Overview of the Department of Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate

The Department of Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate is one of three disciplines that make up the Business School. It organises research activity in Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate and coordinates undergraduate teaching in Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate. There are 21 full-time and 3 part-time faculty members in Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate (as of May 2012). The Head of Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate is Dr Mark Whittington.

The Department of Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate is comprised of three research groups.

• The Finance research group has strengths in applied finance in the complementary areas of high frequency analysis (focussing on linear and non-linear time series models, derivatives and regulation) and asset pricing (with an emphasis on time series econometric analysis between macroeconomic variables and asset prices). Our subscriptions include Thomson Reuters Eikon, Datastream Premium, Worldscope, Morningstar Encorr, Newscope, Lipper Tass, TickHistory which, along with software packages such as Matlab, Eviews, RATS, and Stata, enables us to produce leading quantitative research at the cutting edge of finance. In the Research Assessment Exercise results of 2008, 80% of research in Business and Management (including Accountancy and Finance) was judged to be of international quality.
• The Real Estate research group has a strong track record of interdisciplinary research in the area of property investment and property market analysis. During the most recent RAE assessment period, staff engaged in Real Estate research published a total of 126 refereed journal papers, 6 edited books, 9 book chapters, 32 commissioned reports and policy articles and presented 120 international conference papers. Overall in RAE 2008, 20% of the groups research was ranked as 4* (world-leading): 40% 3* (internationally excellent) and 30% 2* (recognised internationally). These ratings give the real estate group a weighted average score of 2.70, in the top 25% in the UK.

The Department of Accountancy, Finance and Real Estate coordinates the teaching of students on the four-year Scottish undergraduate MA Accountancy, MA Finance, and MA Real Estate programmes.

• In the first two years of the MA Accountancy programme, students study introductory and intermediate courses in Management, Accountancy, Statistics, Law and Economics alongside courses chosen from other disciplines within the MA programme. In the final two years students are able to choose from a wide range of Accountancy honours courses, and write a dissertation on a topic of their choice. The majority of Accountancy students become chartered accountants, in professional practice, industry, or the public sector, or careers in management, education, or banking and finance.
• In the first two years of the MA Finance programme, students study introductory and intermediate courses in Finance, Accountancy, Statistics and Economics alongside courses chosen from other disciplines within the MA programme. In the final two years students are able to choose from a number of honours courses in Finance and related disciplines, and write a dissertation on a topic of their choice. Finance students are highly sought after in the private and public sector.
• In the first two years of the MA Real Estate programme, students study introductory and intermediate courses in Real Estate, Finance, Statistics and Economics alongside courses chosen from other disciplines within the MA programme. In the final two years students are able to choose from a wide range of honours courses from Real Estate and related disciplines, and write a dissertation on a topic of their choice. The Real Estate degree is an excellent preparation for careers in surveying, commercial real estate, investment, management, valuation and development.