Accounting and Finance Research Project: Philosophy, Strategies, and Assessment

This module seeks to blend the practical and theoretical aspects of the Accounting and Finance Research Project. In particular, it covers the range of research philosophies, approaches, strategies, choices, techniques and procedures.

There is no Assessment Brief for the Level 6 Accounting and Finance Research Project Module. This   Handbook acts as the Assessment Brief for first sit, resubmission and resit.

• Research Project Proposal (submitted Friday Week 10 of Semester 1)

• Research Project (submitted in April, at the end of Semester 2)

There are in total 25 teaching contact hours allocated for the Accounting and Finance Research Project. These are delivered through:

Lectures - will provide a broad outline structure for each topic to be covered. Lectures offer a good way of covering a lot of information and, more importantly, of conveying ideas to many people at once.

Seminars - will enable students to solve problems within their private study time and present their solution to the seminar group. It will enable students to explore further the topics introduced in the lecture.

Learning sets – will provide students with the opportunity to develop their own research ideas (inspired by lectures and seminar input) in a group environment, thereby allowing peer input and review. Individual supervision – will provide students with the opportunity to work on a one-to-one basis with their allocated supervisor.

The Learning Outcomes of the Research Project Proposal are that you will be able to:

• Demonstrate a detailed, critical and research-informed knowledge and understanding of an area of Accounting and/or Finance chosen by the student

• Demonstrate knowledge of synthesis, critical evaluation and critical analysis

• Produce a proposal on an identifiable Accounting and/or Finance research problem based on a feasible research question

• Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of alternative research designs and how best to execute a basic research project

The Research Proposal should be submitted using the Accounting and Finance Research Proposal Form. This form is downloadable from the Accounting and Finance Project module area in Canvas. The Accounting and Finance Research Proposal Form is comprised of two sections:

• The Proposal Template

• The Ethical Review Form

You are required to complete both sections; together, these form the Accounting and Finance Research Project Proposal. The proposal form has a consent form for participant(s) to sign if you are conducting research with individual participants.

If you are conducting research directly with a company, you will need to provide evidence of consent (a signature from a senior manager in the company) to authorise you to carry out your research.

Teaching Contact Hours

Choosing a title for your Research Project may be more difficult than you expect. As you read about your preferred topic area you will find your ideas develop, build, and change direction. You will need to come up with a provisional title as soon as possible – and this may inevitably change.

? Terms of reference

Your project needs to be set in a context, and you will need to articulate your specific aims and objectives.

• Why have you chosen the title?

• State your research question Formulate your topic as a question.

• State your aims

Explain the purpose of the study clearly. Aims are statements about the general intentions of the research: what you intend to achieve, and what will be done by when. It is likely that you will have just one aim, but you may wish to have more.

‘To what extent will a company move abroad to evade UK tax?’

• State your objectives Explain how you will go about achieving your aims.

• The objectives should provide an accurate description of the specific actions you will take to reach your research aim. Objectives should be explained in single sentences.

The Learning Outcomes of the Research Project are that you will be able to:

• Demonstrate a detailed, critical and research-informed knowledge and understanding of an area of Accounting and/or Finance chosen by the student

• Demonstrate knowledge of synthesis, critical evaluation and critical analysis

• Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of alternative research designs and how best to execute a basic research project.

• Demonstrate how to gather varied sources of information for problem identification, and how to analyse and apply such information in problem solving situations.

• Develop an appropriate project writing style that balances the demands of brevity, comprehension and criticality.

• Demonstrate the ability to work independently and to manage the entire research process from problem formulation through to critical analysis, synthesis, evaluation and interpretation of findings.

• What methodology did you adopt - inductive or deductive research?

• What methods did you choose?

• How did you carry out your project?

• Why did you choose this particular approach?

• Did your approach differ from the Proposal? Why?

Reflect on the information presented, and interpret your findings based on the theory presented in your literature review. You need to present an analytical and critical discussion of your project, with references to literature to support your arguments.

• Areas to consider:

o has the appropriate data been collected?

o is the analysis appropriate to the data collected?

o is the analysis thorough and complete?

o are the findings presented clearly and in an interesting way?

o are the key themes and issues discussed?

• How far do your findings contradict/confirm theory, practice, and existing research?