Accounting and Finance (Industry)

BSc Hons

  • UCAS code N401
  • Entry year 2025 or 2024
  • A level requirements AAB
  • Duration Full time 4 years

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 4

    4th for graduate prospects: Accounting & Finance

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

  • 7

    7th for Accounting and Finance

    The Guardian University Guide (2025)

  • QS 5 Star rating for Accounting and Finance

Introduction

Our BSc Accounting and Finance (Industry) is a four-year, career-focused degree course with a 12-month paid industry placement in year three. Students graduate from this degree with the combination of technical skills and practical experience necessary to take on challenging roles in Big Four accounting firms, investment banks and beyond. (It is also quite common for students to receive a job offer from their placement host.)

Course overview

You will learn from leading academic researchers and expert practitioners in finance, investing and accounting. The degree provides the perfect blend of theory and practice, taking you to the heart of key questions around the nature of business performance, financial analysis, accountancy skills, investment strategies and financial markets.

Throughout your degree, we encourage you to pursue your interests, develop your strengths, and move towards your ideal career. To enable that, this degree is highly flexible, letting you specialise your studies based on your strengths and interests.

Our Finance, Accounting and International careers coaches are experts in their fields. They help students gain access to employers and help prepare them for success in their future careers.

Key facts

The degree is accredited by globally-recognised accountancy bodies:

  • Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
  • Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

These accreditations provide graduates with exemptions from many core professional examinations, depending on your module choices, and mean that, on graduation, you will be further along the route to qualifying as an accountant than many of your contemporaries.

Your third-year industrial placement provides you with a positive, practical experience in a graduate role, gaining priceless business skills. You will have the chance to see how well academic theories work in real-life situations and gain insight into where your talents and interests lie for your future career.

Our careers team will provide you with expert support and guidance in securing a third-year industry placement. Past students have worked with companies such as Deloitte, Lloyds Bank, PwC and Samsung, in roles ranging from finance, auditing and accounting to operations, consulting and risk.

The University will make all reasonable efforts to support you in finding a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation directly related to your studies or career aspirations, all roles offer valuable experience of working at graduate level, gaining a range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities for which you would be welcome to apply.

As part of the course, there is the option to complete a period of study abroad, subject to availability. You can study one module at one of our partner Universities during the summer vacation at the end of your first or second year of studies.

Course outcomes

At the end of your time with us, you will be equipped to work in the fields of finance and accounting and ready to progress your studies with further required professional examinations. Our graduates have gone on to work for Big Four accounting firms, international consulting firms, blue-chip corporations, and global banks and hedge funds.

Careers

All our Accounting and Finance degrees prepare you for a wide variety of careers in business, with many of our graduates working with professional firms and financial institutions, as well as large commercial and local government organisations. Roles include trainee accountants, finance managers and banking advisors.

Your degree will also equip you with highly desirable transferable skills which have helped recent graduates find work in the fields of financial customer service, IT support and marketing and communications. Many of our graduates also continue their academic studies and embark on Master's degrees.

Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, but that you also graduate with relevant life and work-based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award, which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Employability section for full details.

Lancaster Management School has an award-winning careers team to provide a dedicated careers and placement service offering a range of innovative services for management school students. Our high reputation means we attract a wide range of leading global employers to campus offering you the opportunity to interact with graduate recruiters from day one of your degree.

Entry requirements

Grade requirements

A level AAB

GCSE Mathematics grade B or 6 (Applicants with a GCSE Maths grade 5 considered on a case-by-case basis), English Language grade C or 4

IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements web pages.

Other qualifications

International Baccalaureate 35 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects

BTEC Distinction, Distinction, Distinction

We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualification. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions web pages.

Contact Admissions Team + 44 (0) 1524 592028 or via ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and some which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.

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Fees and funding

Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting in the October of your year of study.

Our Undergraduate Tuition Fees for 2025/26 are:

Home International
£9,250 £25,450

Fees and funding information

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Scholarships and bursaries

You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.

You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status:

Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.

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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.

Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.

Alumni profiles

Link: click to see Shuting He
portrait photograph of Shuting He

Shuting He

BSc Accounting and Finance (Industry), 2017

Completing a full placement year as opposed to a Summer Internship allowed me to experience working across the full audit cycle and to see the construction of the final audit reports.
Link: click to see Amy Neave
portrait photograph of Amy Neave

Amy Neave

BSc Accounting and Finance (Industry), 2017

I have had two completely different roles meaning I gained a broad experience, and also met a lot of different people of all seniority levels.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

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