This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of financial statements with an emphasis on the balance sheet. However, to understand accounting driven financial statements, it is important to recognize that accounting is less about counting and more about measuring. “What is it that is being measured?” Well, as the course unfolds, you will learn about the three measurement questions and how the balance sheet helps to answer the first two of these questions. By touring a real company and interviewing real business people, the course describes the basic content of financial statements in a simple yet relevant context. The goal of the course is to leave a lasting impression about what balance sheet consists of and what it reveals. The next course in the Fundamentals of Accounting Specialization completes the conversation by addressing the remaining measurement question.
This course is part of the Fundamentals of Accounting Specialization
Offered By
Fundamentals of Accounting SpecializationUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignAbout this Course
Skills you will gain
- Accounting
- Financial Statement
- Balance Sheet
- Accounting Terminology
Offered by
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a world leader in research, teaching and public engagement, distinguished by the breadth of its programs, broad academic excellence, and internationally renowned faculty and alumni. Illinois serves the world by creating knowledge, preparing students for lives of impact, and finding solutions to critical societal needs.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Course Orientation
You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.
Module 1: What Is Accounting and Why Are Financial Reports Important?
This module will introduce you to the basics of financial statements by emphasizing the links between accounting, measurement, and financial statements.
Module 2: Assets – What Do You Own?
This module will explain the basics of the balance sheet, provide a working definition of assets, and give you an overview of assets typically presented on the balance sheet.
Module 3: Liabilities – What Do You Owe?
This module will introduce you to the concept of liabilities and explain what they are and how they can arise.
Module 4: Equity and How the Balance Sheet Fits Together
This module will build an intuition for what equity represents. It will also explain how the components of the balance sheet relate to one another.
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: COMPANY POSITION
Having worked with accountants for 11 years but only taking a few accounting classes in college, this taught me many things that help me better understand what the accountants are talking about.
Really great course and a useful one in terms of clearing the finance terms and how a company creates a balance sheet and how can we evaluate a company's position by looking at one's sheet.
I really enjoyed the professor's clear explanations. This has helped me understand the balance sheet, which will help me understand my current and future companies more clearly. Thanks!
The professor was not only amazing, but the videos and reading material were also great tools to help pass the class and be much more knowledgeable on balance sheets and their purpose.
About the Fundamentals of Accounting Specialization
Accounting is the “language of business.” Being able to understand this language allows individuals both inside and outside of an organization to join the “conversation” about how the organization is performing and how it can improve future performance. Financial accounting focuses on the reports that managers generate to provide interested external parties a summary of the firm’s financial position and operations. Managerial accounting focuses on the information and the analytical tools and techniques that help managers and employees make the right business decisions.
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