Business Foundations Specialization

Master the technical skills needed to analyze financial statements and disclosures for use in financial analysis, and learn how accounting standards and managerial incentives affect the financial reporting process. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to read the three most common financial statements: the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. Then you can apply these skills to a real-world business challenge as part of the Wharton Business Foundations Specialization.

100% online course

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Approx. 14 hours to complete

Suggested: 4 weeks of study, 5-6 hours/week

English

Subtitles: English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified)

Skills you will gain

AccountingFinancial StatementFinancial AccountingBalance Sheet

100% online course

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Approx. 14 hours to complete

Suggested: 4 weeks of study, 5-6 hours/week

English

Subtitles: English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified)

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

1

Section

4 hours to complete

Week 1: Introduction and Balance Sheet

To learn a foreign language like Accounting, you need quite a bit of practice in the basic foundations (grammar, syntax, idioms, etc.). This material is absolutely essential for being able to read and to understand books written in the language (in our case, financial statements.). This week, we will starting building these foundations. We will start with an overview of financial reporting. What types of reports are required? Who makes the rules? Who enforces the rules? Then, we will cover the balance sheet equation and define/discuss Assets, Liabilities, and Stockholders' Equity. We will introduce debit-credit bookkeeping and do lots of practice in translating transactions into debits and credits. Finally, we will introduce a case of a start-up company to provide you insights into all of the steps necessary to go from recording the first transactions of a new business all the way through its first set of financial statements....

9 videos (Total 128 min), 7 readings, 2 quizzes

9 videos

1.1.1: Financial Reporting Overview11m

1.1.2: Financial Reporting Example12m

1.2.1: Balance Sheet Equation12m

1.2.2: Assets, Liabilities, and Stockholders' Equity19m

1.3.1: Debit and Credit Bookkeeping I13m

1.3.2: Debit and Credit Bookkeeping II16m

1.4.1: Relic Spotter Case, Part 116m

1.4.2: Relic Spotter Case, Part 215m

1.5: 3M Company: Tour of an Annual Report10m

7 readings

Syllabus10m

Frequently Asked Questions10m

PDF files for videos10m

2 practice exercises

Learning check-in2m

Homework #120m

2

Section

3 hours to complete

Week 2: Accrual Accounting and the Income Statement

We will start with a discussion of Accrual Accounting and how it affects the recognition of the Income Statement accounts: Revenues and Expenses. Then, we will cover adjusting entries, which are needed to prepare our internal books for the upcoming financial statements. Finally, we will discuss closing entries and the preparation of the Balance Sheet and Income Statement. At each stage, we will continue to work on the case of our start-up company. If you are not sick and tired of journal entries by the end of this week, then I have not done my job! ...

8 videos (Total 110 min), 6 readings, 1 quiz

8 videos

2.1: Revenues and Expenses20m

2.2: Relic Spotter Case, Part 312m

2.3.1: Adjusting Entries I15m

2.3.2: Adjusting Entries II14m

2.4.1: Relic Spotter Case, Part 4a11m

2.4.2: Relic Spotter Case, Part 4b9m

2.5: Financial Statements and Closing Entries16m

2.6: 3M Company: Income Statement and Balance Sheet9m

6 readings

PDF files for videos10m

1 practice exercises

Homework #220m

3

Section

3 hours to complete

Week 3: Cash Flows

Cash is King! We will start with the classification of cash flows into operating, investing, and financing activities. Then, we will work on preparing and analyzing the Statement of Cash Flows. We will wrap up the case on the start-up company by preparing and analyzing its Statement of Cash Flows. Finally, we will discuss the differences between Earnings, Cash from Operations, EBITDA, and Free Cash Flow....

7 videos (Total 115 min), 4 readings, 1 quiz

7 videos

3.1.1: Operating, Investing, and Financing Cash Flows13m

3.1.2: Relic Spotter Case, Part 516m

3.2.1: Statement of Cash Flows14m

3.2.2: Relic Spotter Case, Part 617m

3.3.1: More SCF Topics and EBITDA17m

3.3.2: Cash Flow vs. EBITDA Examples21m

3.4: 3M Company: Cash Flows13m

4 readings

PDF files for videos10m

1 practice exercises

Homework #320m

4

Section

2 hours to complete

Week 4: Ratio Analysis and Final Exam

We will have our final exam this week. Because of the exam, I will cover Ratio Analysis, which will not involve any "new" material. While we will define and discuss a number of ratios, they will all basically involve dividing one accounting number by another. But, the analysis of what those ratios mean will involve a deep understanding of Balance Sheet and Income Statement accounts. Thus, the Ratio Analysis videos will help provide a nice review of the material, which will help you prepare for the exam. However, there will be no questions about ratio analysis on the exam. The only thing left to do after this exam is to impress your family, friends, and co-workers with your vast knowledge of Financial Accounting!...

5 videos (Total 73 min), 3 readings, 2 quizzes

5 videos

4.1: Overview of Ratio Analysis21m

4.2: Plainview Technology Case, Part 116m

4.3: Plainview Technology Case, Part 219m

4.4: Plainview Technology Case, Part 310m

4.5: 3M Company: Ratios5m

3 readings

PDF files for videos10m

2 practice exercises

Final Exam, Part 124m

Final Exam, Part 216m

Instructor

Brian J Bushee

The Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor

About University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies. ...

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Business Foundations Specialization