Business Management with Finance with Foundation Year
Full-time
With placement
Four year
Five year
September 2025
In a nutshell
This course is also available with a professional placement year option.
To apply for this programme with industry placement or study abroad year, please speak to our enquiries team.
Gain an understanding of the challenges faced by governments and organisations worldwide with the Business Management with Finance undergraduate programme at Salford Business School. This industry-led course combines theory with professional experience, through business simulations, live projects and professional placements.
- Learn the essential skills for a successful career in financial management
- Build the business experience required for general management positions
- Develop the skills that employers look for such as project planning, team working and self-presentation
Become industry ready
This programme is dual accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), the UK's only chartered professional body dedicated to upholding the highest standards in management and leadership. Working closely with industry partners, we've ensured that the programme remains highly practical, career-focused and industry-informed, preparing you for a successful management career.
You’ll look ahead to the technologies that will affect the work of business leaders and finance professionals in the future. You'll also gain essential digitals skills that will help you go further in the industry, such as:
- Body swap technology
- iDea Bronze Award
- Microsoft Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Word and 365
- Power BI
- Xero Accounting Software
Your journey starts here
Ready to take the next step? Discover more by attending an Open Day, or speak to our dedicated course enquiries team for further information.
options available
Course accreditations
This is for you if...
You want to develop a high flying career in an important area of business
You have a head for numbers
You are looking for a career-focused business education
All about the course
The modules included on this Business Management with Finance programme have been developed to meet the current needs of employers.
The Foundation Year of this four-year programme aims to provide understanding of the key subjects in business to meet the prerequisites for entry to Business Management with Finance.
Your first year will develop your understanding of how organisations work, looking at key business and finance concepts, and developing the skills needed for responsible leadership and understanding how to think strategically. The second year is all about exploring more specialised theories and learning skills that will be transferable across multiple business functions. By your final year, you are becoming a professional, developing the skills needed for the finance sector and understanding how to think strategically.
Enhance your experience
Studying Business Management with Finance programme at Salford Business School offers numerous opportunities to gain additional practical experience and practice your skills in a real-world setting.
With the opportunity for all students to complete a paid work placement or study abroad between their second and third years, you will enter the world of work with an in-depth knowledge of the industry and of key business concepts.
Discover our extracurricular and out-of-classroom opportunities to see how you can take your studies further.
Foundations of Business
This module will introduce you to key concepts of business and management, looking at what business is (and isn’t). You will be encouraged to draw on real-life examples found in the businesses you use in your every day life. You will develop an understanding of the key functions used within contemporary businesses and learn about the tools and techniques used in business for analysis and planning.
Sustainable Business Development
This module looks at what’s involved in starting up a sustainable business. You will discover what is needed for long term business success. We’ll look at financing and funding, business formation, planning, business ethics and sustainability along with other core aspects of start-ups. You will work closely with industry partners to gain insight into the world of start-ups. If you are interested in starting a business, this module will really help you to discover what is involved. You also gain key knowledge which your degree will build upon.
Digital Business
This module will explain the importance and key elements of digital business. You will explore how digital business ideas drive technology choices and how those technologies support the development of the business.
Academic and Personal Skills
Academic and Personal Skills is delivered with your future in mind. This module takes you through how to get to grips with the technology you need to succeed, as well as using the library, how to reference and how to produce the different styles of academic writing.
It also helps you to develop yourself; you will create a CV, learn how to write a cover letter and find out what your learning style is. The module has guest speakers who share their expert knowledge and experience with you. All the skills covered in this module will help you to succeed in your chosen degree.
Business Project
This module is studied in term 2 of the foundation year and brings together everything that you have learnt so far on the foundation year. This is your opportunity to put your knowledge into practice. You will work as part of a team to develop a business idea; you will work through the process of setting up the business. As a team you will pitch your idea to a panel to gain investment in your start-up. You will then start the business and create an event with the profits being donated to a local charity of your choice. Whatever your chosen business discipline this module will give you the opportunity to demonstrate and develop your skills.
