Financial Analysis of Organizations (Coursera)

Financial Analysis of Organizations (Coursera)

This course focuses on adopting and implementing a financially analytic mindset when analyzing organizational activities, position and performance. This course begins with an overview of an organization’s financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, as well as the transactions that comprise these statements.

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

You will learn about tools and ratios that help analyze these financial statements and transactions. Financial statement analysis will help you understand how the company has performed in the past and its current position. This analysis - as well as course content on forecasting both short- and long-term performance - enables you to draw inferences, make predictions about the organization's future performance and value.
Ultimately, this course provides a "deep-dive" into the multi-dimensional nature of financial analysis and how it used to assess the value of organizations.
Course 2 of 3 in the Financial Analysis - Skills for Success Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Introduction and Module 1: Financial Statements - A Deeper Dive Into Company Position
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. You will then be introduced to the concept of liabilities and explain what they are and how they can arise. This module will then build an intuition for what equity represents. It will also explain how the components of the balance sheet relate to one another.

WEEK 2
Module 2: Financial Statements - A Deeper Dive Into Company Performance
This module introduces you to the primary components of the income statement by focusing on the concepts of revenue and cost of goods sold. The module also discusses examples of other income and expenses included in a typical income statement and introduces you to the statement of cash flows.

WEEK 3
Financial Statement Ratios
In this module, we will learn how to calculate financial ratios that measure concepts such as liquidity, leverage, and profitability. We will work with accounting statements and financial data from real world companies and learn how to use this data to measure the financial health of companies and make comparisons with competitors.

WEEK 4
Module 4: Forecasting Financial Statements
In this module, we will learn models that allow us to forecast and manage a company's capital expenditures. We will forecast the future financial statements of a company and learn how to figure out how much external financing the company will need.

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

Related Courses

FinTech Law and Policy (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

FinTech Law and Policy (Coursera)

Being a successful FinTech firm requires more than just great technology; it also requires an understanding of the laws and regulations applicable to your business. This course will provide you with that understanding. You will learn about the critical legal, regulatory, and policy issues associated with cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, online lending, new payments and wealth management technologies, and financial account aggregators.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Finance for Everyone: Debt (Coursera) Coursera
McMaster University

Finance for Everyone: Debt (Coursera)

In Debt, we take on one of the most challenging financial questions that remains unresolved: How much to borrow? We start by demonstrating why using debt has always been and continues to be a great temptation, particularly when borrowing costs are historically low. We identify conditions for selecting the optimal amount of debt for a corporation looking to maximize its value. You’ll become fluent in related concepts like norms and benchmarks.

Oct 12th 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.

Oct 12th 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.

Oct 12th 2026
5-12 Weeks
More Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera) Coursera
University of Pennsylvania

More Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera)

The course builds on my Introduction to Financial Accounting course, which you should complete first. In this course, you will learn how to read, understand, and analyze most of the information provided by companies in their financial statements. These skills will help you make more informed decisions using financial information.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Financial Markets (Coursera) Coursera
Yale University

Financial Markets (Coursera)

An overview of the ideas, methods, and institutions that permit human society to manage risks and foster enterprise. Emphasis on financially-savvy leadership skills. Description of practices today and analysis of prospects for the future. Introduction to risk management and behavioral finance principles to understand the real-world functioning of securities, insurance, and banking industries. The ultimate goal of this course is using such industries effectively and towards a better society.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Behavioral Finance (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Behavioral Finance (Coursera)

We make thousands of decisions every day. Do I cross the road now, or wait for the oncoming truck to pass? Should I eat fries or a salad for lunch? How much should I tip the cab driver? We usually make these decisions with almost no thought, using what psychologists call “heuristics” – rules of thumb that enable us to navigate our lives. Without these mental shortcuts, we would be paralyzed by the multitude of daily choices.

Oct 12th 2026
3 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.

Oct 12th 2026
4 Weeks