Accounting and Finance Level 2
Start Date: 4th September 2025
- Length 35 Weeks
- Study Part Time
- Location West Lancashire College
More about the course
If you are starting out in the Accounting world, or you are looking to secure a promotion, our AAT qualifications will open up many job opportunities.
You will gain practical, real-world accounting and finance skills that are crucial for employers. Our AAT courses are a great progression route into professional membership and chartered studies.
Entry requirements
Students require a good standard of Maths and English for this course.
What will I achieve?
If you successfully complete this course, you will receive an AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting
What will I learn?
- Introduction to Book-keeping
- Principles of Book-keeping Controls
- Principles of Costing
- The Business Environment
How am I assessed?
- Computer based exams
Where can I progress?
If you successfully complete the Level 2 in Accounting, you may wish to progress onto AAT Level 3 Diploma in Accounting.
Course costs
The cost of this course is £765. This course may be free if you are on an income related benefit, or a low income of less than £25,000 per annum.
If you are 19 or over, please call Learner Services on 01695 52300 or email enquiries@westlancs.ac.uk to confirm the fee for this course. Course costs may be subject to change.
If you need information on any financial support that may be available to you with fees or study costs on this course, please contact Student Services who can offer advice and assistance on accessing any financial support that may be available.
*This is subject to availability and eligibility
Adult Funding Changes
Due to changes in Government funding from 1st August 2019, students who resident in some postcodes in Merseyside and Greater Manchester may be unable to access funding from training providers and colleges in Lancashire and may have to pay all associated course and support costs.
Please note, this does not include courses that are paid for by Advanced Learner Loans.
To check if your postcode is part of the new devolved funding legislation, please contact Course Enquiries on 01695 52300 for further advice.
Contact our team
Meet our Accounting students and tutors
Ruth Winstanley
Business LecturerI have had the privilege of working for West Lancashire College since 2004. I am the course leader for the AAT accountancy qualifications in addition to being a lecturer on the Business courses. I run my own accountancy business and hold the position of management accountant working in industry during the rest of my week. My informed knowledge and experience ensure that students receive specialist and up-to-date teaching of finance and business units. My specialisms are accounting, finance, law, and business decision making.
What can I do with a qualification in Business?
Daily tasks:
- Assesses and advises on factors affecting business performance.
- Determines staffing levels appropriate for accounting activities.
- Plans external and internal audit programmes, arranges for the collection and analysis of accounting, budgetary and related information, and manages the company.
- Participates in the formulation of strategic and long-term business plans, assesses the implications for the organisation financial mechanisms and oversees their implementation.
Daily tasks:
- Stays abreast of and ensures adherence to relevant legislation regarding tendering and procurement procedures.
- Researches and identifies new products and suppliers.
- Interviews suppliers.
- Arranges for quality checks of incoming goods and ensures suppliers deliver on time.
- Negotiates prices and contracts with suppliers and draws up contract documents.
- Devises purchasing policies, decides on whether orders should be put out to tender and evaluates suppliers.
- Determines what goods, services and equipment need to be sourced.
Daily tasks:
- Stays abreast of relevant legislation, considers its impact on the organisation.
- Considers alternative work procedures to improve productivity.
- Examines and reports on company and departmental structures, chains of command, information flows, etc. and evaluates efficiency of existing operations.
- Develops and administers salary, health and safety and promotion policies.
- Undertakes industrial relations negotiations with employees.
- Provides or arranges for provision of training courses.
- Oversees the monitoring of employee performance and career development needs.
- Oversees the preparation of job descriptions, drafts advertisements and interviews candidates.
- Determines staffing needs.
Daily tasks:
- Examines quality of merchandise and ensures that effective use is made of advertising and display facilities.
- Authorises payment for supplies received and decides on vending price, discount rates and credit terms.
- Oversees the maintenance of financial and other records and controls security arrangements for the premises.
- Ensures customer complaints and queries regarding sales and service are appropriately handled.
