Free Online Financial Accounting Courses & Tutorials

Overview of Free Online Financial Accounting Courses & Tutorials

Financial accounting courses from beginner level to more advanced levels are available online for free. You can learn about a wide range of topics, including the basics of financial accounting in Excel, practical applications, and financial theories. Most courses contain instructional videos as well as practice exercises and assignments. Some courses operate as part of larger programs, such as online MBAs, but many can be audited for free. Free courses do not typically come with any certifications.

Corporate Finance Institute

The CFI provides various online trainings and certifications. One of their beginner courses, Accounting Fundamentals, is a free starter course designed to teach students the basics of accounting. The course covers income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, as well as how to create financial statements. In all, the course boasts fifty-nine videos, a few downloads, and an exam. It takes an estimated two hours to complete the course. Students who complete this course have the option of paying tuition to subscribe to CFI's certification program.

Vanderbilt University on Coursera

Vanderbilt's course titled Financial Accounting Toolkit for Decision Making is geared towards students who want to learn both the practical applications of accounting as well as the underlying theories. Course topics include financial performance evaluation, financial theory, asset value, investment evaluations, and risk estimations. One of the main end goals of the course is to help students understand how to make better decisions by utilizing financial principles. The suggested timeframe for this course is four to five hours of study over four weeks.

Udemy

Taught by a CPA and industry expert, Udemy's Financial Accounting in Excel walks students through using Excel for journal entries, general ledger work, and financial statement creation. The course is meant for everyone from accounting students to business owners, and aims to break down its topics into easily understandable exercises. With the instructional videos, students also receive Excel worksheets as well as the completed answers to check their work. The course includes two hours of videos and can be completed at each student's own pace.

University of Illinois on Coursera

The University of Illinois' Financial Accounting: Advanced Topics course is designed for those who want to take their knowledge to the next level. The goals of this course are to teach students to account for fixed assets, account for liabilities, provide evaluations for shareholders, and to prepare cash flow statements. While this course is part of the university's paid online MBA program, it can be audited for free on its own. Four to six hours of study for four weeks is the suggested pace for this course.

University of Alaska - Anchorage

The University of Alaska offers Principles of Financial Accounting on its own website, where students can freely browse the course syllabus, materials, homework, and exams. The course is focused on beginners and covers everything students must know in order to build a strong foundation in accounting. Like a traditional college course, a textbook that is not provided on the website is required in order to get the most out of this course.