Master's Programme 'Finance' at HSE University-St Petersburg Confirms International ACCA Accreditation
The master's programme 'Finance' at HSE University-St Petersburg has confirmed its international accreditation of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for five years. Now, the programme graduates can skip several exams when joining ACCA. The qualification gives the alumni a competitive advantage when seeking employment in top Russian and international companies for positions related to finance and accounting.
The graduates of the master's programme 'Finance' who successfully master the curriculum can skip the exams on several disciplines when joining ACCA. Among them are three basic exams: Business and Technology, Management Accounting, and Financial Accounting. Plus, it includes the exams on Financial Management and Financial Reporting if students get high scores for the courses in Financial Reporting under IFRS and Corporate Finance.
Educational programmes awarded the international accreditation of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants meet high standards of teaching financial specialists. ACCA assesses not only students' theoretical knowledge but also their ability to think strategically and implement the knowledge to solve real tasks. The exams in the educational programme corresponding to the ACCA criteria are prepared based on global financial practices including case studies, situation analysis and development of guidelines for the companies' stakeholders.
Varvara Nazarova
Academic Supervisor of the Master's programme 'Finance'
The curriculum of the master's programme 'Finance' is designed so that the students gain the competencies sought after in the labour market. Firstly, we provide the knowledge necessary for a modern global manager in finance, audit, taxation and management accounting. Secondly, the masters in Finance—like graduates of the School of Economics and Management in general—are always in demand among employers: companies in the banking and real sectors. Thirdly, an opportunity to transfer the major part of the qualification exam grades to ACCA allows our students to join the association of professional financial experts recognised at the world level quickly.
When applying for a job in Russian or world companies, the confirmed qualification will be a significant competitive advantage. It proves that a master's graduate possesses the necessary knowledge and competencies in the sphere of accounting, audit, finance and management. Moreover, they are proficient in a foreign language (the ACCA qualification is implemented fully in English) and know the international standards of financial accounting and risk management. What else is important—they can learn, remember a large amount of information, quickly navigate through it and single out the main things.
Margarita Kotelnikova
Director of the Career Centre
Master's programmes at HSE University-St Petersburg allow the students to combine work and studies. Besides, they can change their educational track developing hard and soft skills while mastering the disciplines. The majority of master's students find a job during their studies as the infrastructure of HSE University involves close interaction with partner employers. The demand for master's alumni is truly confirmed in practice! About 50% of the master's alumni of HSE University-St Petersburg find a job at top partner companies: 'Yandex', VK, 'Technologies of Trust', Б1, Kept, 'Business Solutions and Technologies', 'Gazprom Ntft', 'Lenta', VTB, 'Sber', 'T-Bank', 'Avito', 'GEROPHRM', BIOCAD, 'Northern Capital Gateway', 'Unilever Rus' and others.
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is a global association of professionals in the sphere of finance, accounting and audit established in 1904 in the United Kingdom. It unites more than 200 thousand specialists worldwide and helps them to gain sought-after competencies and build successful careers in leading world companies. The main goal of the association's activities is the development of the financial profession in the world.
The Master's programme 'Finance' already received the ACCA accreditation in 2015. Among St Petersburg universities, the accreditation was also successfully confirmed by the Graduate School of Management of the St Petersburg University. The process of accreditation involves world universities as well, for example, Lancaster University, the University of Manchester, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne and others.
The Master's programme 'Finance' offers state-funded and fee-paying places for international students. The programme trains specialists who have the necessary knowledge and skills in the sphere of investment and finance and can solve various problems in the Russian and world financial markets.