Accounting and Business Management BA Honours
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
3 up to 4 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
18 Aug 2025
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 15,400 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* international | UK: £9,250
Introduction
This degree is designed to equip you with a unique set of accounting and managerial skills to analyse and evaluate the company and industry trends. You’ll learn how to receive, interpret and communicate financial and other information in a globalised profession. Gaining a deeper understanding of how finances affect company performance, you’ll be better placed to help firms make effective business decisions. Upon completion of the degree, students will be eligible to apply for eight CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) exemptions and up to six ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).
In this fast-changing business world, there is a shortage of graduate talent with both accounting and business management education and skills. Our course covers management accounting, business and management education, and financial strategy. Generating value for the organisations you work in, you’ll look to the future, analyse the performance of the business, advise or create strategies to solve problems, and adapt to changing circumstances and market conditions.
Taught by academics with professional experience as accountants and managers, there is an emphasis on learning through practice, so you graduate with the breadth of knowledge and capabilities to respond proactively and creatively to contemporary business issues and challenges. Throughout the course, you’ll also develop a range of transferrable skills highly prized by employers, such as critical evaluation, self-direction and problem-solving, as well as a sound grasp of analysis, presentations and negotiation techniques.
In December 2021, the University of Westminster received the CIMA Prize-Winner Excellence Award 2021. The Prize-Winner Award recognises university partners with top-performing CIMA students in Case Study exams. The CIMA Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding academic partners, education providers and students who have made significant contributions to the accounting profession and the Institute over the past year.
Top reasons to study with us
- Accredited by CIMA with eight examination exemptions on successful completion and up to six ACCA exemptions depending on your choice of modules
- Large range of optional modules covering specialist topics such as taxation or commercial law, as well as generalist activities like creating and managing an online presence
- Programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body that comes from professional practice and/or are regularly published in top international journals
- Optional placement year and study abroad semester to gain valuable work experience
- Opportunity to undertake an internship, which has enabled previous students to gain experience with the NHS and with Disney
- Participate in Westminster Working Cultures trips to understand working cultures within businesses abroad, which in the past have included Berlin, Mumbai and Washington DC
- Business School graduates have gone on to work for large banks, including Standard Chartered, Citibank, Société Générale and Paribas, and governmental agencies, such as the World Economic Forum and the Taiwanese government
Why study this course?
- Combine theory and practice
Link theory to global practice through real-life case studies, guest lectures, field trips and insight from one of the world’s largest financial databases. - Professional software
Enhance your digital literacy and computer skills with industry-standard software, including Excel, Tableau and FAME. - Build connections
Build connections with peers and future business leaders.
Programme recognition
The Accounting and Business Management BA is accredited by CIMA, the world's largest professional body of management accountants. For students seeking the internationally-recognised CIMA Qualification, successful completion exempts them from eight examination exemptions. For those pursuing ACCA accreditation, the global body for professional accountants, the number of examination exemptions will again depend on your choice of optional modules but could be up to six.
Career Opportunities
This degree is designed to prepare you for financial management and management accounting roles across all sectors of business, anywhere in the world. You will become a confident analyst and advisor, learning to interpret cost or profit figures produced by an accountant to support managerial decision-making. You will graduate with knowledge and professional skills and a heightened sense of commercial awareness that will be immediately transferable in a business environment. You could enter a wide range of business careers such as banking, insurance, financial services and general management. Many of our students go on to postgraduate study here and at a range of other universities.
The University's Careers and Employability Service has built up a network of over 3,000 employers around the world, helping all our students explore and connect with exciting opportunities and careers.
- Develop your innovation and entrepreneurial skills
Develop your innovation and entrepreneurial skills in The Big Idea competition, sponsored by Santander. - Kickstart your career
Learn how to use social media in your job hunt or LinkedIn to kickstart your career. - Develop your CQ
Develop your cultural intelligence – or ‘CQ’ – by studying alongside students and staff representing more than 100 nationalities.
Industry links
Westminster Business School is one of London’s leading centres for business education based in the heart of London and its political, media and financial services scene. Through our connections with professional bodies, our alumni network and Employability Advisory Board, we have excellent links with the industry. Staff who currently teach on this course have extensive professional experience in a range of business sectors, with many staff maintaining links with industry through consultancy and training work.
