Accounting for Mergers and Acquisitions: Foundations (Coursera)

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.