Master of Science - Accounting and Finance

The MSc Accounting and Finance at De Montfort University runs over one year in Leicester and is built around the technical core that finance recruiters actually test: financial reporting under IFRS, management accounting, corporate finance, and quantitative methods for finance. Teaching follows DMU’s block model, so students study one module at a time in intensive four-week cycles, sitting the assessment before the next block begins — a structure that suits students returning to study after a work gap.

Later blocks move into financial statement analysis, auditing and assurance, and a choice between a dissertation and an applied consultancy-style project. Classes make sustained use of Excel-based modelling, and the finance lab sessions introduce Bloomberg-style market data work so that portfolio and valuation coursework is done on live numbers rather than textbook cases. The programme sits in the Faculty of Business and Law at the Hugh Aston Building, and cohorts are genuinely international, which matters for group-work marks that depend on cross-border case analysis.

On outcomes, be realistic: the UK graduate market for finance is crowded, and Leicester itself offers mainly SME and practice-firm roles, so most international graduates target Birmingham or London for analyst positions. Because this is a full taught master’s degree it carries UK post-study work rights under the Graduate Route — two years for applications lodged on or before 31 December 2026, and 18 months for applications made from 1 January 2027 — and taught-programme students cannot bring dependants to the UK. Starting salaries for first analyst roles typically sit near the £24,000–£28,000 mark outside London.