BA Financial Economics and Accounting (Including Foundation Year)

What causes 'credit crunches', and how do their effects spread throughout the economy? What determines the value of Pound Sterling relative to the US Dollar or Euro? How do stock market prices affect asset prices? Financial events are rarely far from the forefront of headline news. They have an impact that extends far beyond the financial sector to affect almost every aspect of daily life, including income, employment, prices, property value and cost of mortgages.

Our course is built on the core principles of economics and accounting, which are applied to your study of financial institutions (such as banks), financial markets (such as the stock exchange), and financial instruments.

You receive a thorough introduction to all aspects of economics and accounting, so you master skills including:

• Quantitative research methods
• The preparation of financial statements
• Accounting standards
• Costing, budgeting and performance evaluation

With a focus on accounting and the economic analysis of financial issues, you receive a strong training in economics from one of the top-rated research departments in the UK.

We are 4th in UK for research power in economics and econometrics (Times Higher Education research power measure, Research Excellence Framework 2021).

You are also taught within Essex Business School. We are 20th in UK for research power in business and management (Times Higher Education research power measure, Research Excellence Framework 2021).

• We are 4th in UK for research power in economics and econometrics (Times Higher Education research power measure, Research Excellence Framework 2021).
• Top 25 for economics (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021)
• We give you diverse employment potential and the chance to meet future employers.

Previous university/college study is required in addition to local high school qualifications for our Undergraduate Bachelor degree courses.

We accept a number of international qualifications, including the International Baccalaureate with the majority of our courses requiring a grade 30 or above or the SATR with the majority of our courses requiring a minimum of 1100 out of 1600 with 550 in each test.

Many jobs in the financial sector require you to have knowledge of economics, finance and financial accounting. This course gives you comprehensive training in all these areas and teaches you the essential skills for a successful career in economics, finance and/or accounting, or further academic study at postgraduate level.

Our students find themselves in demand from a wide range of employers in a host of occupations, including financial analysis, management, public administration and accountancy, as well as directly in roles using economic knowledge.

Our recent graduates have gone on to work for a wide range of high-profile companies including:

• Bank of England
• Barlcays
• Citigroup
• Deloitte
• Ernst and Young
• Morgan Stanley
• Bank of New York
• Santander

We also work with the University's Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

UCAS

Applications to UCAS are open for 2023-24 entry. Applications are made online via the UCAS Apply and UCAS Hub, where you will be charged a small fee for processing your application. Here you will be able to fill out your details, upload your personal statement, choose the universities you would like to apply for, and track your application status.

It’s important that you complete your application fully to give us all the information we need to make a decisions as quickly as possible. A few key things that we will need are:

• Details of all qualifications, including those you may have not finished yet and any predicted grades
• Your personal statement (we have some tips for this)
• A suitable reference – if this is not provided or does not meet our requirements this may be a condition of any offer made and will be required before your place can be confirmed.

The UCAS code for Essex is ESSEX E70. Our individual campus codes for our Loughton and Southend campuses are ‘L’ and ‘S’ respectively. There is no campus code for Colchester – please leave this blank in your application.