Job roles
This course will prepare you for roles such as:
- Analyst or researcher
- Business development manager
- Business partner
- Business sales executive
- Financial advisor
- Management accountant
- Management consultant
Graduate employers
Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:
- Bank of England
- Barclays
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts
- BT
- Coca Cola
- EE
- HSBC
- NHS
- PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Transport for London
Westminster Employability Award
Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.
The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, comprising a set of core and optional extracurricular activities.
Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up to a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.
Admissions
Curriculum
This degree combines general business knowledge with specialist financial analysis and reporting that helps inform and monitor business strategy. In each year of study, you will take a combination of core modules and one optional, which cover specialisms such as personal finance or international financial management, for example, or an elective module, which includes the Polylang languages programme.
The following subjects are indicative of what you will study in this course.
Year 1
You are introduced to the functions of business organisations, the broader business environment, and key management skills and competencies, including information gathering and analysis, accounting, marketing and organisational behaviour. We consider business organisations – their purposes, structures and governance in a global context, together with cultural differences and ethical constraints. You’ll learn about basic management accounting concepts and deepen your understanding of company financial information, in particular how this information gets reported and analysed. Drawing on real-life data, you’ll be tasked with analysing the financial performance of an organisation of your choice.
Subjects of study may include:
- Accounting and Finance Fundamentals
- Fundamentals of Management Accounting
- Marketing for Finance and Accounting
- Organisational Behaviour for Finance and Accounting
- Quantitative Methods for Accountants
You will also have the opportunity to take one option module from: Creating and Managing an Online Presence, The Role of the Manager. You may also choose a foreign language as your option module.
Credit Level 4
Year 2
You’ll take financial statement analysis to the next level by analysing the annual report of a chosen real-life company. Applying a ratio analysis, you will provide recommendations to existing and potential investors and present your findings in the report. Management modules will also concentrate on developing key transferable skills, such as looking into explaining the process of managing the project, evaluating the role of individuals in a company and how this can be used to plan a business better. You’ll learn to make decisions regarding overall resource management and how to influence a company’s future direction and strategies to add value.
Subjects of study may include:
- Financial Reporting and Analysis
- Intermediate Management Accounting
- Managing and Leading People for Finance and Accounting
- Project Management
Plus two options from: Corporate Governance, Digital Business for Finance and Accounting and other areas of business including languages.
Credit Level 5
Placement Year
Between Years 2 and 3, you can take an optional work placement or study year abroad. The work placement year is a one-year full-time business work placement.
Past students have completed placements in a variety of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and prestigious organisations, including Barclays Bank, British Airways, Disney UK, IBM and the National Health Service (NHS).
The study abroad year allows you to follow a programme of study at one of our partner institutions, giving you an opportunity to experience life in another country and learn Business from a different cultural viewpoint.
You can also choose to split your year abroad into a first semester exchange and a second semester work placement; both conducted overseas.
Year 3
We’ll look in-depth at financial information analysis, building your competence to use relevant and emerging technologies in the field of accounting and management. You’ll analyse detailed accounting information, including consolidated financial statements, make informed decisions and review current research in the area of accounting. You’ll also explore the process of working in a team, and applying personal and professional responsibility. Consolidating your learning, you will explore strategic leadership and assess the international environment of an organisation in the complex and unpredictable competitive environment of today’s turbulent economy.
Subjects of study may include:
- Accounting Theory and Practice
- Advanced Aspects of Management Accounting
- Financial Management
- Strategic Perspectives for Finance and Accounting
Plus two options from: Company Law, Taxation and other areas of business including languages.
Credit Level 6
International Opportunities
Many of our courses offer international study and work experiences, and the University provides other global opportunities that all students can apply for - so whatever you're studying, you'll have the chance to go abroad.
Opportunities could include:
- Taking part in a semester or year-long exchanges at institutions around the world
- Attending an international summer school or field trip
- Developing your CV through volunteering or work placements abroad
International experience broadens horizons, boosts self-confidence, and improves global understanding, alongside being fantastic for your career.
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Program Tuition Fee
Scholarships and Funding
The University is dedicated to supporting ambitious and outstanding students and we offer a variety of scholarships to eligible undergraduate students, which cover all or part of your tuition fees.