Overview  

The MSc International Accountancy and Finance degree will equip you with highly employable expertise, and a thorough understanding of global financial issues. You’ll learn the academic theory and professional application necessary to set you up for life after graduation. By gaining widespread knowledge across the discipline, the programme will allow you to pursue professional and managerial careers in international accounting and finance, both in the private and public sectors.   

You’ll develop a systematic understanding of international accounting and finance and acquire a critical awareness of contemporary issues in professional practice, and the academic discipline. You’ll understand the way the environment affects accounting and causes international differences, and how financial decisions or questions are analysed or modelled in theory. You’ll analyse and understand a wide range of real-life contexts, including the way financial markets and institutions operate, how much a company decides to borrow, and how investors select portfolios of assets.   

You’ll learn about, and evaluate, a comprehensive range of research techniques used in international accounting and finance and understand how such techniques create and interpret knowledge. This will allow you to critically evaluate academic research, professional research and pronouncements, and financial media articles. These research and critical analysis skills will enable you to carry out an original research project on your chosen topic.   

The career-focused master’s programme will develop your transferrable skills, including teamwork, communication, and presentation to make you highly sought after upon graduation. You’ll gain the skills and knowledge to help you thrive in the accountancy and financial services sector, in academic research, or in your chosen employment sector. The strong international relevance of this programme will make your skillset highly transferable across the globe. The MSc is accredited and approved by several accountancy bodies, providing you with the necessary accreditation for those looking to gain professional qualifications from the key accounting associations.    

Expertise  

Your learning will be informed by the expertise of our research-active academics whose work covers four key areas:  

• Employment, Work and the Professions  
• Logistics and Sustainability  
• Networks and Enterprise Excellence  
• Social and Economic Data Analysis  
• 
  

Your learning environment   

Taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials, you’ll get to know and build relationships with the teaching staff and academics. You'll be assessed by coursework, exams, and your dissertation, and will receive support and feedback throughout the programme.   

During your studies, you’ll benefit from and have access to our state-of-the-art facilities, including our professional-standard Bloomberg Trading Room with 12 Bloomberg Terminals to enhance your employability with data skills. These Terminals are equipped with industry-standard software that provides live financial data and trading tools to the world’s leading banks and corporations.   

Outside of the classroom, you can join Heriot-Watt’s Business Society which holds regular social events and provides networking opportunities and insights into career prospects in accountancy, finance, and other relevant industries.   

Customise your learning   

You’ll have the opportunity to focus on the areas of international accountancy and finance that interest you the most. You can customise your degree to match your specific interests or career pathway by selecting two specialist course options.   

In semester three, you’ll explore in-depth your chosen area of international accounting and finance through your dissertation. You will be required to demonstrate your mastery of the subject area by developing new insight from the analysis of valuable primary research.  

You can choose whether to study the programme full-time, part-time, or by course. This flexibility allows you to fit your postgraduate studies around your lifestyle. You can begin the programme either in January or September, based on your availability, and the full-time course will last 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time. If you decide to study part-time, you’ll register for two courses per semester and progress to the dissertation at the end of your second year. Alternatively, you can study as part of a Postgraduate Diploma, which will last 9 months full-time, or 21 months part-time.   

You may have the opportunity to Go Global on our Inter-Campus Transfer. Opportunities for postgraduate study abroad are assessed on a case-by-case basis and if you are interested in studying at our Dubai campus or Malaysia campus for a semester or longer, you should contact the Go Global Team.   

Industry  

We work closely with the industry to ensure our course content is up-to-date and reflects the current and emerging needs of the industry and employers. You’ll gain the right blend of knowledge, practical skills, and soft skills to set you up for life after graduation.   

We are named Bloomberg Experiential Learning Partner (ELP), a programme designed by Bloomberg to recognise universities that are leaders in experiential learning.   

Our partnership with Bloomberg, and the achievement of ELP status, is a mark of our innovative approach to connecting our teaching experience with real-life practical applications. Being a Bloomberg experiential learning partner allows Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Business School to better integrate industry-leading data, research, news, and analytics into our curricula.  

The Bloomberg facility is unique in Scotland and enables students from different disciplines of business to better understand various aspects of markets, business behaviours and economic trends. It enables:  

• Performance comparison between different companies or industries using financial reports, company valuations, company news, company portfolios, and key changes/trends.   
• Supply chain analysis through the company's supply chain relationships that include suppliers, customers and competitors. This enables managers to refine their supply chain configuration and strategy.  
• Market share analysis by providing key industry data, interactive charting and commentary by Bloomberg industry experts.  It also provides industry fundamental statistics, market share and other key industry-specific metrics (i.e., retailers, airlines, global auto manufacturing, etc.)  
• Strategic portfolio analysis through creating portfolios against markets and market positions, allocation of assets and performance attribution analysis  
• Accounting and financial analysis by providing the financial history of companies and indices including current and historical income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, ratio analysis and more