Accounting and Human Resource Management

Accounting and human resource management is a combination that addresses two of the most essential functions in any organisation. Accounting provides the frameworks for financial recording, reporting and analysis, equipping you to understand how organisations manage their financial resources and how performance is measured and communicated. Human resource management focuses on the people dimension: how organisations recruit, develop, motivate, manage and retain their workforce, and how employment law and organisational culture shape working life.

The two disciplines complement one another well, since people decisions have financial consequences and financial decisions affect people.

At the University of Strathclyde, this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, providing an international dimension to your studies and the opportunity to examine how accounting and human resource management operate in different national contexts. The accounting strand develops your understanding of financial reporting, management accounting, taxation, auditing and corporate governance. The human resource management strand covers recruitment and selection, learning and development, employee relations, employment law, reward management and organisational behaviour.

You will develop quantitative and analytical skills alongside the interpersonal and communication capabilities that human resource professionals need. Both strands contribute to an understanding of how organisations function and how they can be managed more effectively and responsibly.

Graduates go on to careers in accounting, management accounting, human resources, talent management, employment relations, organisational development and general management across all sectors. The combination of financial and people management expertise makes graduates attractive to organisations that value both analytical rigour and people-centred leadership. Professional qualification with CIMA, ACCA or CIPD is a common route for those who want to develop further.

Further study in accounting, human resources or business is available for those who wish to specialise.