Employability for Life
The module aims to acquire and develop an understanding of the employability skills required to succeed in your chosen industry. This is a practical module which will help you create and develop a professional CV and will develop your understanding of the recruitment and selection process. You will learn essential life-long skills to help you succeed in job applications whether they are for part-time work whilst you are a student or for your future graduate career.
Digital and Business Skills
The Digital and Business Skills module introduces a range of digital tools for academia and the workplace. Important business skills such as management, collaboration and teamwork are fundamental to the module. Regular engagement with online platforms provides tasks to improve digital competency. Also, co creation work presents self-reflection and confidence building opportunities. Gaining the inspiring digital enterprise award (iDEA), completing LinkedIn learning assessments for Microsoft software applications, and completing collaborative video creation tasks will increase your digital and business skills as you progress towards the completion of this module. Digital Business is here to stay, so it is vital to improve these 21st century skills.
Understanding Organisations
This module provides you with an introduction to the key functions of business and is an opportunity to see how they work. You will get an understanding of functions including people management, accounting, marketing and operations, and how they underpin business success. This is illustrated through the lens of some of the successful businesses from across the Greater Manchester region that Salford Business School work with: we will look at a range of businesses including startups, family businesses and large scale enterprises and multinationals from different industry sectors. It is a first opportunity to see what makes businesses tick and will help you think about your future learning and employment journeys.
Data Analysis for Business
Using data effectively is central to business success and this module will provide a grounding in the key skills you will need to understand and use data. You will develop an understanding of the concepts required for the use and interpretation of the quantitative methods used to analyse business data. You will practice your essential Excel skills and learn to use Minitab, a statistical software package used by companies to spot trends, solve problems and use data to gain insight.
This module prepares you for more advanced studies dealing with quantitative analysis in business and economics.
Business Finance in Practice
This module is all about practical experience: using a business simulation tool you will have a chance to get into the heart of an organisation. Working in a group you will see what it is like to be the decision makers regarding all things finance and influence the success of your business. This is hands on learning which will teach you the fundamental principles of a specific organisational function relevant to your pathway area.
Financial Crises and Symptoms
This module will cover topics such as birth of the money (and credit) and bank, historical development of financial markets, evolution of financial exchanges and regulations. This module will equip you with knowledge about how current financial systems and principles were formed based on historical financial crises and their impact on development of financial systems, principles and regulations. By completing this module, students will have a practical vision towards finance and required skills in this field.
The Future of Business
What are the opportunities for business in the future? Starting with a grounding in the business context you will gain an understanding of economics and the digital environment, including the role of the digital economy. We will explore some of the key challenges that are on the horizon such as the impact of massive digitisation and industry 4.0, inclusive growth, food security and the climate emergency, and look at the opportunities for business to provide responsible and sustainable solutions
Professional Development
This module will enable you to plan and carry out appropriate professional development activities to increase your employability and performance. These include self-presentation, professional networking, project planning and implementation, team working, influencing and multimedia communication. You will gain all the necessary experience required to take advantage of global employment opportunities.
Analysis for Finance
Analysing and understanding data is at the heart of business decision making. In this module you will build on the data analysis skills that you learned in your first year, looking specifically at financial analytics and getting practical experience of using data to inform management decisions. You will work with data used every day by accounting and finance professionals and develop the skills you will need for your future career.
Project Management
During this module we take a detailed look at various aspects of Project Management through a variety of means such as lectures and practical seminars informed by research and industrial collaborations. We will focus on theoretical approaches, tools and techniques of planning and controlling projects.
We will discuss project management as an important and integral part of a business whether this is product or service based.
Live Project in Finance
This module is a chance to get hands on experience inside a real organisation. Working in teams, reflecting your future working environment, you will help one of our partner organisations develop a solution to a current finance problem. This is a chance to apply people, project and time management in practice and to see how your solutions can apply in practice. Our employers tell us that experience of live briefs is important to them, and this is your chance to apply the knowledge you have gained on the course in that context.
