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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Understanding Financial Statements: Company Position by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4.8
stars
1,280 ratings

About the Course

This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of financial statements with an emphasis on the balance sheet. However, to understand accounting driven financial statements, it is important to recognize that accounting is less about counting and more about measuring. “What is it that is being measured?” Well, as the course unfolds, you will learn about the three measurement questions and how the balance sheet helps to answer the first two of these questions. By touring a real company and interviewing real business people, the course describes the basic content of financial statements in a simple yet relevant context. The goal of the course is to leave a lasting impression about what balance sheet consists of and what it reveals. The next course in the Fundamentals of Accounting Specialization completes the conversation by addressing the remaining measurement question. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: • Describe the purpose of a balance sheet. • Define the three components of a balance sheet. • Recognize and understand the meaning of several items typically presented on a balance sheet. • Explain the broader purpose of financial statements and the role of accounting in producing the financial statements. • Read and, to some extent, interpret real-world balance sheets. If you enjoy this business course and are interested in an MBA, consider applying to the iMBA, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price offered by the University of Illinois. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu....

Top reviews

MN

Jan 15, 2024

The course has been an interesting learning journey, getting clarity on what we use financial statements of a company for, to learning it's measurement to get the results of the company position.

CR

Dec 2, 2020

Having worked with accountants for 11 years but only taking a few accounting classes in college, this taught me many things that help me better understand what the accountants are talking about.

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251 - 275 of 300 Reviews for Understanding Financial Statements: Company Position

By S. A

Oct 4, 2021

nil

By Israa H H A Z

Jul 20, 2020

I

By Michael W

Jan 18, 2017

This course focuses entirely on how to read a balance sheet. You will learn the three principal parts of a balance sheet (assets, liabilities, and equity), how they relate to each other, and how they describe the underlying position of the company. This is illustrated by the professor talking to a number of small businesses in the Urbana-Champaign area.

If you have no experience with accounting or finance, this is probably a great place to start. It's a gentle introduction. However, while the focus on local businesses is interesting, a relatively large amount of time is spent learning about these businesses and their owners without necessarily teaching much about accounting or balance sheets in general.

By Raghavendra C

May 4, 2021

The course was a good introduction to the balance sheet. It not only taught how to prepare, use and interpret the balance sheet, but also touched upon the very important aspect of why a balance sheet may be required for anyone looking into. Do go through the suggested readings to further explore on the topics discussed. However, a little more practice examples on how to interpret and compare balance sheets would have helped solidify the understanding, for which I had to research separately online.

By Sanskar V

Oct 19, 2020

The course was very good for understanding basics of financial statements, especially the balance sheet. But the course content/syllabus is too small compared with the time provided for course completion. A person could easily complete this course within a week or two max but the time provided was more than a month. The video lectures were great and very practical as the instructor visits several businesses to help us get a practical understanding of the line items on the balance sheet.

By Marco F

Aug 25, 2016

I think it's a good way to introduce the world of "accounting" but I think videos need to be more specific and I would have appreciated if there was some practical exercise and not only quiz! But all the informations are exposed clearly.

By Sam S

Nov 20, 2016

Thank you for the work and creative idea of presenting the information. I now feel as though I have an idea or overall gist of financial statements, however, I would like to get into the ratios and analysing part of these statements.

By Baghwath G B

Nov 22, 2017

This course explains things in a simple language so that everybody can understand. The faculty is so good . Example videos are also so good and he asks the apt questions , so that the views can understand the concept. Kudos

By Bhargav L S

May 7, 2020

A great course and very well explained with the use of practical exposure, i would recommend it for every finance aspirant out there to learn and it is also very easily, clearly explained by the professor.

By John E S

Mar 25, 2018

Quite good course, but could have been more comprehensive in my opinion. Compared to other Coursera courses I have taken, it did not require so much work.

By Regan R

Oct 15, 2017

Easy to follow, great case studies, thoroughly enjoyable. I do wish my final assignment was graded by a professor in addition to my peers.

By Abdulhadi H M A

Jun 1, 2020

The final score must not depend on the peer grade given but the final GPA must come from the responsible one to have fair final point.

By Janki P

Aug 19, 2020

It would be better if the basics of financial statements were explained a bit more for someone attending the course as a beginner

By Sherry M B

Jul 22, 2020

The music was annoying didn't need it everytime there was a new lesson. Other than that it was a giid review for an accountant.

By Kevin S

Mar 13, 2017

I found this course to be a good introduction to reading a balance sheet, with a lot of personal examples.

By Werner G

Jan 20, 2021

Good basic course. But only the tip of the iceberg in understanding the real position of a company

By Saad Y

Jul 6, 2020

It was very nice and new experience of learning such a great, practical and exposure based course.

By Amit T

May 10, 2020

It was a great learning and got the base set for future understanding and using statements now.

By PRIYA K

Aug 28, 2020

Good course which one can join to understand the basics of financial performance of companies.

By Mark S

Mar 4, 2019

Well done with very easy-to-understand concepts. The presentation was very good.

By Hadish

Jan 18, 2017

It was very very nice.I go forward more steps.I am so glad to take this course.

By Ahmed B

Jul 20, 2017

Excellent course. I have really enjoyed the course.

Thank you Prof.

By Prossie

Dec 20, 2016

I made the right choice when I chose to take on this course

By T.J. I

May 24, 2020

A sound introductory class to reading balance sheets.

By Jessica C B

Dec 8, 2016

I learned so much, and the format was easy to follow.