Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Advanced Topics (Coursera)

Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Advanced Topics (Coursera)

This course aims at assisting you in interpreting financial accounting information related to advanced issues in inter-corporate investments. The course will cover four main topics over four modules: (i) accounting for spinoffs and equity carveouts, (ii) accounting for leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations, (iii) tax considerations in inter-corporate investments, and (iv) financial statement analysis in the presence of inter-corporate investments.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

The course will be useful for students to understand complex organizational structures through the lens of financial accounting information and will benefit investors, analysts, bankers, consultants, managers, and any deal-makers.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Orientation
Special Types of Divestitures
Acquirer firms may divest their investments in other firms in some exotic ways. In this module, you will explore two notable special divestitures: spinoffs and equity carveouts.

WEEK 2
Corporate Reorganizations
Acquirer firms may obtain the control of target firms in some exotic ways. In this module, you will explore two notable corporate reorganizations: leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and recapitalizations (RECAPs).

WEEK 3
Tax Considerations in Inter-Corporate Investments
Inter-corporate investments can result in special tax issues for target shareholders and target firms. In this module, you will explore taxable versus tax-free transactions, step-ups versus carryovers, deferred taxes, and miscellaneous acquisition-related tax issues including loss trafficking and goodwill taxation.

WEEK 4
Financial Statement Analysis (FSA) with Inter-Corporate Investments
Financial statement analysis (FSA) builds models to evaluate past position and predict future performance of a firm using financial statements. In this module, you will explore FSA in the presence of inter-corporate investments and calculation of organic versus acquired growth.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Corporate Finance II: Financing Investments and Managing Risk (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Corporate Finance II: Financing Investments and Managing Risk (Coursera)

In this course you will learn how companies decide on how much debt to take, and whether to raise capital from markets or from banks. You will also learn how to measure and manage credit risk and how to deal with financial distress. You will discuss the mechanics of dividends and share repurchases, and how to choose the best way to return cash to investors. You will also learn how to use derivatives and liquidity management to offset specific sources of financial risk, including currency risks. Finally, You will learn how companies finance merger and acquisition decisions, including leveraged buyouts, and how to incorporate large changes in leverage in standard valuation models.

Aug 31st 2026
4 Weeks
Infonomics II: Business Information Management and Measurement (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Infonomics II: Business Information Management and Measurement (Coursera)

Even decades into the Information Age, accounting practices yet fail to recognize the financial value of information. Moreover, traditional asset management practices fail to recognize information as an asset to be managed with earnest discipline. This has led to a business culture of complacence, and the inability for most organizations to fully leverage available information assets. This second course in the two-part Infonomics series explores how and why to adapt well-honed asset management principles and practices to information, and how to apply accepted and new valuation models to gauge information’s potential and realized economic benefits.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Understanding Financial Statements: Company Performance (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Understanding Financial Statements: Company Performance (Coursera)

This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of financial statements with an emphasis on the income statement. Building on the foundation formed in the first course, you will learn about the third of our three measurement questions and how the income statement helps to answer this final measurement question. Returning to the real business people introduced in the first course, this second course describes the basic content of income statement in a simple yet relevant context.

Aug 31st 2026
4 Weeks
Accounting for Decision Making (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Accounting for Decision Making (Coursera)

Through this course, you will start by addressing the two “big questions” of accounting: “What do I have?” and “How did I do over time?” You will see how the two key financial statements – the balance sheet and the income statement - are designed to answer these questions and then move on to consider how individual transactions aggregate to make up these financial statements.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Forecasting Financial Statements & Valuation for Accountants (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Forecasting Financial Statements & Valuation for Accountants (Coursera)

The objective of this course is to provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to analyze, interpret, understand and use financial information to make informed decisions. We will discuss financial reporting from a user’s perspective, use a variety of tools to break apart financial reports into meaningful units for analysis, forecast financial statements, and value a firm. This course is intended to give you exposure to the issues facing users of financial statements. You will better understand your role in the financial reporting process if you know how the financial statements will ultimately be used.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Alternative Investments and Taxes: Cracking the Code (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Alternative Investments and Taxes: Cracking the Code (Coursera)

This comprehensive course offers a thorough understanding of alternative investments, encompassing their regulatory framework, taxation aspects, specific investment types, compliance requirements, and reporting obligations. Students will explore the significance of alternative investments in the financial market and gain insights into the basic regulatory framework governing them.

Sep 10th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Fundamentals of financial and management accounting (Coursera) Coursera
Politecnico di Milano

Fundamentals of financial and management accounting (Coursera)

This is an introductory course on financial and management accounting. The first part of this course will introduce the basic accounting principles and accounting terminology to understand how a company keeps control of financial events and provides information on how it is performing. These basic concepts will support the analysis of financial reports companies prepare. We will go through balance sheet, income statement, financial statement, learning how to read and analyze them.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Understanding Financial Statements: Company Position (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Understanding Financial Statements: Company Position (Coursera)

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.

Aug 31st 2026
4 Weeks
Multistate Taxation (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Multistate Taxation (Coursera)

This course will examine state and local tax laws prevalent in the United States today. The course will consider the historical progression of state and local taxation, the power of states to tax (and the limitations on that power), and planning strategies for minimizing the impact of state and local taxation. Discussions will focus on income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Financial Accounting Fundamentals (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Financial Accounting Fundamentals (Coursera)

This course will teach you the tools you'll need to understand the fundamentals of financial accounting. Concise videos, the financial records of a small business, and "your turn" activities guide you through the three most commonly used financial statements: the Balance Sheet, the Income Statement, and the Statement of Cash Flows. Beyond recording transactions, you'll learn how to prepare these financial statements, and read and analyze them to draw basic conclusions about a company's financial health.

Aug 31st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Fundamentals of Business Finance, with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women (Coursera) Coursera
Goldman Sachs

Fundamentals of Business Finance, with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women (Coursera)

This course is one of 10 courses available in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women collection, designed for entrepreneurs ready to take their business to the next level. This course will introduce you to financial terminology, and explain why it is essential to use financial statements to understand and monitor your financial position when making key business decisions.

Aug 31st 2026
1 Week