Accounting and Business Finance with Data Analytics MSc

University of Bedfordshire

This 22-month Master’s provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the key areas of accounting and finance, preparing you for a career in management where an accounting, finance and data analytics focus is required. Your studies bring theory and practice together as you apply your knowledge to complex, real-world situations where vital financial decisions are made. The data analytics units develop your awareness of emerging technologies and developments, enabling you to synthesise complex information and data to produce meaningful solutions for your organisation.What will you study?Studying our Accounting and Business Finance with Data Analytics MSc course will equip you with the comprehensive knowledge and skills you need around key areas of accounting, business finance and management. Our unit in Financial Reporting and Performance Management will provide you with the skills to read and interpret published financial statements where you will also engage in ‘Financial Information Analysis’. Here, you will learn to identify and extract critical information within annual corporate reports while considering how it is impacted by regulations, concepts and standards, and how this affects its usefulness in decision-making.You will explore this further in our Financial Markets and Investments unit, that will provide you with knowledge of global financial markets, the importance of liquidity, the distinction between exchange versus OTC markets, primary and secondary markets and the role of intermediaries in their various forms. This relates to our unit in Advanced Management Accounting, where you will be equipped with the key tools and techniques used to make decisions, maximise revenue and minimise cost in management. You will combine management accounting and financial planning to make effective management decisions and drive successful businesses.n the data analytics portion of this course, you will be introduced to the principles of data mining in the context of business and management in our Applied Data Analytics unit. You will explore common text mining, data mining and data analytics methods and learn to apply this to real-world datasets to solve business problems. Within this unit, you will be equipped with the industry skills to use SAS Viya – a cloud-enabled analytics engine that supports coding, visual interfaces, advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Aside from this, you will explore the principles of Knowledge and Information Management for effective management in a variety of business settings. This unit will discuss the role of data, knowledge and information in strategy, data analytics and organisation decision making. Similarly, you will be introduced to the tools and techniques within Business Intelligence and Data Utilisation to design, plan, implement and manage strategic decision making to maximise a company’s success.Furthermore, you will develop a critical and informed understanding of business environments and the business opportunities within them in our Strategy unit. Here, you will be introduced to a range of tools and concepts for strategic analysis and business modelling that will allow you to assess the strategic position of business organisations, formulate strategies, evaluate options and implement strategic decisions.CareersAs a graduate of this course you will have the skills to take up career opportunities across a variety of business areas including assurance and audit; financial accounting; taxation; corporate finance; corporate insolvency and recovery. You will be able to work as a financial analyst; finance manager; corporate treasurer; credit controller to mention just a few of the potential roles.This course also provides an excellent pathway for further academic study at either MPhil and PhD level.