Accounting and Finance
UCAS Code: N420
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
104 - 120 UCAS Tariff points, including a minimum of 2 A Levels
Considered in combination.
Pass a named Access to HE Diploma in any subject with at least 33 credits at Merit and/ or Distinction.
Considered in combination.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
To include Grade 4 in any subject at Higher Level. English and Maths accepted within as GCSE equivalents
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
H3,H3,H4,H4,H4-H2,H2,H3,H3,H3
104-120 points from Irish Leaving Certificate English and Maths accepted within as GCSE equivalents
Considered in combination.
Considered in combination.
Considered in combination.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Any subject considered.
Considered in combination.
104-120 UCAS Tariff points, including a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers. English and Maths accepted within as GCSE equivalents
Considered in combination with Advanced Highers.
UCAS Tariff
Including a minimum of 2 A Levels
Considered in combination.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
You can get a head start by gaining credits during your studies that count towards your professional qualification. On graduation you’ll be eligible for exam exemptions from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
You will be enrolled as a student member of the ICAEW and have the opportunity to meet potential future employers at accountancy-specific careers events so you can explore where your career might take you.
Join the Plymouth Junior Chamber and receive training and professional mentoring, as well as invites to top networking events.
Map out your own successful career, following past graduates into jobs such as Trainee Chartered Accountant, Management Accountant, Auditor or Financial Analyst.
All undergraduate modules within Plymouth Business School have integrated within them a CV building activity, for example, through micro-credentialing; real world problem-based learning; or embedded direct employer activity. We do this because we know it is key to student academic and graduate success.
Modules
In your first year, you’ll be introduced to accountancy and the business world in general. You will learn how to control company finances and report company performance while understanding the important role that macro and micro economics play in the success of every business. Our second year peer assisted learning scheme (PALS) students will help you to manage the transition to University and provide tips and advice on how to make the most of your time with us.
In your second year, you will learn how to create and manage budgets, as well as how to decide on whether a business should undertake a major investment project. You will have the opportunity to examine stock markets in our state-of-the-art Bloomberg lab and will learn how to manage a company’s finances in order to maximise its performance. You will develop your financial accounting skills, while having the opportunity to learn about tax and how to manage a business responsibly and ethically.
In your third year, you can choose to do a placement year, taking the opportunity to earn a salary while getting hands-on work experience. You’ll develop your financial flair and build confidence to help you in your future career. We’ll support you to find the best placement to help you learn and thrive.
In your final year, you will develop your core knowledge of financial accounting, management accounting and corporate finance. You will have the opportunity to explore a range of other key areas such as accounting for sustainability, auditing and financial modelling. Our highly regarded work-based learning module will help you to develop your knowledge and skills in a weekly work placement with a local organisation. Our dedicated careers team will help you to find your dream graduate role, following previous graduates into jobs such as trainee chartered accountant, auditor or financial analyst.
The modules shown for this course or programme are those being studied by current students, or expected new modules. Modules are subject to change depending on year of entry.
Assessment methods
Assessment is 71% exams and 29% coursework
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Plymouth
Plymouth Business School
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Business and management
Sorry, no information to show
This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Accounting
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Business and management
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Over 2,000 students graduated with a degree in finance in 2015, and a sign of the strength of the finance industry, numbers are on the up. Over half of finance graduates go into the finance industry, with accountancy and financial advice roles particularly popular. It's also quite common for finance graduates to go into jobs which require you to take more training and gain professional qualifications — finance graduates who take further study are more likely to be studying accountancy than finance. About a third of graduates start their careers in London - but Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham are other popular locations for finance graduates to work.
Accounting
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
You don't have to be an accountant if you take this degree, but over half of graduates take a look at the rewards on offer for accountancy trainees and go into the job. Many others go into other parts of the finance industry as advisors or book-keepers, and some go into management or marketing. London is very popular for accountancy graduates going into their first job, but it's also quite common to work in Scotland, with Glasgow a perennial hotbed of Scottish accountancy recruitment. If you want to find a job in finance as an accountancy graduates, recruitment agencies were particularly important last year, so try to get in touch with one as soon as you can to improve your chances.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Business and management
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£19k
£23k
£25k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Explore these similar courses...






This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here