Financial Accounting: Advanced Topics from Coursera

In this course, you will explore advanced topics in financial accounting. You will start your journey with accounting for assets with more than one-year life. You will learn in detail how firms account for fixed assets. You will then move to financing of assets and discuss accounting for liabilities. The course will continue with an in-depth exploration of shareholders’ equity. Finally, you will critically evaluate preparation, components, and analysis of cash flows statement.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Account for fixed assets

• Understand accounting for liabilities

• Evaluate shareholders’ equity section of a balance sheet

• Understand preparation and information provided by cash flows statement

This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.

What's inside

Syllabus

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: Long-Term Assets

Long-term assets, assets that can be converted into cash in a time period of more than one year, constitute a large portion of a balance sheet for a lot of public companies. Understanding accounting for long-term assets will help you uncover how these accounts change over time, their valuation, and their usefulness in managerial decision making.

Module 2: Liabilities

One of the major sources of financing for many firms is liabilities. Firms routinely finance their operations through various liabilities including accounts payables, bank loans, and bonds. Accounting for liabilities will help you understand how liabilities are created, how they are valued, how they inform about a firm’s liquidity position.

Module 3: Shareholders’ Equity

One of the major sources of financing for many firms is contributions from shareholders. The shareholders’ equity section of a balance sheet shows details of investments of shareholders. Accounting for shareholders’ equity will help you understand the amount of shareholder investment, the number of shares issued in return by the firm for shareholders, the amount of earnings earned by the firm but not distributed to shareholders, and information about the amount of shares repurchased by the firm from the stock market.

Module 4: Cash Flows Statement

One of the major financial statements is cash flows statement. This statement describes in detail how cash changes for a firm over a certain period. Cash flows statement provides valuable information about liquidity position of a firm, cash consequences of managerial operating and investing decisions, as well as earnings quality of a firm.

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Develops topics fundamental to understanding financial accounting

Covers advanced financial accounting topics

Examines accounting for long-term assets, liabilities, shareholders' equity, and cash flows

Offered by the University of Illinois, an accredited institution

May require learners to have a foundation in basic accounting principles

Part of the iMBA program, which is a comprehensive online MBA

Reviews summary

Practical financial accounting: advanced topics

Students of Financial Accounting: Advanced Topics say that the course is engaging and provides an in-depth overview of advanced accounting concepts with insightful case studies and practice materials. Learners also widely agree that Professor Oktay Urcan is an excellent instructor who is highly knowledgeable, passionate, and supportive. Overall, this course is highly recommended for individuals interested in enriching their understanding of financial accounting at an advanced level.

While the course covers advanced topics, students generally agree that the content is well-paced and manageable for those with some prior accounting knowledge.

"After learning this course, i am able to construct any cash flow statement. Loved it!"

"It was too informative subject for me.I learned alot..."

"Valuable course and every concepts are explained with good examples ."

"This course was as intresting as previouse one. IMHO you shoudn`t split cousres about financil accounting in foundations and advanced levels because they are two parts of a whole."

"Great course on financial accounting. Concepts were explained precisely and the appropriate examples and case studies were helpful to work with the actual data. Highly suggested course."

Students widely agree that this course is of high quality and provides a comprehensive understanding of advanced accounting topics.

"This course provides learners a comprehensive understanding of Advanced Topics in Financial Accounting."

"Excellent course, very informative and I can now apply the skills I have learnt."

"Fantastic Course by Prof.Oktay and has nailed it thorough on this financial Accounting and pre-requisite courses for this specific course."

"Great course, great topics, great presentations and great instructor, really clear in his explantations and always using examples to make it easier to understand.Really good materials too!"

"It is an excellent course where we deepen the financial statements, with a simple and easy to understand language. Where by means of the use of cases we see how they are applied in the companies"

The course heavily emphasizes practical learning through case studies, examples, and quizzes, which helps students apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios.

"provided real life accounting examples. very interesting class. excellent professor. he makes the class fun to listen and learn"

"Great overview of key topics with extensive practice using study cases that represent daily activities related to financial accounting."

"The Professor for this course, Oktay Urcan is an incredible guide and motivator. His course layout and extra assignments help a long way in the understanding the course better."

"Thanks to professor Oktay, though I have no background in accounting, the course was very helpful to understand the accounting principles covering advanced topics and concepts."

