best online accounting courses

Best Online Accounting Courses

Accounting is one of the most exciting yet most complex aspects of business studies or education. Without accounting, however, any business will be handicapped. So if you are looking to pursue an MBA or are interested in an entrepreneurial venture, some basic knowledge of accounting is an absolute must. The following are some of the best online courses for accounting. The courses go over different aspects of accounting. Most of the courses can be enrolled into for free but if you want to avail the certificate, a certain fee is required. Some of the Coursera courses also offer financial aid.

Top 7 Best Online Accounting Courses

These are the best online courses for accounting, all thoroughly reviewed to ensure that you find the perfect one for your needs and skill level. Let’s take a look!

Financial Accounting Fundamentals – University of Virginia

best online courses for accountingFinancial Accounting Fundamentals is one of the best online courses for accounting. The course is offered by the University of Virginia and is a 100% online course. The course entails concise videos which will guide you through the fundamentals of financial accounting.

This is a beginner-level course and it takes approximately 19 hours to complete. By the end of the course, you will be able to use journal entries to record transactions, read balance sheets, prepare financial statements, etc. You should be able to understand a company’s financial health by picking up the skills this course imparts. You can enroll in the course for free

Sign up for the course here.


Introduction to Financial Accounting – Wharton Online

Introduction to Financial Accounting, offered by Wharton Online University is, again, one of the best online courses for accounting. This course will take you through the basics of how accounting standards and incentives offered by the management transforms the financial reporting structure. The course takes approximately 17 hours to complete. At the end of the course, you should be able to read income statements, balance sheets and statement of cash flows with ease. The course is the second of six in the Wharton Business Foundations Specialization. You can enroll in the course for free.

Sign up for the course here.


More Introduction to Financial Accounting – Wharton University of Pennsylvania

More Introduction to Financial Accounting, as the name suggests, explores the basic introductory curriculum even further. The course builds on the Introduction to Financial Accounting course mentioned above. The course will enable you to read, comprehend and analyze all the complex and cryptic information that comprise of financial statements provided by companies. This course is also offered 100% online and takes approximately 33 hours to complete. You can enroll in the course for free.

Sign up for the course here.


Fundamentals of Accounting Specialization – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The Fundamentals of Accounting Specialization is an online course offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The course deems accounting to be the “language of business”. Through this course, you will be able to get a firmer grasp on managerial reports and how to deconstruct them to comment on the financial health of a company. The course will equip you with the skills to analyze the information provided in financial reports to make crucial business decisions.

This is a beginner-level course that is delivered completely online. The course takes approximately eight months to complete. The course is ideal for managers and entrepreneurs. You can enroll in the course for free.

Sign up for the course here.


Financial Accounting: Foundations – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Financial Accounting: Foundations is another online course offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The course will teach you to code financial transactions in the appropriate financial accounting language. It will also make you well versed with accrual accounting, one of the most important concepts in contemporary financial accounting. You will learn how firms recognize revenues and in turn, you will be able to finish the course by learning how to analyze the accounting or short-term assets.

The course takes approximately 14 hours to complete and is a fully online course. At the end of the course, you should be able to write financial transactions, understand the main financial statements, be well versed with accrual accounting and fundamental accounting concepts, among other things. The course is a part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois.

Sign up for the course here.


Accounting Analytics – Wharton Online

Accounting Analytics is another example of one of the best online courses for accounting. The course, offered by the Wharton Online University again, explores various elements related to accounting can affect financial performance. You will be able to see how data is used and analyzed to assess what affects financial performance. The reading of this data will also allow you to plan ahead for future financial decisions. The main crux of this course is to acquaint you with how financial data and non-financial data interact with each other in order to create strategies, forecast future financial scenarios and deploy appropriate operations.

This is course four out of five in the Wharton Business Analytics Specialization. The course takes approximately 14 hours to complete.

Sign up for the course here.


Accounting Essentials – Imperial College, London

The Accounting Essentials course offered by Imperial College, London is a great refresher for those applying for MBAs. This is a course that will take you through foundational accounting skills that will come in handy while pursuing an MBA and then in the business world afterward. You will learn about the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement. The course will equip you with the skills to read and analyze the data provided in these statements.

This is a beginner-level course and does not require any prior knowledge and takes approximately 3-5 weeks to complete. You can enroll in the course for free.

Sign up for the course here.


Final Thoughts

The courses that have been mentioned above are some of the best online courses for accounting. The courses are meant to take you through the basic principles of accounting and also equip you to read and make sense of complex financial statements. You will be able to deconstruct crucial statements like balance sheets, income statements and statement of cash flows. These are all aspects of accounting that pretty much make up the basics. Some of the courses take it a notch higher and require you to have also completed earlier courses. But on the whole, the above-curated list offers some of the best online courses.

If you want to discover more learning opportunities, then be sure to take a look at our list of the best online courses. Thanks for reading and as always, have a great day!

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