- Ensures that adequate reserves of merchandise are held and that stock keeping is carried out efficiently.
- Liaises with other staff to provide information about merchandise, special promotions etc. to customers.
- Appoints staff, assigns tasks and monitors and reviews staff performance.
Daily tasks:
- Carries out research into aspects of the natural world.
- Prepares applications for funding to other organisations, and assessing applications for funding from other organisations.
- Promotes conservation issues via educational talks, displays, workshops and literature and liaison with the media.
- Maintains and develops knowledge in relevant policy areas within a national and European legislative context.
- Liaises with other groups in the selection and maintenance of the Protected Site System including Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Ramsar sites, and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and National Nature Reserves (NNRs).
- Provides advice and information to government at national and local levels, clients, landowners, planners and developers to facilitate the protection of the natural environment.
- Implements, evaluates and monitors schemes for the management and protection of natural habitats.
- Carries out environmental impact assessments and field surveys.
- Promotes and implements local and national biodiversity action plans, particularly with regard to threatened species and habitats.
Daily tasks:
- Provides professional guidance to clients, government agencies, regulators and other relevant bodies, having regard for sustainable approaches and solutions.
- Implements, reviews and advises on regulatory and legislative standards, guidelines and policies.
- Assists organisations to conduct their activities in an environmentally appropriate manner.
- Communicates scientific and technical information to relevant audiences in an appropriate form, via reports, workshops, educational events, public hearings.
- Carries out environmental audits and environmental impact assessments.
- Carries out environment-related desk-based research and fieldwork to collect, analyse and interpret data to determine their validity, quality and significance.
- Implements remediation works.
- Advises on and provides solutions for mitigating the effects of such contamination.
- Identifies contamination of land, air or water and assesses any adverse impact on the environment.
Daily tasks:
- Monitors the standards of scientific and technical research undertaken by the research team.
- Plans work schedules, assigns tasks and delegates responsibilities to the research and development team.
- Develops research methodology, implements and reports upon research investigations undertaken.
- Liaises with production departments to investigate and resolve manufacturing problems.
- Establishes product design and performance objectives in consultation with other business functions.
Daily tasks:
- Runs workshops, and addresses seminars, conferences and the media to present results of research activity or to express professional views.
- Advises governments, commercial enterprises, organisations and other clients in light of research findings.
- Determines the appropriate method of data collection and research methodology, analyses and interprets information gained and formulates and implements recommendations and solutions.
- Identifies problems concerned with business strategy, policy, organisation, procedures, methods and markets.
- Assesses the functions, objectives and requirements of the organisation seeking advice.
Daily tasks:
- Reports regularly on progress to the client or to senior managers.
- Ensures that each stage of the project is progressing on time, on budget and to the right quality standards.
- Negotiates with contractors and suppliers for materials and services.
- Selects and leads a project team.
- Draws up a detailed plan for how to achieve each stage of the project.
- Agrees timescales, costs and resources needed.
- Finds out what the client or company wants to achieve.
Daily tasks:
- Deals with copyright issues and negotiates fees.
- Liaises with client on the appropriate image/s to be used.
- Researches images for clients in a wide range of media using specialist picture libraries and archives, museums, galleries etc., or commissions new images.
- Presents findings in the required format, via written reports or presentations.
- Provides support to criminal intelligence or to military or other security operations by gathering and verifying intelligence data and sources.
- Provides administrative support for programme development such as booking facilities.
- Briefs presenters, scriptwriters or journalists as required via verbal or written reports.
- Research sources for accurate factual material, finds suitable contributors to programmes or print features and deals with any copyright issues.
- Liaises with production team to generate and develop ideas for film, television and radio programmes.
Business at West Lancashire College
Upcoming events
Open Event
West Lancashire College
Thursday 1st May 2025
4:30pm - 7:00pm
Parent/Carer Information Evening
West Lancashire College
Tuesday 24th June 2025
4:30pm - 7:00pm
News
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