Managerial Accounting: Cost Behaviors, Systems, and Analysis (Coursera)

Managerial Accounting: Cost Behaviors, Systems, and Analysis (Coursera)

In this course, you will learn how to use accounting to facilitate and align decisions made by owners, managers, and employees. You will learn how accountants create, organize, interpret, and communicate information that improves internal processes, and allows organizations to identify and leverage opportunities to create value within the supply chain and with customers.

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

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
• Understand what managerial accounting is and why it is important.
• Describe fundamental concepts of managerial accounting.
• Apply the financial perspective of accounting for costs.
• Identify problems associated with relying on financial accounting information for internal decision making.
• Organize cost information according to the decision-making needs of the organization.
• Apply activity-based costing (ABC) and recognize the influence of setting and decision characteristics on the relevance of ABC systems.
• Address common "what-if" questions using cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.
• Apply CVP analysis in a variety of scenarios.
Course 1 of 7 in the Value Chain Management Specialization.

Syllabus

Week 1
Course Overview and Introduction to Managerial Accounting
In this module, you will become familiar with the course, your instructor, your classmates, and our learning environment. Then, you will be introduced to Managerial Accounting and Costing Concepts.

Week 2
Costing Systems I - Elements and Design
Organizations can organize cost information however best suits their decisions. In this module, we introduce the role of costing systems, identify some example systems and settings in which they are most useful, and explore how accounting for overhead costs influences the value of cost information.

Week 3
Costing Systems II - Activity-Based Costing
Activity-based costing systems adopt a more refined view of the organization, and can increase the accuracy of cost information. In this module, we introduce the fundamentals of activity-based costing systems, identify related advantages and disadvantages, and demonstrate how such systems are implemented using an in-depth example.

Week 4
Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) Analysis
Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis is the tool that managers can use to better understand the answers to "what-if" questions in order to make better decisions for their companies. In this module you will explore the power of CVP analysis

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

Related Courses

Global Financial Markets and Instruments (Coursera) Coursera
Rice University

Global Financial Markets and Instruments (Coursera)

Get a running start in the high-stakes world of financial investment! This first course is designed to help you become an informed investor by providing you with the essential concepts for long-term success in managing money. You’ll start by learning the role of financial markets and financial assets in a well-functioning economy. From there, you’ll learn about the wide range of financial instruments available in major asset classes, their features and valuations.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Estructura de capital y política de dividendos (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Estructura de capital y política de dividendos (Coursera)

En el curso estructura de capital y política de dividendos se analizará la forma en la que una empresa financia sus activos a través de métodos internos o externos, estructurando así su pasivo y capital. Dichas fuentes de financiamiento se ven reflejadas en el costo de capital promedio ponderado (Weighted Average Cost of Capital- WACC).

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Business English: Finance and Economics (Coursera) Coursera
Arizona State University

Business English: Finance and Economics (Coursera)

Do you work in finance or interact with finance professionals? Is it necessary to speak, write or understand English in your career? Follow the authentic characters in this course as they work through common business situations in finance and economics. Learn from your successes and failure, and think critically about your own communication options.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Value and Business Decision Making (Coursera) Coursera
Yunus Social Business Fund Bengaluru

Value and Business Decision Making (Coursera)

This course is part of a Specialization titled “Strategy and Finance for a Lifecycle of a Social Business”. It is an introduction to time value of money and will help the learner understand the basics of finance with the ultimate goal of valuing a company from a societal lens. The beauty of the modern decision-making framework is that it can be used to understand value creation at any level – the individual, the corporate or nonprofit entity level and from the point of view of society. The applications however become increasingly complex as your lens expands from the individual to the corporate/nonprofit to the global society.

Sep 16th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Financial Reporting: Ledgers, Taxes, Auditing Best Practices (Coursera) Coursera
Coursera Instructor Network

Financial Reporting: Ledgers, Taxes, Auditing Best Practices (Coursera)

This course offers detailed insights into the critical aspects of financial management that can significantly impact a business's bottom line. Participants will explore the intricacies of ledger maintenance, discover cutting-edge tax planning strategies, and learn the auditing best practices that safeguard a company's financial integrity.

Sep 28th 2026
1 Week
Macroeconomic Financial Accounts (Coursera) Coursera
Sapienza University of Rome

Macroeconomic Financial Accounts (Coursera)

This course is primarily aimed at undergraduates attending their final year or Master’s students in monetary and financial economics, international macroeconomics and data mining. Professionals in Government institutions, Central Banks, business and the financial industry, along with other professionals interested in finance and macroeconomics, may also benefit from this course.

Sep 21st 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.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Finance for Managers (Coursera) Coursera
IESE Business School

Finance for Managers (Coursera)

When it comes to numbers, there is always more than meets the eye. In operational finance, you will learn how to read the “story” that the balance sheet and income statement tells about the company’s operations. The insights you gain from this “financial story” will then become a tool for short-term decision-making at the top management level relating to current assets, current liabilities and the management of working capital. Finally, by the end of the course you will understand the financial consequences of managerial decisions on operations, marketing, etc.

Sep 28th 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.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
La Disrupción del Blockchain (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Austral

La Disrupción del Blockchain (Coursera)

Muchas personas ya conocen al bitcoin, la moneda digital que en pocos años pasó de valer unos pocos centavos a miles de dólares. Pero esto es sólo la punta del iceberg de un fenómeno mucho más grande. El blockchain, la tecnología en la que se basa el bitcoin, tiene el potencial de disrumpir los negocios, las finanzas, las leyes y hasta los gobiernos.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Kit básico (para evitar los errores más frecuentes) de finanzas (Coursera) Coursera
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Kit básico (para evitar los errores más frecuentes) de finanzas (Coursera)

Cambia tu percepción de las finanzas personales y evita ser víctima del abuso financiero y de tus propios sesgos conductuales. En el ámbito de las finanzas personales más importante que conocer cómo se calcula la prima de una opción o cómo se negocia en el mercado Forex es, por ejemplo, saber confeccionar un presupuesto familiar y sobre todo tener la voluntad de utilizarlo.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks