Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Foundations (Coursera)

Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Foundations (Coursera)

This course aims at assisting you in interpreting financial accounting information related to inter-corporate investments. The course will cover three main topics over four modules: (i) accounting for passive, significant influence, and control type of inter-corporate investments, (ii) special issues and considerations in inter-corporate investments, and (iii) special types of inter-corporate investments.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

The course will be useful for students to understand complex organizational structures through the lens of financial accounting information and will benefit investors, analysts, bankers, consultants, managers, and any deal-makers.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Orientation
Introduction to Inter-Corporate Investments
Mergers, acquisitions, and other complex transactions (e.g., spin-offs, carve-outs, leveraged buyouts, and recapitalizations) drastically alter firms’ financial statements. In this module, you will explore main types of equity investments and learn accounting for passive and significant type of investments.

WEEK 2
Control Type of Investments
Investments between 50% and 100% give the acquirer firm control over the target firm for all operational and financial decisions of the target firm. These investments are accounted for using consolidation. In this module, you will explore accounting for consolidation

WEEK 3
Special Considerations in Inter-Corporate Investment
There are various special issues in mergers and acquisitions. In this module, you will explore some common special considerations in mergers and acquisitions including definition of business, identifying the acquirer firm, bargain purchase, acquisition related costs, and earnouts.

WEEK 4
Module 4: Special Types of Acquisitions
There are various ways to conduct mergers and acquisitions. In this module, you will explore reverse acquisitions, step acquisitions, and accounting for deconsolidations.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Accounting Analysis I: The Role of Accounting as an Information System (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Accounting Analysis I: The Role of Accounting as an Information System (Coursera)

This course is the first course in a five-course Financial Reporting Specialization that covers the collection, processing, and communication of accounting information (via financial reports) about economic entities to interested parties (i.e., managers and external stakeholders such as stockholders and creditors).

Nov 9th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Governmental Accounting and Reporting I (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Governmental Accounting and Reporting I (Coursera)

Building on the fundamentals, these modules dive into specific aspects of governmental and nonprofit accounting. You'll learn about constructing the required financial statements, including the statements for the government-wide as well as fund financial statements. You’ll also learn in great detail the difference between the three categories of funds : Governmental Funds, Proprietary Funds, and Fiduciary Funds. These modules provide in-depth knowledge of accounting practices and financial reporting for government and nonprofit entities.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera) Coursera
University of Pennsylvania

Introduction to Financial Accounting (Coursera)

Master the technical skills needed to analyze financial statements and disclosures for use in financial analysis, and learn how accounting standards and managerial incentives affect the financial reporting process. By the end of this course, 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.

Nov 16th 2026
4 Weeks
Management and financial accounting: Know your numbers 1 (Coursera) Coursera
Macquarie University

Management and financial accounting: Know your numbers 1 (Coursera)

Financial literacy is a fundamental capability for any business leader, whether you are running your own small business/start-up or working at a large organisation. This course will provide you with a sound foundational understanding of financial and management accounting, and how to use accounting to facilitate and align decisions made by owners, managers and employees.

Nov 16th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Completing the Accounting Cycle (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Completing the Accounting Cycle (Coursera)

Students prepare statements relevant to year end accounting processes synthesizing what they have learned in the previous two courses. Specific topics include adjusting entries, closing entries (with a focus on the adjustment to retained earnings), the preparation of an income statement, retained earnings statement, and a balance sheet, and the procedure for recording the four closing entries. Students will also learn how to prepare the post-closing trial balance.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Managerial Accounting: Tools for Facilitating and Guiding Business Decisions (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Managerial Accounting: Tools for Facilitating and Guiding Business Decisions (Coursera)

In this course, you will explore how to use accounting to allocate resources and incentivize manager and employee behaviors in using these resources. You will also learn how financial and non-financial accounting information facilitates strategic performance measurement and how to integrate this information to continuously improve strategy.

Oct 26th 2026
4 Weeks
Accounting Analytics (Coursera) Coursera
University of Pennsylvania

Accounting Analytics (Coursera)

Accounting Analytics explores how financial statement data and non-financial metrics can be linked to financial performance. In this course, taught by Wharton’s acclaimed accounting professors, you’ll learn how data is used to assess what drives financial performance and to forecast future financial scenarios. While many accounting and financial organizations deliver data, accounting analytics deploys that data to deliver insight, and this course will explore the many areas in which accounting data provides insight into other business areas including consumer behavior predictions, corporate strategy, risk management, optimization, and more.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Making the Case for Robotic Process Automation (Coursera) Coursera
Association of International Certified Professional Accountants - AICPA

Making the Case for Robotic Process Automation (Coursera)

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is reshaping the accounting and finance profession. 40% of transactional accounting work is expected to be automated by 2020 and predicted to touch 230 million knowledge workers, 9% of the global workforce, according to McKinsey Research. Driven by the need to stay competitive, decrease costs and increase efficiency, RPA is quickly making a significant impact on the profession. Companies no longer think about "if" but "when" to implement RPA.

Nov 2nd 2026
2 Weeks
What is Financial Accounting? (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

What is Financial Accounting? (Coursera)

Students are introduced to the field of financial accounting through defining the foundational activities, tools, and users of financial accounting. Students learn to use the accounting equation and are introduced to the four major financial statements. Additional topics include ethical considerations, recording business transactions, and the application of credit/debit rules.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Introduction to Accounting Data Analytics and Visualization (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Introduction to Accounting Data Analytics and Visualization (Coursera)

Accounting has always been about analytical thinking. From the earliest days of the profession, Luca Pacioli emphasized the importance of math and order for analyzing business transactions. The skillset that accountants have needed to perform math and to keep order has evolved from pencil and paper, to typewriters and calculators, then to spreadsheets and accounting software. A new skillset that is becoming more important for nearly every aspect of business is that of big data analytics: analyzing large amounts of data to find actionable insights. This course is designed to help accounting students develop an analytical mindset and prepare them to use data analytic programming languages like Python and R.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Finance for Non-Financial Professionals (Coursera)

Impact your financial decisions and learn how to affect the performance of your unit's profitability and of your organization. In this course gain a basic understanding of finance and accounting concepts to drive your organization's growth. Upon completion of this course, you will have gained general financial knowledge and an in-depth understanding of the impact of your decisions outside your functional area. Content of the course includes selected aspects of finance from a non-financial specialist perspective. Specific topics include: financial analysis; planning, forecasting, and budgeting; cash flow, and strategic financing. This class will be interactive and will require the active involvement of the participants in finance related activities.

Oct 26th 2026
4 Weeks
Financial Statements, SEC Filings and Ratio Analysis (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Financial Statements, SEC Filings and Ratio Analysis (Coursera)

The objective of Financial Statement and Ratio Analysis for MBAs is to provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to analyze, interpret, understand, and use financial information to make informed decisions. We will discuss financial reporting from a user’s perspective, use a variety of tools to break apart financial reports into meaningful units for analysis, forecast financial statements, and value a firm. This course is intended to give you exposure to the issues facing users of financial statements.

Nov 16th 2026
4 Weeks