Accounting and Finance

Accounting and finance is a degree with a clear professional purpose. Accounting provides the framework for measuring, recording, and reporting the financial activities of organisations, and it sits at the heart of every business decision, every regulatory requirement, and every audit or tax process that organisations undergo. Finance extends the picture to capital markets, investment decisions, the pricing of risk, and the broader economic environment in which organisations operate.

Together they provide the knowledge and analytical skills that underpin professional practice in both public accounting and commercial finance.

At Sunderland, this three-year full-time programme is built with professional qualification in mind, and the curriculum is designed to support exemptions from some professional accounting examinations, reducing the time and cost of achieving full professional status after graduation. A sandwich year is incorporated, giving you a paid 48-week placement in an accounting, finance, or business organisation. This extended professional experience is a significant advantage: it develops practical skills alongside academic knowledge, builds your professional network, and demonstrates to employers that you can apply what you have studied in a real working environment.

A work placement is also built into the programme.

Graduates are well placed for careers in professional accountancy practice, financial management, taxation, audit, corporate finance, banking, and financial services. The combination of academic training and professional placement experience is exactly what the major accounting firms and commercial finance teams look for in graduate recruits. Professional qualifications through the main accountancy bodies are the standard route after graduation for those pursuing practice, and the degree provides strong preparation for that path.

Many graduates also move into financial analysis, management accounting, or senior finance roles in commercial organisations.