Accounting and Business

Accounting and business together provide a powerful lens through which to understand how organisations create, record and manage value. Accounting is the language of finance, providing the systematic frameworks through which businesses track performance, meet legal obligations and make strategic decisions. Business studies sets this in a broader context, exploring strategy, marketing, operations, organisational behaviour and the economic environment in which firms operate.

Studying them together gives you analytical depth and commercial breadth simultaneously.

At the University of Reading, this four-year full-time programme takes you through the technical foundations of financial and management accounting while also developing your understanding of how businesses are run. You will study financial reporting, cost analysis, auditing principles and taxation alongside modules on strategy, entrepreneurship, international business and management. The four-year structure gives time for ideas to develop, for skills to be practised and consolidated, and for you to build a genuinely rounded understanding of both the numbers and the organisational world those numbers describe.

The programme develops your capacity for rigorous analysis, for clear professional communication and for working effectively in team-based environments.

Graduates with this combination of skills are sought after by a wide range of employers. Careers in chartered accountancy, financial management, management consultancy, corporate finance, internal audit and business analysis are all well-established routes. Many graduates enter professional training schemes with accountancy firms or large corporations and work towards professional qualifications alongside their employment.

Others move into roles in the not-for-profit sector, the public sector or financial services. Further study at masters level in accounting, finance or business administration is also a common next step for those who wish to specialise further.