allowing candidates to obtain a masters’ degree by studying for just 60 credits.
The MSc Professional Accountancy consists of
- 2 out of 4 elective modules of 15 credits each
- 1 capstone project module of 30 credits
| Modules | Assessment |
| AFM070: Global issues in finance and accounting (GIFA) | Coursework: Up to 3000 words |
| AFM080: Analysing risk for decision making (ARDM) | Coursework: Up to 3000 words |
| AFM090: Issues in investment management (IIM) | Coursework: Up to 3000 words |
| AFM100: Capital markets and global perspectives (CMGP) | Coursework: Up to 3000 words |
| AFM500: Capstone project | Coursework: Up to 2500 words – 30% weightage Project: Up to 7000 words – 70% weightage |
All modules can be studied on a stand-alone basis.
Module Availability:| Module Title | Credits | Availability |
| Electives | ||
| Global Issues in Finance and Accounting | 15 | October, July |
| Analysing Risk for Decision Making | 15 | January, April |
| Issues in Investment Management | 15 | October, July |
| Capital Markets and Global Perspectives | 15 | January, April |
| Compulsory | ||
| Capstone Project | 30 | October, April |
- The Capstone project is split into 2 parts – each covered over 10 weeks and followed by an assessment submission
- A candidate can take up 2 modules in a 10 weeks session. This should ideally lead to the following combination:
First 10 weeks session: 1 elective and 1 part of the capstone project
Second 10 weeks session: 1 elective and 2nd part of the capstone project
Module Details:
Global issues in finance and accounting introduces students to and explores the dynamics of the global environment within which finance and accounting models are applied.
Main topics of the module include:
- Issues in implementing accounting standards for financial reporting
- Sustainability and integrated reporting issues
- Financial risk management and the Basel Accord(s)
- The impacts, current and potential, of digital developments, including AI
- Issues impacting global mergers and acquisition activity.
Analysing risk for decision making sets out to provide the requisite knowledge, understanding and skills to establish a deep understanding of the risk analysis within decision making.
Main topics of the module include:
Characteristics of robust decisions
- The role of intuition and analysis in decision making
- Attitudes to and perceptions of risk
- Information overload and the extraction of relevant data and information
- Deciding between opportunities with differing risk profiles and mitigating risk
- Flexibility and optionality in decision making.
Issues in investment management provides the knowledge, understanding and skills to establish a deep understanding of the arena of investment management.
Main topics of the module include:
- The investment arena
- Portfolio theory and market efficiency
- Behavioural insights and associated issues
- Investing in and managing fixed income securities
- Investing in and managing ordinary (common) equities
- Practical issues in portfolio development.
The advent of global markets has heightened the need to understand a range of risks in global contexts, and to so do in the context of multi-faceted risks and regulation.
Main topics of the module include:
- Purpose(s) and nature(s) of global capital markets and of financial actors
- Nature and application of economic theory: rationality and profit maximisation; information asymmetry; moral hazard; adverse selection
- Global perspectives on the risk- return trade-off
- Identify the main financial actors in capital markets, describe and comparatively critique the interests of market actors
- Understand drivers for an international market to gather together financial actors to exchange capital.
This module develops business research skills and their applications to both simulated and real-world strategic financial contexts.
Main topics of the module include:
- Purpose(s) and nature(s) of research and research philosophy
- The critical literature review
- Research design and business plan design.
- Data collection
- Qualitative and quantitative research techniques
- Business planning and financial forecasting.