This programme has been developed specifically to meet the need for people with skills in both quantitative and qualitative analysis, and provides an understanding of how accounting and finance expertise may be successfully combined to assess corporate performance and valuation; the programme focuses on the analysis of individual companies and as a result there is a substantial emphasis on corporate strategy, accounting and valuation; of particular note is the practical study of real-world data via DataStream and other industry sources, with an emphasis on developing skills in the manipulation of spreadsheets, databases, econometric and statistical software; this intensive programme aims to challenge and is accredited by both ACCA and the AIA; the MA is aimed at graduates from management, business or economics-based disciplines, who would like to gain a more specialist knowledge of issues related to financial analysis, and also at non-business graduates with good numeracy levels who wish to develop financial skills and understanding; all students take 180 credits which are studied on a full-time basis over 12 months, or 24 months part-time.