International Finance
The International Finance module prepares students for a career in an international environment by broadening your economic and financial knowledge and helping to develop the skills required to manage international financial databases.
Financial Markets and Institutions
In this module, you learn the general concepts of financial markets and institutions. You will see the difference between primary and secondary markets and learn about markets for different products. Whilst studying this module, you will also look at various economic Indicators and their influence on the markets. After completing this module, you will have a much stronger background of financial markets and be ready to go to the next stage in the specialization. This module is designed to help students with very little or no finance background to learn the basics of financial markets and institutions.
Optional modules
You will choose one of the following 10 credit modules. Alternatively, you can secure a short work placement and get credit for it in your results.
The Digital Workplace
The digital workplace is here to stay. This module helps you gain an understanding of the application of digital technologies in organisations. You will develop a critical awareness of the relationship between people and the workplaces of the future. You will also explore the issues around implementing a digital strategy.
Contemporary Issues in International Marketing
On this short module, you'll look at the issues affecting current marketing in a global setting and the impact this has on the wider business environment. You'll look at different marketing niches from a social, economic and environmental perspective, considering the importance of minority group affiliations associated with Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+, social inclusion, ethics, sustainability and the marketing-savvy green consumer. You'll also gain an understanding of the ethical, moral and legal requirements that managers must appreciate when engaging in international marketing activities.
Applied Econometrics
This module aims to equip you with the analytical skills required to handle and analyse business, financial and economic data using basic econometric methods, including simple and multiple linear regression models, inference and hypothesis testing. As part of this module, you will get hands-on experience with the Data Analysis Toolkit within Excel and the Econometric/Statistical software package Stata. You will also undertake an applied empirical project where you are expected to demonstrate your understanding of data analysis and econometric methods.
Internship
A short internship, whether paid or unpaid, is invaluable for you to develop and demonstrate your skills in the real-world. This module allows you to gain credits for work you do that is relevant to your degree and contributes to your employability. The Business School will provide support and guidance when you are looking for internship opportunities. This may be done during the summer period between the end of level 4 and the start of level 5, but other opportunities may be possible provided the relevant amount of work-based learning is undertaken. During term time, you will work on a reflective report to demonstrate what you learned during the internship.
Business Accounting
You will be introduced to some fundamentals of basic financial and management accounting, learning to understand the content of financial statements and the accountancy practices required to prepare these statements. You will learn to analyse and interpret financial statements and use the data to make informed management decisions. With cost (and its impact on profit) a key factor in an organisation’s success, you will learn to communicate financial information both in writing and speaking.
Legal Aspects of Business
On this module, you will learn about some of the key aspects of law and how these impact upon business. You will be introduced to the outline of the English Legal System, Contract Law, Employment Law and Company Law. You will develop a critical understanding of legal issues that may arise in business situations and be able to use your knowledge of the law in relevant business practices.
Marketing Communications
Being able to communicate effectively with your key markets and target audiences is an important part of business success. This module gives you an effective introduction to the key aspects of marketing communications theory and practice.
You will design and develop an efficient integrated marketing communications plan and strategy, and study key topics including: advertising, public relations, direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling, point-of-purchase and e-communications.
Analysis for Enterprise
In the digitally-enabled world, there is a huge amount of information available from a range of sources. Being able to analyse data and use it to inform your business decisions is a useful and valued skill. You will learn to select the relevant data and draw conclusions to support your business decisions while developing your skills in spreadsheets and other relevant software.
By developing a new business venture as part of the Young Enterprise programme, you will work with real data and use a variety of methods of analysis to inform your decision-making. The techniques that you learn can be applied to a wide range of business problems, such as interpreting market performance, forecasting growth and make or buy decisions as well as optimisation of scarce resources, marketing planning.
