Nobody working in business can afford financial illiteracy. Whether you run your own business, work as a manager, or are just starting your career, you want to understand financial information and be able to interact with accountants, controllers, and financial managers, you need at least a basic knowledge of accounting.
In this article, we have put together the best online accounting classes for beginners and professionals in the game. These online accounting classes break the time and convenience barrier as they are highly flexible. See the table below for a quick view of what this post contains.
Accounting is one of the key functions of almost any business. As a highly practical field, there is every reason to master the act and stay acquainted with the latest accounting practices, which can be done through online accounting courses.
Table of contents
- Can I Take Accounting Classes Online?
- Why Should I Take An Accounting Course Online?
- 10 Best Online Accounting Classes For Beginners & Advanced
- #1 Managerial Accounting and Corporate Control – edX
- #2 Accounting: Principles of Accounting – Coursera
- #3 Accounting for the Lean Enterprise – Kaplan
- #4 Financial Accounting – Harvard Business School
- #5 Introduction to Financial Accounting – Coursera
- #6 Accounting Essentials – edX
- #7 Financial Accounting Fundamentals – Coursera
- #8 MicroMasters® Program in Accounting – edX
- #9 Introduction to Finance, Accounting, Modeling, and Valuation – Udemy
- #10 The Complete Financial Analyst Course 2023 – Udemy
- FAQs On Best Online Accounting Classes For Beginners & Advance
- Conclusion
- References
- We Also Recommend
SEE ALSO: 20 Best LPN Classes Online In 2023 | Paid & Free
Can I Take Accounting Classes Online?
A good number of online e-learning platforms offer online accounting classes to learners all over the world. These classes come in the form of video lessons, illustrations, articles, downloadable resources, and all. Most online accounting classes are flexible. This means you can complete the course at your own pace. However, suppose you’re enrolled in a formal degree or certificate program with a university. In that case, you must complete the materials in a specified time frame (e.g., by specific due dates and within a specific quarter or semester).
Why Should I Take An Accounting Course Online?
By enrolling in online accounting courses, you will have access to and be taught by top professionals, CFOs, budget directors, fraud managers, auditors, accounting professors, and more. They bring their professional experience to the classroom, so you’ll learn everything from basic accounting principles to the latest practical skills you need to help businesses succeed.
In addition to the knowledge benefit, studying accounting online gives you the flexibility to alternate between your work, family, and study life.
Therefore, online accounting courses will help you gain the accounting knowledge necessary to succeed in your career. Business owners, entrepreneurs, and managers can take online accounting classes to help them better manage their companies. Individuals preparing for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam will find an online accounting class highly beneficial. An online accounting class can help you fill skill gaps and advance your career.
10 Best Online Accounting Classes For Beginners & Advanced
Our list of best accounting classes online for beginners and advanced learners was carefully selected based on ratings, cost, and course outline.
#1 Managerial Accounting and Corporate Control – edX
Cost: FREE
This course teaches you how to prepare and analyze accounting information to make complex business decisions. The online accounting class teaches learners how to prepare and analyze accounting information for internal decisions. In particular, the course will highlight how internal accounting information is necessary for making complex business decisions.
Students enrolled in this course will learn to prepare basic financial statements (e.g., balance sheets and income statements). In addition to that, they will understand how direct and overhead costs influence inventory and the cost of goods sold.
#2 Accounting: Principles of Accounting – Coursera
COST: FREE
This course will provide you with the accounting language’s essentials. Upon completion, you should be able to read and interpret financial statements for business diagnosis and decision-making. More importantly, you will possess the conceptual base to learn more sophisticated accounting and finance independently.
All the topics in this course were carefully expected with illustrative details.
#3 Accounting for the Lean Enterprise – Kaplan
Cost: $49.90
This course provides an overview of accounting for the lean enterprise. This includes a discussion of lean thinking, how to implement lean, and kaizen. It also addresses the various costing methods, dysfunctional behavior, value stream costing, and performance measures.
Finally, this online accounting course outlines implementing lean accounting for accounts payable, accounts receivable, and financial statement preparation.
This self-paced course spans 1hr 40mins.
#4 Financial Accounting – Harvard Business School
Cost: $1,600
This online Financial Accounting course will teach you the fundamentals of financial accounting from the ground up. You will learn how to prepare a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement, analyze financial statements and calculate and interpret critical ratios. You will also learn the role of managerial judgment in choosing accounting estimates and methods. The course concludes with an introduction to forecasting and valuation.
