Program Overview

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BSc Accounting with Industrial/Professional Experience

Overview

Course description

This unique, professionally oriented course has been designed alongside the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Undergraduate Partnership Programme (UPP).

It will provide you with a fast track to an accountancy qualification and includes a one-year paid work placement in your third year.

Entry requirements

A-level

• Grades AAA.
• Native language A-Levels are accepted.
• General Studies is normally accepted if one of four A-Levels passed in the same sitting.
• In most circumstances, we will expect candidates to complete three A-Levels in one sitting to demonstrate the ability to manage a high level and volume of study.

A-level contextual offer

• AAB-BBB
• Applicants taking A-Levels are normally expected to offer three full A-Levels.
• If you’re taking more than three A-Levels, these won’t be included in your offer.
• We will only make offers consisting of three A-Levels.

UK refugee/care-experienced offer

• AAB-BBB
• Applicants taking A-Levels are normally expected to offer three full A-Levels.
• If you’re taking more than three A-Levels, these won’t be included in your offer.
• We will only make offers consisting of three A-Levels.

International Baccalaureate

• 36 points overall.
• 6,6,6 in Higher Level subjects
• Applicants studying the International Baccalaureate Career Related Programme (IBCP) should contact the admissions team prior to applying so that their academic profile can be considered.

GCSE/IGCSE

• Applicants must demonstrate a broad general education including acceptable levels of Literacy and Numeracy, equivalent to at least Grade 6 or B in GCSE/IGCSE English Language and Grade 7 or A Mathematics.
• GCSE/IGCSE English Literature will not be accepted in lieu of GCSE/IGCSE English Language.

Other entry requirements

• Other entry requirements exist for this course.
• You may view these by selecting from the list below.
• Select other entry requirements:
  • Scottish requirements
  • Welsh Baccalaureate
  • Foundation year
  • Pearson BTEC qualifications
  • OCR Cambridge Technical qualifications
  • Access to HE Diploma
  • T Level
  • Extended Project Qualification (EPQ)

Fees and funding

Fees

• Fees for entry in 2026 have not yet been set.
• For entry in 2025 the tuition fees were £9,535 per annum for home students, and are expected to increase slightly for 2026 entry.
• You will receive a significant tuition fee discount for the placement year.
• UK students with a household income of up to £35,000 are also eligible to receive a cash bursary worth up to £2,000.

Additional expenses

• 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.

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.

Scholarships/sponsorships

• The Manchester Bursary is available to UK students registered on an undergraduate degree course at Alliance MBS who have had a full financial assessment carried out by Student Finance England.
• In addition, Alliance MBS will award a range of Social Responsibility Scholarships to UK and international/EU students.
• These awards are worth £2,000 per year across three years of study.
• You must achieve AAA at A-level (or equivalent qualification) and be able to demonstrate a significant contribution and commitment to social responsibility.

Application and selection

How to apply

• Apply via UCAS.

Advice to applicants

• Mitigating circumstances may be personal or family illness, other family circumstances, change of teachers during a course, problems with school facilities or an unusual curriculum followed by your school or college.
• We recommend that information on mitigating circumstances that have affected or are likely to affect your academic performance will be included in the referee's report.

Interview requirements

• We do not as a rule interview applicants.
• However, we reserve the right to interview candidates with non-standard backgrounds, eg. Mature students and students aged under 17.

Course details

Course description

• This unique, professionally oriented course has been designed alongside the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Undergraduate Partnership Programme (UPP).
• It will provide you with a fast track to an accountancy qualification and includes a one-year paid work placement in your third year.

Aims

• BSc Accounting is built on three key pillars for success: being able to reach your full potential and become original critical thinkers who are academically focussed and can make a difference, flourishing and becoming well-rounded individuals with emotional intelligence, a growth mindset and resilience with the ultimate aim of achieving long-term career success and becoming future leaders of tomorrow.

Special features

• The course integrates study of the theory and practice of accounting, and offers significant exemptions from the examinations of professional accountancy bodies, particularly those of the ICAEW.
• You could gain exemptions from ICAEW ACA papers and qualify as a chartered accountant two years after graduation.

Teaching and learning

• You will normally study five or six course units per semester.
• Each week there are on average two hours of lectures for each course unit and one hour small group teaching in alternate weeks, although this varies slightly depending on course choices.
• You are expected to double this in private study.

Coursework and assessment

• Essays, multiple choice tests, project reports and presentations, in-class tests, and weekly assignments constitute the coursework component of assessment, although the nature and proportion of coursework varies across course units.
• The remainder of assessment is by unseen examination.

Course unit details

• The focus of the degree is on accounting and finance.
• Other relevant subjects such as management, law, mathematics, statistics, and economics are also covered.
• There is some scope for you to study related subjects to broaden your knowledge of business and management, subject to the requirements of professional accreditation.

Course content for year 1

• Your first year is designed to introduce you to the foundations of accounting and finance.
• You will also study course units in mathematics, statistics, economics and law.
• A specialist course unit will introduce you to the skills and techniques required by the accountancy profession and will begin to prepare you for the workplace.
• Your first year project involves you preparing a group project for an audit to develop your research skills.

Course content for year 2

• Your second year will develop your analytical skills and give you a more in-depth understanding of accounting.
• You will take intermediate core course units in accounting and finance.
• You will develop your understanding of business strategy, the different pathways in the accounting profession as part of a specialist course unit designed to provide you with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary for the work placement year.

Course content for year 3

• If you successfully apply for a work placement this will take place between your second and final year.
• You will put theory into practice, develop transferable skills and gain an insight into the accounting profession.

Course content for year 4

• Your final year is designed to allow you to choose from a range of more specialised topics.
• You will continue your studies in core course units including accounting and finance.
• Your remaining course units will be chosen from a range of accounting, finance, economics or management subjects.
• In addition, you will study a core 40 credit project course unit involving a group and an individual project.

Careers

Career opportunities

• The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate.
• At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability.
• The aim of the course is to empower you to achieve long-term career success and become the leading professionals of tomorrow.

Accrediting organisations

• This is a professionally oriented course developed in consultation with the ICAEW.
• Completion of the core course units on this course will ensure you receive substantial exemptions from the ICAEW's professional qualification, the ACA (Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales).
• A number of exemptions are also available from other professional accounting qualifications, including ACCA and CIMA.