Corporate Governance & Accountability

• Your studies will balance critical engagement with theory and research, knowledge and understanding of techniques, and the development of the analytic skills needed for the effective management of governance and accountability in complex environments.
• The programme will especially enhance your opportunity for a career in governance, accountability, corporate social responsibility, risk and control.
• Accounting and finance at Glasgow has earned an international reputation within both academic and professional accounting circles for the quality of its research and teaching since its inception in 1925.
• We are ranked first in Scotland and fifth in the UK for accounting and finance research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. 80% of our research was judged to be of international quality with 10% rated as world-leading.
• Our staff have close connections to the accounting and finance profession, with, for example, staff serving on the Accounting Standards Board, as Advisor to the House of Lords, as well as on various committees of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Our staff also act as advisors to the Economic & Social Sciences Research Council, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council.

Programme overview

• MSc: 12 months full-time

Teaching is through a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials. The programme combines finance with governance in the first semester, while in the second semester you will have an opportunity to specialise in law, management, ethics, or to engage in further studies in accountancy or finance.

Core courses

• International corporate finance
• Management accounting and control
• International corporate governance and accountability
• Research methods.

Optional courses

• Accounting and business ethics
• Competition economics and law
• Governing risk and resilience
• Human rights and business
• Audit risk and control
• Social accounting, reporting and finance.

You will also complete a dissertation of around 12,000 words.


Career prospectsThe programme will prepare you for a career in governance or compliance. On completing the programme, you will have a competitive edge in the job market when looking for roles in financial services businesses, or (for existing business executives) governance positions at higher levels of the business.