This online financial Accounting consists of approximately 60 hours of material delivered over eight weeks. You can complete the coursework on your own time while meeting regular deadlines.
#5 Introduction to Financial Accounting – Coursera
Cost: FREE
This course will help you improve the technical skills needed to analyze financial statements and disclosures for financial analysis and learn how accounting standards and managerial incentives affect the financial reporting process.
By the end of this online accounting class, you’ll be able to read the three most common financial statements: the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. Then you can apply these skills to a real-world business challenge as part of the Wharton Business Foundations Specialization.
This easy-to-understand course is taught by a 14-year veteran of Wharton School and a former professor at Harvard Business School, Brian J Bushee.
#6 Accounting Essentials – edX
Cost: FREE
This online accounting course for beginners provides introductory knowledge of financial and management skills needed to succeed in MBA study and business. In the course, you will be introduced to accounting principles and learn about basic financial statements, including the income statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement. You will learn how to read and interpret this information to make informed business decisions.
This course assumes no prior knowledge of accounting. Concepts are explained clearly, and regular activities allow you to practice your skills and improve your confidence.
#7 Financial Accounting Fundamentals – Coursera
Cost: FREE
The University of Virginia offers this online accounting course developed by the Darden School of Business. In this course, you will learn the tools needed to understand the fundamentals of financial accounting.
Here, students learn to prepare the three most commonly used financial statements – the Balance Sheet, the Income Statement, and the Statement of Cash Flows. Additionally, students learn how to record transactions in these statements and how to read & analyze these statements to conclude a company’s financial health.
The course is instructed by Luann J. Lynch, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. We recommend this course to all beginners.
#8 MicroMasters® Program in Accounting – edX
Cost: $1,347.30
This paid accounting course spans nine months. In this course, you will learn about the information firms measure and report in various transactions, events, and arrangements in a balance sheet.
This online accounting course further teaches how to develop and use key internal information such as product, cost allocations, customer profitability, budgets, and planning to execute and control firm strategy. The course covers topics on financial reporting, managerial accounting and corporate control, taxes and decision-making, certificate and credit pathways, and job outlook.
Whether you are a beginner or an advanced person in the accounting field, this course is beneficial.
This course is championed by three professors of accounting from Indiana University.
#9 Introduction to Finance, Accounting, Modeling, and Valuation – Udemy
Cost: $159.99
This course by Chris Haroun is one of the best-selling accounting courses on Udemy. It will help you understand accounting, finance, financial modeling, and valuation from scratch. Also, you will learn to create, analyze and forecast an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
In addition, this course will teach you how to value companies using several different valuation methodologies to come up with target prices for the companies you are analyzing. By the end of this online accounting course, you can analyze financial statements using many different financial ratios/formulas.
The course is full of exercises to complete that help students understand and apply the concepts. Apart from video lectures, there are several reading articles and downloadable resources.
#10 The Complete Financial Analyst Course 2023 – Udemy
This paid online accounting course offered on Udemy is for beginners and advanced professionals. In this course, you will learn how to work comfortably with Microsoft Excel, perform financial statement analysis, professionally build a company spreadsheet, and understand accounting and bookkeeping principles, among other things, in the course outline.
As stated earlier, this course is well suited for beginners as the teaching starts from the basics.
FAQs On Best Online Accounting Classes For Beginners & Advance
Begin your financial accounting education by learning to read and analyze three key financial statements: the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. These documents contain valuable information about your company’s spending, earnings, profit, and overall financial health.
It can take anywhere from two to four years overall to learn. While learning accounting skills, individuals begin with researching and determining the type of program they wish to pursue. Individuals complete accounting, as well as finance, and taxation classes in years two through four.
You’ll Gain An Understanding of Current Events
With a basic understanding of accounting, you can understand what these companies have done wrong and why it matters. You’ll also learn how current events related to finance and accounting might impact your organization and industry.
Having the ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, business needs, reporting deadlines, filing deadlines, and personalities – that’s a hard skill to master.
The cash accounting method is the simplest. When money comes in, revenue is recorded.
Conclusion
Free and paid online accounting courses are great resources. Do well to make the best out of the information provided in this post.
References
- edx.org – Accounting Courses
- thebalancecareers.com – Best Online Accounting Courses
- online.hbs.edu – Finance & Accounting
- udemy.com – Accounting Courses
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