Discover how to prepare, interpret and analyze your company’s financial statements.
Format: Online
Duration: 8 weeks
In ACCT 5501 Introduction to Financial Accounting, you will examine the individual line items of financial statements, and assessed as a collective, begin to see how this document paints a comprehensive picture of a company’s financial year. You will analyze cash flow statements and income statements in the same manner. Throughout the course, you will understand how the concepts of recognition, valuation, and classification occur in financial transactions and why they are vital to ensure ethical financial reporting.
Inventory can present an accounting challenge as it can change on a daily basis. You will learn systems and tools related to inventory accounting. Cash assets can be volatile and you will evaluate the internal controls that can secure an organization’s cash and assets to prevent fraud. Accounts receivable are tracked using ratios that include receivable turnover and day’s sales uncollected. You will come to understand these ratios as well as the principles of sound accounts receivable management.
What You Will Learn in ACCT 5501
Equipment, facilities and other large investments are considered long-term assets. As you consider both tangible and intangible assets, you will see how to allocate the costs, calculate depreciation, and generate revenue from a company’s assets. A more indirect form of income generation is the reporting of corporate liabilities. The interest on liabilities, i.e., loans and other forms of debt, can reduce a company’s tax exposure. That in effect, diverts money that would otherwise go to pay taxes back to the company. You will see how to analyze both short- and long-term corporate liabilities.
Sample Assignment
Working on a team, you will compare and contrast the annual reports of two competing companies, resulting in a thoroughly researched seven- to 12-page report.
Corporations owned by shareholders rely on the balance sheet to report performance. By analyzing stockholder equity, you will learn how that performance translates to dividend payments, as well as what rights shareholders have. You will appreciate how corporate financial statements that meet Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) standards reveal corporate achievements, asset quality, resources, opportunities and the capability level of management.
Course Topics
Throughout this course, weekly topics may include but are not limited to:
- Introduction to Financial Statements and Financial Reporting
- Accrual Accounting Concepts and Operating Decisions and Adjustments
- Analyzing Inventory
- Cash, AR, Internal Controls and Identifying Fraudulent Activities
- Reporting and Analyzing Long Lived Assets
- Reporting and Analyzing Liabilities
- Reporting and Analyzing Stockholder's Equity
- Financial Analysis: The Big Picture
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of ACCT 5501, you will be able to:
- Explain fundamental accounting concepts and accounting terminology.
- Apply GAAP in preparation of the four primary financial statements.
- Apply and interpret appropriate liquidity, solvency, profitability and management efficiency ratios in order to interpret financial statements.
- Describe the importance of financial statement disclosures and apply these disclosures to explain related changes in the financial statements.
- Argue ethical issues related to financial statement presentation and judge the responsibility of management.
Request More Information Today
To learn more about the online Master of Business Administration curriculum from Benedictine University, including Financial Accounting, call (866) 295-3104 to speak with a program manager or request more information.
Course content and outcomes may vary and are subject to change without notice.