[this module is an alternative to the Analysis for Finance module]
Professional Experience Year
At the end of year 2, you may choose to undertake either a paid placement or study abroad for a year. If you choose to study abroad you will spend your academic year at one of our partner universities, enhancing your language skills and international business knowledge
All of our BSc students can apply for a one-year professional placement, which takes place between your second and last years of study. This is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of and over the last five years, 90% of Salford Business School undergraduates taking a one-year placement secured a 2:1 or 1st class Honours degree. We will help you find out about vacancies and make the right connections with high profile employers through regular events and presentations. Here is just a small selection of the companies our students have enjoyed placements with so far: NatWest, Barclays and the Cooperative Bank; BP, Esso and Shell; IBM, Hewlett Packard and Compaq; Ford, Vauxhall, Jaguar and Nissan; Marks & Spencer, Selfridges and Sainsbury’s; Eli Lilly, Glaxo and ICI; Fujitsu, Marriott and Virgin.
You have the option to do a professional placement year, taking a year in industry to learn in a real-life environment whilst earning a salary and paying no tuition fees. For more information, please visit the placement and internships page.
Business Ethics and Sustainability
This module equips you with an appreciation and in-depth understanding of the implications of Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability within national and international organisations. This module will also develop your knowledge with respect to the importance of the balance between shareholders, stakeholders and the purpose and values of the organisation. It will explore the roles of social and technological innovation in global ethical organisations in order to prepare you for future employability.
Strategic Management
You will acquire an organisation-wide perspective through exploring strategy techniques and processes within the global environment. The module prepares you for a career in business and management and develops the next generation of managers. It allows you to apply the knowledge and understanding of strategy to a variety of real-word organisations and helps student’s ability to deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry, some of which are at the forefront of strategic research and practice.
Students who successfully complete the Professional Development module (studied in 2nd year) and the Strategic Management module, can apply for membership of the Institute of Leadership and Management.
Leadership and Management in Finance
This module will help you to develop your leadership skills and prepare you for your future career. You will explore theory, behaviour, people management and leadership within an organisational context, apply this to the finance sector This is an opportunity to develop the skills you have gained in the early part of your degree and apply them to prepare you for the responsible and authentic leadership that future business requires.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Employers tell us that they are looking for employees with an entrepreneurial mindset. Or perhaps you're thinking of setting up your own business.
In this module you have the opportunity to undertake an enterprise project for an internal or external sponsor on a topic of common interest. Alternatively, you can use this opportunity to undertake in-depth research for your own project, for example, a business plan if you are wanting to start up a company after you graduate. The nature of the project will be negotiated by yourself, the module leader and the sponsoring company.
Innovation in Financial Services OR Dissertation
Business Finance
In Business Finance, concepts such as raising capital, capital markets and the capital structure of firms will be explored. You will evaluate the processes of mergers and takeovers and analyse the risks in international finance.
Optional modules
You will choose one of the following 10 credit modules. Alternatively, you can secure a short work placement and get credit for it in your results.
Technology Innovation
Technology innovation is concerned with developing your awareness and understanding of the use of digital technologies and their role in digital transformation. We will examine contemporary issues in this area and explore the impact that digital technology had had on business and will have in the future. On completion, you will have a critical awareness of the digital industry and have considered the application of technology to business problems. This module links with and is supported by Launch@ Salford, the University’s incubation centre.
Big Data Analytics
Modern businesses derive significant insight from applying advanced analytical techniques to massive volumes of data. In the module, you will learn a range of established Big Data and analytics techniques and the value they provide to organisations. On successful completion of the module, you will not only be able to collect and analyse data to underpin business decisions but also be able to apply them within the business context, looking at strategy, business goals and organisational competitive advantage.
Internship
A short internship, whether paid or unpaid, is invaluable for you to develop and demonstrate your skills in the real-world. This modules allows you to gain credits for work you do that is relevant to your degree and contributes to your employability. The Business School will provide support and guidance when you are looking for internship opportunities. This may be done during the summer period between the end of level 5 and the start of level 6 but other opportunities may be possible provided the relevant amount of work-based learning is undertaken. During term time, you will work on a reflective report to demonstrate what you learned during the internship.
