Professor Al Bhimani (A307), Programme Director of the MSc Accounting and Finance.

This course is intended for students on the MSc Accounting and Finance programme, who elect to take this as an option in paper 3 or 4. Permission to select the long essay option must be obtained from the Programme Director by the end of the third week of MT. Students wishing to select this option must first identify and secure agreement from a member of staff who is willing to provide supervision for the dissertation. Approval for this option will not be granted if such an agreement is not obtained from an academic staff member.

The dissertation may focus on analysing the relevant literature and other source material on a particular topic and writing a critical survey or commentary, indicating clearly the main problems and their nature, or investigating and reporting on a selected problem, either by some small-scale empirical research, or by using information derived from secondary sources.
 

The dissertation must identify relevant issues, sustain reasoned argument, and draw supportable conclusions. It must be arranged in an organised manner and include a full bibliography.

There is no teaching associated with the dissertation, but students who select this option are encouraged to attend the dissertation workshop sessions organised by the Teaching and Learning Centre.

Two typewritten copies of the dissertation must be submitted to the MSc Programme Manager in the Summer Term, on a date to be confirmed at the beginning of Lent Term. The dissertation should be double-spaced, on A4 paper, with a maximum world limit of 10,000 words, not including Appendices. Mark penalties will apply if you exceed the word limit.

Students writing a dissertation will be supervised by a member of staff who will not necessarily be their normal supervisor. Students are responsible for identifying an appropriate member of staff to supervise their dissertation essay, and for ensuring the member of staff agrees to provide supervision. As a general rule, supervisors of dissertations will not comment on the work after a discussion of the first draft.