Module: BM7102-60 Dissertation/consultancy project in Accounting & Finance

Level: 7

Credit Value: 60

Module Tutor: Dr Inna Pomorina

Module Tutor Contact Details: i.pomorina@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

The dissertation/consultancy project is an essential requirement of the Master’s courses offered by Bath Business School, which involves an extended piece of work (14,000 - 20,000 words) in the field of Accounting & Finance. It offers you the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have gained in your taught modules and in an applied setting that justify the award of a Master’s degree.

The dissertation/consultancy project is expected to be a scholarly work that, based on sound academic principles, makes a contribution to the Accounting & Finance field of knowledge. It must demonstrate your ability to use learning derived from your studies to resolve a problem, answer a question or prove/disprove a hypothesis related to business, markets, or organizations. You may choose between a detailed research project linked to an issue or problem within an organisation known to you and to which you have the requisite access, or a more traditional dissertation format.

In this module, you will be able to demonstrate the following Graduate Attribute:

• Employable: equipped with the skills necessary to flourish in the global workplace, able to work in, and lead, teams;
• Able to understand and manage complexity, diversity and change;
• Creative: able to innovate and to solve problems by working across disciplines as professional or artistic practitioners;
• Digitally literate: able to work at the interface of creativity and technology;
• Critical thinkers: able to express their ideas in written and oral form, and possessing information literacy;
• Ethically aware: prepared for citizenship in a local, national and global context.

2.Outline syllabus

You will need to get approval of your topic and methodology from your supervisor prior to submitting the proposal in the Research methods module. Following the submission of proposal you prepare a poster for this module based on your proposal. You will submit it in week 3 and take part in a Poster session where each student will present their poster and receive feedback from fellow students and supervising tutors. That will allow you to have a good progress in your study.

You work independently on your dissertation, supported by your supervisor and through a series of group/individual mentoring and support meetings scheduled by the supervisor. The development of this substantive piece of research allows you to reflect on what you have learned and to provide the evidence for this by drawing on published research and other information. This makes sure that the skills you have developed are based on knowledge, theories and models, which you can use and apply in a variety of different practical situations.

3.Teaching and learning activities

You will be expected, through self-directed learning, to develop your own repository of academic and practitioner related sources and references to support the development of your thinking around the key concepts introduced in the module. Guidance will be given in personal supervision. You should aim to blend a mix of readings and references between general theoretical and practitioner approaches and those more applicable to your own professional situation and self-development needs.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description:Research proposal poster
• % Weighting: 10%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 14,000-20,000 word dissertation/consultancy project report
• % Weighting: 90%