"This course was as intresting as previouse one. IMHO you shoudn`t split cousres about financil accounting in foundations and advanced levels because they are two parts of a whole."

Professor Oktay Urcan is consistently praised by students for his excellent teaching skills, in-depth knowledge, and enthusiasm for teaching accounting.

"Excellent professor. Explained all the concepts really well. The pace and content of course are perfect!"

"The Professor for this course, Oktay Urcan is an incredible guide and motivator. His course layout and extra assignments help a long way in the understanding the course better."

"Thanks to professor Oktay, though I have no background in accounting, the course was very helpful to understand the accounting principles covering advanced topics and concepts."

"I am very satisfied with the knowledge acquired, and optimistic about the future impact on the quality and quantity of learning. In addition, I thank the Professor for his friendliness, competence and good humor, which made the days of the Course a very pleasant experience. ""

"This course provides learners a comprehensive understanding of Advanced Topics in Financial Accounting. The cases are practical and helpful in the real life. I would like to say thanks a lot to the instructor, Associate Professor Urcan, and Coursera for the excellent connection over the world."

Some students have mentioned that the grading can be subjective in the peer-review assignments and that the course can be overloaded with information.

"Giving 4 only because of peer-review assignment. There is not enough people to provide timely reviews - you have to ask people to give you a review in the forum and wait well past deadline. Subjective grades for the short-essay can skew your otherwise perfect score for quizzes - which doesn't really make sense for learning accounting. If you used to cry because of Bs in high school - this will tickle your inner child in wrong places. This course gave me my first non-100% grade on coursera ever and thus it left sour taste xD"

"Overall a good course but I think it is quite overloaded with information that is not necessairly practical for MBA students . Also a lot of the naunces would not stick after the course is over with. Perhaps, this would have been a good class for accounting majors. Most videos are merely reading through the slides with not much added insghts or examples. Wish this course was less crammed with detailed information and more insightful instead."

Career center

Learners who complete Financial Accounting: Advanced Topics will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Auditor

An Auditor may be responsible for examining an organization's financial statements, including assets, liabilities, and cash flows, and determining whether they accurately reflect the organization's financial position. This course provides a foundation in accounting for all three. Additionally, this course can help prepare you for the CPA exam, a common certification for Auditors.

See salaries and explore the career path for Auditor

Accountant

An Accountant may be responsible for ensuring that all financial transactions are recorded accurately, including assets, liabilities, and cash flows. Understanding how to account for these items is vital for an Accountant, which this course provides training in.

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Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

A Chief Financial Officer (CFO) may be responsible for overseeing all financial aspects of a company, including assets, liabilities, and cash flows.

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Controller

A Controller may be responsible for managing the accounting and financial reporting of a company, which includes assets, liabilities, and cash flows.

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Corporate Treasurer

A Corporate Treasurer may be responsible for managing the financial resources of a company, including assets, liabilities, and cash flows.

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Financial Analyst

A Financial Analyst may be responsible for conducting financial analysis on a company's assets, liabilities, and cash flow. This course builds a foundation in accounting for assets, liabilities, and cash flows, which are crucial to this role.

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Investment Banker

An Investment Banker may be responsible for advising companies on financial matters, including how to manage assets and liabilities.

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Financial Manager

A Financial Manager may be responsible for overseeing the financial operations of a company, including assets, liabilities, and cash flows.

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Quantitative Analyst

A Quantitative Analyst may be responsible for using mathematical and statistical models to analyze financial data, which may involve assets, liabilities, and cash flows.

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Tax Accountant

A Tax Accountant may be responsible for calculating and filing taxes for individuals or businesses. Understanding how to account for assets, liabilities, and cash flows can be very helpful in this role.

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Actuary

An Actuary may be responsible for assessing and managing financial risks, especially in the insurance industry, which may involve assets, liabilities, and cash flows.

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Risk Manager

A Risk Manager may be responsible for identifying and managing financial risks, which may involve assets, liabilities, and cash flows

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Budget Analyst

A Budget Analyst may be responsible for creating and maintaining budgets, which involve understanding cash flows and having an eye for assets and liabilities.

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Financial Advisor

A Financial Advisor may be responsible for providing financial advice to individuals and businesses, including how to manage assets and liabilities.

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Commercial Banker

A Commercial Banker may be responsible for providing financial services to businesses, including lending money, which requires an understanding of assets, liabilities, and cash flows.

See salaries and explore the career path for Commercial Banker