Find out more about what’s involved in a MSc International Accounting and Finance at Dublin Business School from Nathaniel, our Australian Ambassador…

When the inevitable questions of what and where I am studying in Ireland comes up, the answer of Dublin Business School (DBS) and an MSc in International Finance and Accounting come as no surprise to people. I followed a finance stream within my undergraduate economics degree, and have always felt confident and at ease when working on problems of a financial nature. When people ask me what my course covers however, then the conversation starts to get a little bit trickier.

The course is designed to help you adjust to lengthy paper writing, student life, and the approach to academics that is expected within Ireland.

My course was aptly (and conveniently) described by one of my professors as “a very narrow, but extremely in depth look at finance and accounting”. Unlike an MBA, the MSc is a very specialised look into the field of study which you are hoping to work in after you graduate. You should graduate with a feeling of confidence when discussing topics regarding your area of study. An MSc sets you up to be an expert in your chosen field after completion.

At DBS, the academic year is divided into two semesters, with the first one providing some more broad subjects such as research methods and personal and professional development. These courses are designed to help you adjust to lengthy paper writing, student life, and the approach to academics that is expected within Ireland. Your first semester also gives you an intermediate level introduction to various finance topics, pushing your knowledge further along the road to expertise. I took topics such as; Corporate Financial Management, International Financial Reporting, and Quantitative Applications for Finance. As their names may imply, these courses are designed to push you towards that implicit expertise an MSc graduate must have upon graduation. Each of these subjects taught me something new about accounting, how to manage and assess a corporation based on financial statements, and how to use quantitative finance to make assertions about stock movements.

…lecturers at DBS have a wealth of knowledge, and provide ample online resources for you to pursue your own learning.

My second semester at DBS has proven to be building on what I have learned in the first semester. Class names such as Advanced International Financial Reporting, although less than original, truly describe the nature of second semester. DBS pushes your knowledge to an advanced level where I am learning about treasury and risk management, operation and government of financial markets, and strategic performance management. I learned more about how to differentiate business position based off their financial statements, management accounting, and how financial markets, particularly those within Europe, operate.

One thing that I have found true of my time at DBS is that the lecturers have a wealth of knowledge, and provide ample online resources for you to pursue your own learning. As many of my lecturers have told us, a Masters is not about the teacher telling us what to learn, it’s about them pointing us in the right direction and then watching us learn for ourselves. This is much more indicative of real life business situations, where you cannot be treated like a child and monitored 24/7.

…DBS specialises in business courses, and thus is well regarded for the students it produces.

DBS, although being a private university, has very competitive fees as compared to other universities internationally (although I am on scholarship). This would have been a driving factor for me to attend DBS had I needed to consider it. As the name implies, DBS specialises in business courses, and thus is well regarded for the students it produces in my stream and those like it. It has an awesome location right in the heart of the city, has an awesome student union who have organised a whole load of exciting events throughout the semester, has a great common room where I have been able to relax many a time, and has a great vibe about its buildings. It is an exciting place to learn, and one that I would definitely recommend to a friend should they come to Ireland to study.