IA137-3-FY-CO:
Business Essentials: Accounting and Finance
2026/27
Essex Pathways
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Foundation/Year Zero: Level 3
Current
Thursday 08 October 2026
Friday 02 July 2027
30
21 August 2026
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BSC N401 Accounting (Including Foundation Year),
BSC NN43 Accounting and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N391 Banking and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BBA N104 Business Administration (Including Foundation Year),
BBA N104CO Business Administration (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N201 Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N301 Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N124 International Business and Entrepreneurship (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N124CO International Business and Entrepreneurship (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N2N5 Marketing Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N505 Marketing (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N505CO Marketing (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N347 Finance and Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N358 International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N358CO International Business and Finance (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N114 Business Administration and Supply Chain Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N114CO Business Administration and Supply Chain Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N263 Business and Human Resource Management (Including Foundation Year),
BSC N133 Business and Analytics (including Foundation Year),
BSC N133CO Business and Analytics (including Foundation Year)
The module aims to provide students with a basic understanding of essential foundation elements of Accounting and Finance. The module assumes no prior knowledge of Accounting and Finance topics. It covers introductory topics in financial accounting such as accounting as an information system, financial statements and accounting ratios as well as introductory topics in finance around financial markets, corporate finance, investments, and banking. The syllabus will include introductory topics covering financial statements, ratio analysis, financial markets, investment appraisal, investments, risk and return, and introductory topics in banking.
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce preparation of income statement, statement of changes in equity and statement of financial position, including how to calculate and interpret accounting ratios using annual reports.
- To introduce students to foundation topics related to corporate finance and investments, risk and return, financial markets and banking.
- To provide students with an understanding of different types of financial markets, types of investments, and investment appraisal techniques, portfolios and diversification.
- To prepare students for future study in accounting and finance courses.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of financial statements and demonstrate preparation of income statement, statement of changes in equity or statement of financial position.
- Demonstrate an understanding of accounting ratios and be able to evaluate financial performance of corporations using ratio analysis.
- Demonstrate an understanding of different types of securities markets and transactions, long-term finance and short-term finance, and investment appraisal techniques.
- Demonstrate an understanding of different types of investments and their characteristics, calculation of portfolio risk and return, and diversification.
- Demonstrate an understanding of basic concepts in banking and the role of banks.
Skills for your professional life (Transferable Skills)
By the end of this module, you will have been offered opportunities:
- To improve your financial literacy and numeracy skills.
- To improve awareness of current developments in accounting, finance and banking.
- To practice preparation of basic financial statements and ability to evaluate financial performance.
- To understand differences between different financial markets, investments and types of banks.
Syllabus
Topics covered in the module include:
- Introduction to financial accounting and key terms.
- Income, expenditure, assets, liabilities, equity explanation and accounting equation.
- Income statement.
- Statement of financial position.
- Statement of changes in equity.
- Accounting ratios and annual reports.
- Depreciation, accruals and prepayments.
- Introduction to finance and key terms.
- Long-term and short-term finance.
- Financial markets: types and transactions.
- Time value of money, investment appraisal techniques.
- Investments: types and characteristics.
- Risk and return.
- Investment portfolios and diversification.
- Introductory concepts in Banking, types of banks and role of banks.
Teaching and learning on this module offers students the ability to develop the foundation knowledge, skills, and competences to study at undergraduate level. Teaching and learning materials will be available via Moodle in a consistent and user-friendly manner.
This module is delivered by 4 hours of teaching per week over 22 weeks.
Each week’s instruction consists of:
- One 2-hour lecture
- One 2-hour class.
Lectures: Lectures introduce several of the units from the relevant textbooks and other readings and identify the key points of the subjects under discussion.
Classes: During classes students will be given the opportunity to discuss any topics relating to the module material and will work individually and in groups on a range of class exercises.
Learning support
Summarised lecture material is provided using PowerPoint presentations, which are available on Moodle. Classes will cover example questions and exercises from the topics taught, discussions around key terms from each topic including feedback on student answers, and exam-type questions.
Module Leaders can also be contacted by e-mail or during academic support hours.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
IA137 - In-person, Open Book (restricted) MyLab Accounting Test - 10/11/2025 |
|
30% |
| Coursework |
IA137 - In-person, Open Book (restricted) MyLab Finance Test - 02/02/2026 |
|
30% |
| Coursework |
IA137 - Marketing Project |
|
40% |
| Exam |
Main exam: In-Person, Open Book (Restricted), 150 minutes during Summer (Main Period)
|
| Exam |
Reassessment Main exam: In-Person, Open Book (Restricted), 150 minutes during September (Reassessment Period)
|
Additional coursework information
Formative assessment
- Students engage with weekly class exercises and receive in class feedback.
Summative assessment
- Two-hour in-person, open book (restricted) test 1 (30% of module mark)
The first in-class test examines students’ understanding of accounting concepts including: key terms in financial accounting, the accounting equation, income statement, statement of financial position, calculation of accounting ratios and evaluation of company performance using ratio analysis
- Two-hour in-person, open book (restricted) test 2 (30% of module mark)
The second in-class test examines students’ understanding of finance concepts including: key terms in finance and investments, types of financial markets and transactions, long-term and short-term finance, types of investments and their characteristics, investment appraisal techniques, calculation of portfolio risk and return, and diversification
- A 2.5-hour in-person, open book (restricted) exam (40% of module mark)
The exam consists of questions covering all the topics taught during the module. The exam will include topics covered in the first two tests as well as introductory topics in banking.
Reassessment strategy
- Failed Exam - Resit the exam which is re-aggregated with existing coursework mark to create a new module mark.
- Failed Coursework - Resit the exam which counts as coursework and is then re-aggregated with the existing exam mark to create a new module mark.
- Failed Exam and Coursework - Resit the exam which will count as 100% exam mark. The exam will cover all the learning outcomes.
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Radu-Dragomir Manac, email: rmanac@essex.ac.uk.
rmanac@essex.ac.uk
No
No
No
Miss Jan O'Driscoll
University of Chester
Dean of Lifelong Learning and Director of Foundation Years
Available via Moodle
Of 4 hours, 4 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
Essex Pathways
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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