Financial Statement and Ratio Analysis for Accountants (Coursera)

Financial Statement and Ratio Analysis for Accountants (Coursera)

The objective of Financial Statement and Ratio Analysis for MBAs 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.

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

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.
Financial Statement and Ratio Analysis for MBAs will require you to think critically about issues for which there can be more than one “correct” answer. Hence, your analysis and conclusions must be based on sound assumptions and well-constructed analysis and arguments.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
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: Introduction to Financial Statements & Basic Accounting Principles
In this module, you will review financial statement and accounting basic principles.

WEEK 2
Module 2: Basic Accounting Principles and the Differences Between Book, Intrinsic, and Market Value of Equity
In this module, you will learn the differences between the book value, intrinsic value, and market value of equity.

WEEK 3
Module 3: Introduction to SEC filings
In this module, you will obtain an understanding of the most common SEC filings and the information included within them.

WEEK 4
Module 4: Balance Sheet Ratio Analysis
In this module, you will gain an understanding of common financial ratios and learn how to calculate various balance sheet ratios.

WEEK 5
Module 5: Income Statement Ratio Analysis
In this module, you will learn how to calculate various income statement ratios and how to conduct vertical and horizontal income statement analysis.

WEEK 6
Module 6: Return Ratio Analysis
In this module, you will learn how to compute return ratios and understand their performance drivers.

WEEK 7
Module 7 Dividend Yield and Share Buybacks
In this module, you will gain an understanding of dividend yield and its calculation, and the valuation role and implications of share buybacks,

WEEK 8
Module 8: Accounting Quality
In this module, you will learn what is meant by accounting quality, understand why "accounting quality" matters and how to detect issues.

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

Related Courses

Finanzas para directivos (Coursera) Coursera
IESE Business School

Finanzas para directivos (Coursera)

La clave para comprender las finanzas de una empresa está en conocer la historia que se esconde detrás de los números. Este curso te ofrecerá precisamente esta perspectiva de las finanzas, para que puedas aplicar un conocimiento más holístico de las cifras a la hora de tomar decisiones—tanto a largo como a corto plazo—sobre la dirección que la empresa debe tomar respecto a activos y pasivos corrientes, gestión del capital circulante y muchos otros conceptos contables.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Applying Data Analytics in Accounting (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Applying Data Analytics in Accounting (Coursera)

This course explores business analytic applications in accounting. First, it presents a survey of technology topics in accounting, including process mining, blockchain and applications in audit, tax, and assurance. Next, the course explores visualization and basic analytics in audit and control testing using R and Alteryx. Next, the course examines the uses of text analysis in accounting and conducts text analysis using R and RStudio. Finally, the course examines robot process automation in general using UiPath and its applications in accounting.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Assets in Accounting (Coursera) Coursera
Intuit

Assets in Accounting (Coursera)

In this second course, you will dive deeper into the world of bookkeeping and focus on accounting for assets. If you are familiar with bookkeeping basics, such as double entry accounting, you are ready for this course. You will gain an understanding of common asset types, learn how to account for inventory, calculate cost of goods sold, and work with Property, Plant, and Equipment (PP&E).

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Administración financiera y su función en la empresa (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Administración financiera y su función en la empresa (Coursera)

Las finanzas corporativas son importantes en cualquier organización pues nos dan a conocer las necesidades de inversión y financiamiento de cualquier ente económico. Son indispensables para que el administrador financiero tome decisiones correctas en las áreas de operación, inversión y financiamiento para tal efecto, requiere de una serie de herramientas que le permitan planear, monitorear y controlar los recursos monetarios de una organización.

Jun 22nd 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.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Accounting Analysis I: The Role of Accounting as an Information System (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Accounting Analysis I: The Role of Accounting as an Information System (Coursera)

This course is the first course in a five-course Financial Reporting Specialization that covers the collection, processing, and communication of accounting information (via financial reports) about economic entities to interested parties (i.e., managers and external stakeholders such as stockholders and creditors).

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera)

Impact your financial decisions and learn how to affect the performance of your unit's profitability and of your organization. In this course gain a basic understanding of finance and accounting concepts to drive your organization's growth. Upon completion of this course, you will have gained general financial knowledge and an in-depth understanding of the impact of your decisions outside your functional area. Content of the course includes selected aspects of finance from a non-financial specialist perspective. Specific topics include: financial analysis; planning, forecasting, and budgeting; cash flow, and strategic financing. This class will be interactive and will require the active involvement of the participants in finance related activities.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Financial Accounting: Foundations (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Financial Accounting: Foundations (Coursera)

In this course, you will learn foundations of financial accounting information. You will start your journey with a general overview of what financial accounting information is and the main financial statements. You will then learn how to code financial transactions in financial accounting language. In the meantime, you will learn about the most important concept in contemporary financial accounting: accrual accounting. You will then critically analyze how firms recognize revenues. Finally, you will finish the course with an analysis of accounting for short-term assets where you will go into detail on how firms account for accounts receivables and inventories.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 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.

Jun 22nd 2026
5-12 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.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks
Decision-Making and Scenarios (Coursera) Coursera
University of Pennsylvania

Decision-Making and Scenarios (Coursera)

This course is designed to show you how use quantitative models to transform data into better business decisions. You’ll learn both how to use models to facilitate decision-making and also how to structure decision-making for optimum results. Two of Wharton’s most acclaimed professors will show you the step-by-step processes of modeling common business and financial scenarios, so you can significantly improve your ability to structure complex problems and derive useful insights about alternatives. Once you’ve created models of existing realities, possible risks, and alternative scenarios, you can determine the best solution for your business or enterprise, using the decision-making tools and techniques you’ve learned in this course.

Jun 22nd 2026
4 Weeks