Bachelor of Arts (BAEcon)

BAEcon Accounting and Finance

Study the relationship between accounting, finance and the social sciences.
  • Duration: 3 or 4 years
  • Year of entry: 2025
  • UCAS course code: NN43 / Institution code: M20
  • Key features:
  • Study abroad
  • Industrial experience
  • Accredited course

Full entry requirementsHow to apply

Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,250 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £31,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

Scholarships and bursaries, including the Manchester Bursary , are available to eligible home/EU students.

Some undergraduate UK students will receive bursaries of up to £2,000 per year, in addition to the government package of maintenance grants.

You can get information and advice on student finance to help you manage your money.

Course unit details:
Introductory Management Accounting

Course unit fact file
Unit code BMAN10512
Credit rating 10
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

The course is concerned with the ways in which accounting information can assist 'internal' users (i.e. management) to make decisions and to plan and control organisational activities. Such 'management accounting' is relevant to all kinds of organisations. Although concentrated on accounting information, an important emphasis in the approach adopted in the course is the need to see the use of accounting in its organisational context and the effect it can have on human behaviour.

Various management accounting concepts will be introduced and illustrated through practical examples of various numerical techniques. Alternative cost concepts will be explored for both recording the costs of existing operations and for taking decisions about new opportunities. Special attention will be given to cost-volume-profit analysis, product pricing, special decisions, and allocation decisions when resources are limited. In addition, the construction of budgets for planning and the use of standard costing and variance analysis for control will be examined. The course also introduces the concept and design performance measurement systems in decentralised organisations.

Pre/co-requisites

Only available to students on: BA (Econ) Accounting and/or Finance Specialists, IBFE, BSc Accounting and BSc Business Accounting.

Only available to students on: BA (Econ) Accounting and/or Finance pathways, BSc IBFE and BSc Accounting.

Aims

The course is designed to introduce the main foundations of accounting within organisations. The course offers a broad coverage of major topic areas and provides the basis for specialist courses available in later years.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students understand:
- the nature of management accounting and its role in the management process
- concepts for cost and revenue recognition
- approaches to cost accumulation and recording
- the use of cost and revenue information in decision making
- the use of accounting information for planning and control

Teaching and learning methods

15 hours of lectures- 1 or 2 hours per week

5 demonstration lectures in set weeks of the course.

Full details will be provided in the course outline at the start of the course.

In addition there will be clinic sessions at the end of the course prior to the course exam.

Total study hours: 100 hours split between lectures, classes, reading, self-study and preparation for classes and examinations.

 

Informal Contact Methods

 1. Office Hours : 2hrs/week

2. Online Learning Activities (blogs, discussions, self-assessment questions): Blackboard 9.

3. Peer Assisted Study Sessions

4. Drop in Surgeries prior to exam.

5. Other : Emails
 

Employability skills

Other
In addition to teaching fundamental concepts and techniques of Management Accounting, the course enables students to develop essential transferable skills needed to  apply for a job and to be successful in most roles. Specifically, through learning management accounting, students get to know how to work methodically and systematically around an issue, and develop the ability to think creatively, independently and critical about problem solving.

Assessment methods

Examination (100%)

 

Feedback methods

- Informal advice and discussion during a lecture, seminar, workshop or lab.

- Responses to student emails and questions from a member of staff including feedback provided to a group via an online discussion forum.

- Generic feedback posted on Blackboard regarding overall examination performance.

- Clinic sessions before the exam.

Recommended reading

Atrill, P. and Mclaney, E. (2012), Management Accounting for Decision Makers, 7th Edition, Financial Times, Prentice Hall.

An additional reading list will be given out at the start of the course.

 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Demonstration 5
Lectures 15
Independent study hours
Independent study 80

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Chunlei Yang Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Length of course: 12 weeks
Other staff involved:
Pre-requisites: None
Co-requisites: None
Dependent course units:

• BMAN21040 Intermediate Management Accounting
• BMAN20081 Financial Statement Analysis - provided BMAN10501 Financial Reporting has been passed at 40% or higher in addition to BMAN10512 Introductory Management Accounting.

Programme Restrictions: Available to the following programmes of study - BA (Econ) Finance, BA (Econ) Accounting & Finance, BA (Econ) Finance & Economics, BSc International Business, Finance and Economics and BSc Accounting students.

BMAN10512 is available to study abroad and exchange students admitted through the University of Manchester International Programmes Office.

For Academic Year 2023/24

Updated: March 2023

Approved by: March UG Committee

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