Please note that it may not be possible to deliver the full list of options every year as this will depend on factors such as how many students choose a particular option. Exact modules may also vary in order to keep content current. When accepting your offer of a place to study on this programme, you should be aware that not all optional modules will be running each year. Your tutor will be able to advise you as to the available options on or before the start of the programme. Whilst the University tries to ensure that you are able to undertake your preferred options, it cannot guarantee this.
Frequently asked questions
What is business management with finance?
A business management with finance degree course combines the study of business principles with financial management in order to equip you with the tools needed to secure a job within the business or financial sector.
Is business with finance a good degree?
If both business management and accounting and finance interest you, or if you're not sure which area you wish to focus on, our Business Management with Finance degree is an excellent chance to combine both your passions.
What is the relationship between finance and business management?
Financial management is hugely important to the running of a successful business. Businesses need employees with a thorough financial education in order to focus on the management of a company's financial resources, including budgeting, investing, forecasting and analysing financial performance.
Meet Lewis
Business Management with Finance graduate, Lewis, graduated in July 2024 with a first class honours degree.
"One of the main aspects I enjoy about the course is using real-life case studies to conduct research, as it gives me an insight into how I could implement parts of this into my own business. I feel as though I have been given tips on all aspects of a business. Launching a business, dealing with competition, controlling costs and managing staff are just some of these.
Throughout the three years, some of my modules also enabled me to obtain certificates for Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) that will be useful for the rest of my life."
What about after uni?
Further study
A postgraduate degree is a great option if you want to take your knowledge and skills to the next level. Salford graduates and alumni also receive a significant fees discount.
Employment
The aim of this course if to provide you with the skills, knowledge and experience you need so that you have good job opportunities after you graduate. We have used our close links with industry partners to make sure the programme is highly practical, career-focused and industry-informed so you are ready for a successful finance career.
Whether it’s in financial management, systems analysis or banking, many of our graduates go on to enjoy successful and rewarding careers in high-level careers. American Express, BBC, Citibank, Ladbrokes, Numerica and KPMG are just a few of the organisations our alumni are bringing their ambition and ideas to.
Career Links
As a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) accredited business school, we teach the skills that employers need, and as a result, our graduates enjoy excellent international career prospects.
Mercedes-Benz Cars UK Limited, CEVA Logistics, Tata and JCB all had input on the content delivered on our Business Management with Finance programme during its development.
What you need to know
This course isn’t suitable for international students. If you are an international student and interested in studying a foundation year, please visit our International Foundation Year course page.
Applicant profile
This course offers excellent scope for any student wanting to start a career in management, finance, marketing and a variety of other different business areas. Knowledge and expertise in finance and business are highly sought after by employers across a wide variety of sectors. This course will appeal to a range of applicants and there is no need to have studied these subjects before to be successful.
English Language requirements
Applicants will be required to show a proficiency in English, with an IELTS score of 6.0 (with no element below 5.5).
GCSE
Maths and English at grade C / grade 4 or above. Applicants who do not have the equivalent of grade C or above in these areas will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
You must fulfil our GCSE entry requirements as well as one of the requirements listed below.
UCAS Tariff points
64 UCAS Tariff points
Salford Alternative Entry Scheme (SAES)
We welcome applications from students who may not meet the stated entry criteria but who can demonstrate their ability to pursue the course successfully. Once we have received your application we will assess it and recommend it for SAES if you are an eligible candidate.
There are two different routes through the Salford Alternative Entry Scheme and applicants will be directed to the one appropriate for their course. Assessment will either be through a review of prior learning or through a formal test.
How much?
Type of study | Year | Fees |
---|---|---|
Full-time home | 2025/26 | £8,250.00 for Foundation Year and £9,250.00 for subsequent years. |
Additional costs
You should also consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits.
All set? Let's apply!
Still have some questions? Register for one of our Undergraduate Open Days or contact us:
By email: enquiries@salford.ac.uk
By phone: +44 (0)161 295 4545
Additional UCAS Information
Business Management with Finance UCAS Course ID - N1N3
Business Management with Finance with Placement Year UCAS Course ID - N1NH
Enrolment dates
UCAS information
Course ID N1N4
Institution S03