- Management Accounting
- Job Costing
- Cost–Benefit Analysis
- Cost Accounting
- Profit and loss calculation
- Cost
- Cost-type accounting
- Cost-center accounting
- Service costing
- Income Statement
- Contributin-margin accounting
- Absorption and variable costing
Cost Accounting Specialization
Accelerate your Career in Cost Accounting. Use cost accounting tools and improve your business decisions.
Offered By
What you will learn
How to allocate the costs incurred to the company's products and the most important methods product costing.
How companies use cost information to calculate their profit or loss and assess their profitability.
How to use information from cost accounting to improve managerial decision-making.
You will learn how to make your company's cost structure transparent and how to record and calculate costs.
Skills you will gain
About this Specialization
Applied Learning Project
This specialization is structured along with lecture videos and uses readings as well as a series of quizzes and interactive learning elements to help learners gain an understanding of the basics of Cost Accounting. The specialization also applies practical learning elements like building an Excel spreadsheet to determine cost functions and includes numerous illustrative examples from a variety of industries. The coursework teaches learners to plan, control, monitor, and document cost information. From product and service costing, to profit and loss calculation, and leveraging of cost information as the basis for decision-making, the specialization provides a sound foundation to cost accounting.
Young professionals with business experience in an interdisciplinary field.
Young professionals with business experience in an interdisciplinary field.
How the Specialization Works
Take Courses
A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.
Hands-on Project
Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.
Earn a Certificate
When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.

There are 3 Courses in this Specialization
Basics of Cost Accounting: Product Costing
The core of the first course is to learn how companies record total costs and calculate unit costs for their individual products or services. For example, how can a car manufacturer figure out the costs of an individual car series? During the first weeks, participants learn what costs are and how to distinguish them from expenses or cash flows. Participants will understand how companies record total costs and distinguish important cost types such as material costs, personnel costs, or depreciation. At the core of their cost-accounting system, companies allocate overhead costs to individual products. We show participants how to allocate the costs incurred to the company's products and introduce them to the most important methods and challenges of product costing.
Cost Accounting: Profit and Loss Calculation
Companies do not only need to know the costs of different products, but they also need to know whether they gain a profit or realize a loss. We explain how companies use cost information to calculate their profit and assess their profitability. Depending on how companies account for changes in inventories, we distinguish "absorption costing" and "variable costing". In addition, some companies structure their income statement according to the "nature of expense method", while others structure it according to the "cost-of-sales method". We explain both methods and discuss their advantages and disadvantages.
Cost Accounting: Decision Making
In the third course, you will learn how to use information from cost accounting to improve managerial decision-making. We discuss business decisions and suggest how cost information can support them best. For example, how will costs change if managers adjust cost drivers? How many units do companies need to sell in order to avoid losses or to achieve a targeted profit? How can managers improve pricing or product programs with information from cost accounting?
Offered by

Technische Universität München (TUM)
Technische Universität München (TUM) is one of Europe’s top universities. It is committed to excellence in research and teaching, interdisciplinary education and the active promotion of promising young scientists. The university forges strong links with companies and scientific institutions across the world. TUM was one of the first universities in Germany to be named a University of Excellence. TUM does not pass any personal data to the platform providers. If you take part in one of our MOOCs, please refer to the data protection guidelines in the terms and conditions of the provider.
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