Accounting and Finance

Accounting and finance are the languages of business and economic life. Accounting provides the frameworks for recording, reporting and auditing financial activity, enabling organisations to understand their position and be held accountable. Finance looks at how capital is raised, allocated and managed, and how risk is assessed across markets, institutions and investments.

Together they form a rigorous and versatile discipline that underpins decision-making in every kind of organisation.

At Birkbeck College in London, this programme is delivered part-time, making it well suited to those who are working or have other commitments alongside their studies. You will acquire both the quantitative and analytical skills required for professional roles in accountancy and finance, alongside transferable capabilities in decision-making, management and critical analysis. The curriculum covers financial reporting, management accounting, corporate finance, taxation, auditing and investment, giving you a thorough grounding in the field.

You will engage with real financial data, apply accounting standards, and develop the kind of structured analytical thinking that practitioners use in practice.

Birkbeck's part-time model and London location offer particular advantages. You will be studying in one of the world's major financial centres, with access to an academic environment that takes seriously the relationship between theory and professional practice. The programme prepares you both for employment and for professional qualification examinations, giving exemptions from parts of the routes to membership of major accountancy bodies.

Graduates go on to careers as accountants, auditors, financial analysts, management consultants, tax advisers, finance managers and treasury professionals across industries including financial services, commerce, the public sector and the not-for-profit world. Further study at postgraduate level, including in accounting, finance or business, is a natural progression for those who want to specialise or pursue academic work.