Best Free MOOCs In Business For June

Accounting for Business Decision Making: Measurement and Operational Decisions

School: University of Illinois

Platform: Coursera

Registration Link: CLICK HERE

Start Date: June 2016 (4 Weeks Long)

Workload: 2-4 Hours Per Week

Instructor: Gary Hecht

Credentials: A respected researcher and teacher, Hecht is an associate professor of accountancy at the University of Illinois, where he teaches at the undergraduate, MBA, and PH.D. levels. A practitioner and an academic, Hecht worked in auditing and taxation, financial analysis, and consulting for ten years before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois. From there, he taught at Emory University and the University of Wisconsin before returning to Champaign in 2013. His recent research, which focuses on compensation and performance measurements, has been published by The Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, and Contemporary Accounting Research. Most recently, Hecht was listed among the school’s professors ranked as “Excellent” by their students.

Graded: Students can choose to explore course videos, discussions, and ungraded assignments for free, but they won’t be able to submit graded assignments, earn a certificate, or complete a specialization without paying a $79 fee per course.

Description: On the surface, accounting seems like a stream of archaic rules designed to promote consistency and accuracy. In reality, it is far more than statements reflecting credits and debits and whether revenue exceeds expenses. Instead, it is a language used to measure the health of an organization and communicate it to the market. Beyond gauging overall performance, accounting acts as a compass that points out profit centers and inefficiencies, along with identifying where to invest and how to project future performance.

This course focuses on the “three decision-oriented roles of accounting: measurement, control, and communication.”  After completing the course, students will be able to “identify the nature, purpose, and importance of different types of decision-useful accounting information; create, organize, and communicate cost information to best suit common operational decisions; and use accounting information to manage products, control costs, and leverage other drivers of operational success.”

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Additional Background: This course is part of the University of Illinois’ “Fundamentals of Accounting” specialization, Wharton’s, a five course series that also covers financial statements for company performance and positioning and how accounting impacts strategy assessment and control. To learn more about this specialization and register for it, click here.