Birmingham City Business School, in association with CIMA Sri Lanka, is very pleased to welcome CIMA members onto our MSc Accountancy and Finance (Top-Up) programme, which will, for the first time, be delivered outside the UK in Colombo. This is a unique and innovative masters degree programme, probably the first of its kind in the UK, which has been designed specially to appeal to UK-qualified chartered accountants like you.
The programme has run very successfully in the UK on a full-time basis over the past four years, but now, starting in September 2011, we are able to extend this exceptional opportunity to study for a UK masters degree to many more Sri Lankan CIMA members and examination-completed students, who will like to quickly top-up their professional qualification to a masters degree or obtain an academic qualification, if they do not already hold a bachelors degree.
Bringing the programme to you in Sri Lanka, which will be fully delivered by Birmingham City University academic staff, also affords you the added advantages of studying for and earning a UK masters degree without the extra cost of living in the UK and/or the opportunity cost of having to give up your current employment to study on a full-time basis. Instead, the programme has been re-structured for you to be completed in 6-9 months on a blended, flexible part-time learning basis.
At Birmingham City Business School, we have been providing such flexible learning opportunities for both the Executive and younger market segments for undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional courses for more than 40 years. We have therefore built up an immense experience of supporting our students on this mode of study, which helps to ensure their successful completion of their programmes of study on time.
The MSc Accountancy and Finance (Top-up) aims to provide you with a more thorough grounding for your future professional career progression by extending your understanding and critical awareness of the major finance theories which underpin and inform a firms’ Strategic Financial Decisions, and on which Modern Investment Analysis and Fund Management are based. The course will also provide you with the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills you have gained throughout your professional and postgraduate studies to a substantial piece of research on an accounting or finance related topic.
On successful completion of the course, you will develop a more critical knowledge and understanding of the empirical evidence relating to core financial theories and gain additional practical and transferable skills and competences. This should enable you to operate effectively and confidently in middle/senior management roles of the accounting and finance profession across different industry sectors.
Key Facts
- Tops up your professional qualification to a full UK masters degree in 6- 9 months
- Delivered in Sri Lanka by Birmingham City University academic staff
- Same MSc degree certificate awarded to students completing their MSc Accountancy and Finance programme in the UK
- Innovative Programme, both in Philosophy and Design
- In-depth analytical and technical skills for real life business problems
- Enhances your career progression and employability prospects
- Value for money – competitively priced and discounted fee for CIMA members
- Also avoids the opportunity and living costs of UK residential full-time study
- Additional financial support through professional development loan arranged by CIMA Sri Lanka
Download the Course Programme Specification
Fees and Finance
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Fees for students from the UK or EU countries?
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| Start | Mode | Duration | Award | Fees |
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| TBC | PT | 6-9 months (blended learning) | MSc | £4,300 (CIMA members £3,800) |
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Fees for students from non-EU countries?
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| Start | Mode | Duration | Award | Fees |
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| TBC | PT | 6-9 months (blended learning) | MSc | £4,300 (CIMA members £3,800) |
The University reserves the right to increase fees broadly in line with increases in inflation, or to reflect changes in government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament.
CIMA Sri Lanka has arranged Professional Development loans through Sri Lankan banks. For further details on this, please contact CIMA Offices in Colombo. Telephone: +94 11 2503880 ext 221.
Financial Support
Postgraduate students must find ways of funding their tuition fees and living costs rather than relying on government grants and loans. We offer further information on possible financial support.
Course Structure
The Programme Structure consists of one Finance module at the ‘Bridging Stage’, which bridges the gap between your CIMA qualification and the MSc modules, and two integrated modules at the ‘Master's Stage’ of the programme.
The Bridging Stage module
Modern Theory of Finance
This module bridges the gaps between the modules (papers) you studied for your professional accountancy qualification and the MSc Accountancy and Finance taught modules. It therefore ensures full attainment of the academic knowledge, understanding, and skill set required for Postgraduate level study. The module covers the financial theories which inform and influence corporate financial decisions at a strategic level, as well as the major asset pricing models on which have come to underpin modern investment analysis and portfolio management. There is a particular emphasis on critical awareness and understanding of the empirical literature relating to the theories.
Master's Stage
This stage consists of two integrated modules entitled ‘Research Skills in Accounting and Finance’ and the ‘Dissertation’.
Research Skills in Accounting and Finance
The aim of this module is to prepare you for the requirements of the dissertation by providing you with a critical understanding of the issues relating to the carrying out and writing up an academic dissertation in accounting or finance. You will learn how to identify and choose your research topic, formulate and develop your research objectives, produce a research proposal, conduct and write up a substantial critical review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature pertaining to your research topic/objectives, develop and implement your individual research methodology, as well as the techniques for analysing quantitative and qualitative data. In addition, you will also cover the softer issues that help to improve the overall quality of the dissertation such as how to organise and structure the dissertation, write references within the body of the dissertation as well as at its end, etc.
Dissertation
The dissertation represents the final transition from a largely tutor-led approach to student-centred learning as the topic is chosen, investigated and written-up by you, albeit with the advice of your supervisor. It enables you to select a topic for an in-depth research, which usually will combine theory and practice or empirical analysis.
To qualify for the award of MSc Accountancy and Finance, you must successfully complete the dissertation.
Delivery of the Programme
The 10-days Week-end and Week-day Evening Lectures
Both Modern Theory of Finance and Research Skill in Accountancy and Finance modules will be delivered by Birmingham City University UK academic staff over an intensive 10-days week-end and week-day evening lecture sessions here in Colombo, totalling about 48 direct teaching hours. The detailed timetable will be provided on the first day, but the 10-day period is expected to begin on the Friday 9th September 2011 through to the early evening of the following Sunday. Saturday and Sunday classes and workshops are expected to run from 9 am – 6 pm, and the week-day evening classes from 6 pm – 9.30 pm, on Monday – Friday.
Academic Support after the Bloc-Study
Once you have dispersed, you will be supported by e-learning using Moodle and other modern methods of electronic communications principally, emails and video conferencing. Specific times for video conferencing would be timetabled so that you are in touch with the module leaders in real times.
Your emails would be responded to within 48 hours of receiving them. Also, you will be encouraged to form yourselves into self-help study groups. You can then maintain contact with each other on a regular basis by telephone and emails. In this way, you can obtain additional support and motivation at times of the week when academic staff would not normally be available. This arrangement has worked extremely well on other similar courses and has been cited by course participants as a key learning support device.
Assessments for Modern Theory of Finance and Research Skills in Accounting and Finance will normally take place in January, that is, about three months after the 10-day Bloc study. This is to enable you to have studied the modules’ materials more thoroughly and in greater depth before the assessments.
You will be provided with additional study materials (study packs, with tutorial review questions) to guide you in your studies.
Dissertation Supervision
You would be expected to have selected your dissertation topics by the end of November. You will then be assigned a supervisor who will guide and support you during the duration of the dissertation period, including the writing up period. You will maintain contact with your supervisor both by email and video conference.