4.8
stars
2,811 ratings

Marc Badia

108,258 already enrolled

Offered By

IESE Business School

About this Course

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Financial Accounting is often called the language of business; it is the language that managers use to communicate the firm's financial and economic information to external parties such as shareholders and creditors. Nobody working in business can afford financial illiteracy. Whether you run your own business, work as a manager or are just starting your career, you want to understand financial information and be able to interact with accountants, controllers, and financial managers. You want to talk business! 
This course will provide you with the accounting language's essentials. Upon completion, you should be able to read and interpret financial statements for business diagnosis and decision-making. More importantly, you will possess the conceptual base to keep learning more sophisticated accounting and finance on your own. Do not forget that, as with any other language, becoming proficient with accounting requires constant practice.

Flexible deadlines

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Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

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Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

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Beginner Level

Approx. 12 hours to complete

English

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Skills you will gain

Financial Accounting
Accounting
Financial Statement
Balance Sheet

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

Learn more about Coursera Labs

Beginner Level

Approx. 12 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.81/5 (757 Ratings)

Marc Badia

Associate Professor

Accounting and Control

108,258 Learners

1 Course

Offered by

IESE Business School

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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating98%(17,757 ratings)

Week1

Week 1

3 hours to complete

Course Overview & Week 1: Introduction to Accounting - The Balance Sheet

Welcome! Before you start today's videos, please have a look at the syllabus. In this first session, I'll give you an overview of what accounting is all about and why it's important to have a basic proficiency in this "language." In addition, I'll introduce one of the most important financial reports - the balance sheet - and a practical real-world case so you can put theory into practice. Objectives: To gain insight into the essence of accounting and become familiar with the balance sheet and its purpose.

3 hours to complete

10 videos (Total 48 min), 7 readings, 1 quiz

10 videos

Introduction - Welcome to the Course3m1. Accounting: The Language of Business6m2. Practice Case: The Campus Bookstore I7m3. Practice Case: The Campus Bookstore II3m4. Accounting for our First Transactions3m5. Accounting for More Transactions5m6. Explaining the Balance Sheet7m7. Defining an Asset6m8. Defining a Liability4m9. Recap2m

7 readings

Course Overview & Syllabus5mReminder of Coursera's Honor Code1mAbout Week 11mTransactions Week 15mRequired Reading Week 1: "The Balance Sheet"30mRequired Reading Week 1: "Introduction to Financial Accounting"45mQuiz 1 with Solutions10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz Week 130m

Week2

Week 2

2 hours to complete

Week 2: The Income Statement

2 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 49 min), 5 readings, 1 quiz

11 videos

1. Introduction to Week 21m2. Recap of Week 11m3. Purchasing More Inventory3m4. Sales and Cost of Goods Sold7m5. Selling, General and Administrative Expenses4m6. Some Collections and Payments of Cash3m7. Depreciation and Amortization8m8. Interest from Bank Loan and Taxes3m9. Preparing the Balance Sheet3m10. Introducing the Income Statement6m11. Recap of Week 2 and Conclusions3m

5 readings

About Week 210mTransactions Week 210mRequired Reading Week 2: "The Income Statement"30mRequired Reading Week 2: "Introduction to Financial Accounting"10mQuiz 2 with Solutions10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz Week 230m

Week3

Week 3

3 hours to complete

Week 3: The Cash Flow Statement

Now that you have a good grasp of the balance sheet and income statement, I'll help you master how to recognize the transactions we went over in week two. I'll also introduce a third financial report - the cash flow statement - and discuss liquidity. Course objectives: To understand the difference between liquidity and profitability, become familiar with T-accounts and gain insight into the purpose of the cash flow report.

3 hours to complete

14 videos (Total 67 min), 4 readings, 1 quiz

14 videos

1. Introduction to Week 32m2. Recap of Week 23m3. T-Accounts and Journal Entries5m4. Setting up T-Accounts for the Campus Bookstore3m5. Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, Collections from Customers and Payment to Suppliers7m6. Other Operating Costs4m7. Transactions with Non-Current Assets8m8. Bank Loans and Interest4m9. Taxes, Closing Entries and Payments of Dividends5m10. Preparing the Balance Sheet3m11. Preparing the Income Statement4m12. Introducing the Cash Flow Statement I7m13. Introducing the Cash Flow Statement II4m14. Recap of Week 3 and Conclusions3m

4 readings

About Week 310mTransactions Week 310mRequired Reading Week 3: "The Statement of Cash Flows"40mQuiz 3 with Solutions10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz Week 330m

Week4

Week 4

4 hours to complete

Week 4: Accrual Accounting

By using accrual accounting we can measure performance when a financial transaction takes place, even if no cash has actually changed hands. In this final session, we'll discuss the difference between accrual and cash accounting and also read and interpret a real enterprise's financial statements. Course objectives: By the end of the session, you will be able to handle numerous transactions for the purposes of financial reporting, and understand the advantages of accrual accounting.

4 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 67 min), 7 readings, 3 quizzes

11 videos

1. Introduction to Week 42m2. Recap of Week 35m3. Accrual accounting vs. cash accounting5m4. Measuring performance with accrual accounting6m5. A few examples: prepaid insurance, accrued interest and advances from customers7m6. Performance evolution of the Campus Bookstore I8m7. Performance evolution of the Campus Bookstore II7m8. Reading and interpreting real financial statements I7m9. Reading and interpreting real financial statements II4m10. Advanced topics you can explore on your own6m11. Conclusions6m

7 readings

About Week 410mTransactions Week 410mQuiz 4 Part I with Solutions10mQuiz Week 4 Background Information for Reference10mRecommended Reading10mPrompt10mSolutions10m

2 practice exercises

Quiz Week 4 - Part 130mNew Quiz30m

Reviews

4.8

819 reviews

5 stars
85.49%
4 stars
12.44%
3 stars
1.24%
2 stars
0.14%
1 star
0.67%

TOP REVIEWS FROM ACCOUNTING: PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING

by MSAug 29, 2016

Excellent course.

Excellent content

Excellent and lucid presentation.

Now I got a feel that I understand standards of accounting, and I am a hard core engineer.

Thanks a lot.

by FROct 30, 2021

Such a simple but impressive course. Really streghthen my views in basic accounting principles as an accounting student. Thank your Prof. Marc Badia, IESE Business School, and Coursera.

by DPJul 16, 2017

Its pretty easy to understand with a relevant real world example on how to understand financial statements. It also provide further reading which is helpful for ones who want to learn more

by JVNov 8, 2020

This course is simple and very fluid in making accounting understandable. It uses a single main except to explain the basics of financial accounting on how to interpret it properly.

View all reviews

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Accounting: Principles of Financial Accounting

About this Course

Skills you will gain