International Accounting and Analytics (MSc)—Pathway B Spring Intake

Pathway B: for early-mid career accountants

Applicants are required to have completed all of the professional accounting examinations and to have been admitted as full members by a recognised professional accountancy body including the following: ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA, ICAEW, ICAI, ICAS or other IFAC member body assessed as equivalent by the academic programme director. A notarised cert of membership must be submitted before an application can be considered. IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent, if applicable.

This programme is designed to provide early and mid-career accountants with the skills and knowledge needed to engage with big data in a variety of roles in practice and industry.

Candidates who have completed all of the professional accounting examinations and have been admitted as full members by a recognised professional accountancy body including the following: ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA, ICAEW, ICAI, ICAS or other IFAC member body assessed as equivalent by the academic programme director, are eligible for consideration.

Recognising the importance of analytics skills for accountants, the recent ICAS and FRC report on Auditor skills in a changing business world (2016) called for educators to include practical courses on data interrogation and analytics. This MSc is the first programme of its kind in UK and Irish Universities to offer practical hands-on modules in audit analytics tools for accountants.

Our professional development programme which runs throughout the programme is designed to provide support for career development and offers a suite of career events, one-to-one career support and guest lectures from practice.

As a graduate of the MSc. in International Accounting and Analytics, you will have access to a wide range of employment opportunities in Accounting Practice, Industry, Management Consultancy and Financial Services.

You will have developed an understanding of cutting edge design and use of systems and processes to leverage best use of organisational data to facilitate performance management of business organisations. Coupled with your technical accounting skills you will be well positioned to work within the accounting function and management team to lead and manage organisations to achieve their strategic objectives.

Key features of the programme

The design and structure of this programme was motivated following consultation and advice from industry, professional bodies, accounting practitioners and regulators. This programme enables early to mid-career accountants advance their accounting careers, develop insights, and technical knowledge of tools and techniques for driving organisational performance. In addition to the core academic modules, students are exposed to a variety of learning technologies to develop their skills for practice and the global business environment, including: 

• Internationally recognised
• KPMG-led Summer School on Audit and Accounting Analytics  
• Disruptive Technologies in Accounting and Finance Summer School, via partnership with UI Path 
• Guest lectures from expert practitioners  
• Exposure to a range of data analytic tools
• The development of professional skills for the workplace 

Professional Development Programme

In collaboration with our industry advisory group we developed a new module Analytical and Communication Skills Development to enhance students’ skill set.  This includes an even greater focus on analytics skills development through Excel for Analytics and Tableau for Analytics.  Both of these focus on manipulation of data sets to extract greater value from existing organizational data. Quality data visualisation is critical to enhancing visual communication which facilitates improved organizational strategy formulation leading to competitive advantage. This new module teaches students how to create various visualisations of data allowing trends and patterns to be revealed thus allowing organizations to extract greater value from their data.   Recognising the importance of good oral communication skills, this new module affords students additional opportunities to make individual and group presentations and prepares you to take your place as a professional in the corporate world.  

Industry collaboration

Our team of academics and practitioners provide in-depth practical and research grounded knowledge of key areas in today’s business environment. This final element of the programme provides an important capstone to the technical skills you will have developed.

The MSc (International Accounting & Analytics) class are pictured with Laurence May (KPMG Director) and Professor Breda Sweeney (University of Galway).

In November 2019, University of Galway announced a new partnership with leading enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software firm UiPath, making the University the first in Ireland to offer robotic process automation content to accounting and finance students. 

The partnership features as part of an innovative 'Disruptive Technologies in Accounting and Finance' Summer School offered to students on the MSc in International Accounting & Analytics programme. Students will develop practical skills in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), mapping of workflow processes, Data preparation and Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

For 25/26 entrants, where the course duration is greater than 1 year, there is an inflationary increase approved of 3.4% per annum for continuing years fees.

Postgraduate students in receipt of a SUSI grant – please note an F4 grant is where SUSI will pay €4,000 towards your tuition (2025/26).  You will be liable for the remainder of the total fee.  A P1 grant is where SUSI will pay tuition up to a maximum of €6,270. SUSI will not cover the student levy of €140.

Note to non-EU students: learn about the 24-month Stayback Visa here. 

Programme Director
Dr Patricia Martyn
E: patricia.martyn@universityofgalway.ie

Programme Administrators
Ms Sharon Gilmartin and Ms Tracy Coloe Cloonan
E: accountancy@universityofgalway.ie

Note to non-EU students: learn about the 24-month Stayback Visa here.

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