Accounting and Finance

Accounting and finance are the twin disciplines through which organisations understand, report and manage their financial position. Accounting provides the system for recording, classifying and reporting financial transactions, and for ensuring that financial statements give a true and fair view of an organisation's affairs. Finance applies economic theory and quantitative methods to questions of investment, risk, capital structure and the valuation of financial assets.

Together they form the knowledge base needed for a wide range of professional roles, from practising accountants and financial analysts to corporate treasurers, fund managers and financial regulators.

At the University of the Highlands and Islands this programme is studied part time, making it accessible to students who cannot pursue full-time campus-based study. The part-time structure allows you to develop your accounting and financial knowledge at a pace that suits your other commitments, whether that includes work, family or geographic constraints. The Highlands and Islands institution's distributed campus model, serving communities across the north and west of Scotland, reflects a commitment to making higher education accessible to people in areas that are remote from traditional university centres.

You will develop competence across financial reporting and management accounting, corporate finance, investment, the regulatory and ethical frameworks of accounting practice, and the quantitative methods used in financial analysis. These are skills that translate directly into a wide range of professional roles.

Graduates from accounting and finance programmes typically pursue professional qualifications with bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and go on to work in public practice, corporate finance, financial services, management and public-sector financial management. Postgraduate study is also an option for those seeking further specialisation.