Managerial Accounting: Cost Behaviors, Systems, and Analysis (Coursera)

Managerial Accounting: Cost Behaviors, Systems, and Analysis (Coursera)

In this course, you will learn how to use accounting to facilitate and align decisions made by owners, managers, and employees. You will learn how accountants create, organize, interpret, and communicate information that improves internal processes, and allows organizations to identify and leverage opportunities to create value within the supply chain and with customers.

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

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
• Understand what managerial accounting is and why it is important.
• Describe fundamental concepts of managerial accounting.
• Apply the financial perspective of accounting for costs.
• Identify problems associated with relying on financial accounting information for internal decision making.
• Organize cost information according to the decision-making needs of the organization.
• Apply activity-based costing (ABC) and recognize the influence of setting and decision characteristics on the relevance of ABC systems.
• Address common "what-if" questions using cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.
• Apply CVP analysis in a variety of scenarios.
Course 1 of 7 in the Value Chain Management Specialization.

Syllabus

Week 1
Course Overview and Introduction to Managerial Accounting
In this module, you will become familiar with the course, your instructor, your classmates, and our learning environment. Then, you will be introduced to Managerial Accounting and Costing Concepts.

Week 2
Costing Systems I - Elements and Design
Organizations can organize cost information however best suits their decisions. In this module, we introduce the role of costing systems, identify some example systems and settings in which they are most useful, and explore how accounting for overhead costs influences the value of cost information.

Week 3
Costing Systems II - Activity-Based Costing
Activity-based costing systems adopt a more refined view of the organization, and can increase the accuracy of cost information. In this module, we introduce the fundamentals of activity-based costing systems, identify related advantages and disadvantages, and demonstrate how such systems are implemented using an in-depth example.

Week 4
Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) Analysis
Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis is the tool that managers can use to better understand the answers to "what-if" questions in order to make better decisions for their companies. In this module you will explore the power of CVP analysis

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

Related Courses

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.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
Principles of Sustainable Finance (Coursera) Coursera
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Principles of Sustainable Finance (Coursera)

Finance is widely seen as an obstacle to a better world. Principles of Sustainable Finance explains how the financial sector can be mobilized to counter this. Using finance as a means to achieve social goals we can divert the planet and its economy from its current path to a world that is sustainable for all. Throughout this course, you will learn about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, how social and environmental factors should not be regarded as externalities, you will learn more about sustainable banking and asset management, about effective engagement, sustainable scenario analysis and long-term value creation.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Beyond the Financials: Insights, Analysis and Valuations (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Beyond the Financials: Insights, Analysis and Valuations (Coursera)

The objective of this course 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. You will better understand your role in the financial reporting process if you know how the financial statements will ultimately be used.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Finance For Everyone: Value (Coursera) Coursera
McMaster University

Finance For Everyone: Value (Coursera)

In Value, you will explore the most powerful generator of value in the world – ideas. Ideas are the engines of productivity, both in the private and public sectors. You will learn about the universal frameworks that determine how ideas and money interact, leading to the allocation of financial resources. We will identify components of cash flow for any project, business or venture as the most essential ingredients of value. We also assess the investment techniques used to give life to some ideas while killing others.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Financing and Investing in Infrastructure (Coursera) Coursera
Università Bocconi

Financing and Investing in Infrastructure (Coursera)

Learn how debt and equity can be used to finance infrastructure investments and how investors approach infrastructure investments. The course focuses on how private investors approach infrastructure projects from the standpoint of equity, debt, and hybrid instruments. The course concentrates on the practical aspects of project finance: the most frequently used financial techniques for infrastructure investments. The repeated use of real life examples and case studies will allow students to link the theoretical background to actual business practices.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
How to finance your venture ? (Coursera) Coursera
École Polytechnique

How to finance your venture ? (Coursera)

The course aims at providing knowledge and experience to entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs generally start with a mission, a new idea that they want to bring to the world. If the idea is original, it is probably not expected by the market, which has to be educated. This is a very costly experience. Entrepreneurs need to gather capital at the start of the journey.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Matemáticas financieras (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Matemáticas financieras (Coursera)

En el curso matemáticas financieras se explica la relación que tiene el dinero y su valor a través del tiempo. Se abordan los temas de interés simple, interés compuesto, anualidades, perpetuidades, amortizaciones, valor presente y valor futuro, todos ellos elementos básicos que el administrador financiero deberá aplicar en los análisis de opciones de inversión o financiamiento.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Finance for Everyone: Decisions (Coursera) Coursera
McMaster University

Finance for Everyone: Decisions (Coursera)

Finance for Everyone: Decisions will introduce you to the workings of the free markets and the foundations of finance. You will learn how free markets and their “creative destruction” provide the architecture for the global economy and how those same markets move money in ways that create and destroy wealth. Your financial toolkit will include timeless concepts like compounding, discounting, annuities, effective interest rates, and more.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Fundamentals of financial and management accounting (Coursera) Coursera
Politecnico di Milano

Fundamentals of financial and management accounting (Coursera)

This is an introductory course on financial and management accounting. The first part of this course will introduce the basic accounting principles and accounting terminology to understand how a company keeps control of financial events and provides information on how it is performing. These basic concepts will support the analysis of financial reports companies prepare. We will go through balance sheet, income statement, financial statement, learning how to read and analyze them.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Alternative Approaches to Valuation and Investment (Coursera) Coursera
University of Melbourne

Alternative Approaches to Valuation and Investment (Coursera)

In this course, participants will develop an understanding of the intuitive foundations of asset and investment valuation, and how alternative valuation techniques may be used in practice. This is part of a Specialization in corporate finance created in partnership between the University of Melbourne and Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon).

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
Finance for Everyone: Markets (Coursera) Coursera
McMaster University

Finance for Everyone: Markets (Coursera)

Markets begins with one of the most common and important elements of the financial system – interest rates. You will learn why interest rates have always been a key barometer in determining the value of everything. You will explore the changing influence of interest rates; the impact of interest rates on consumption, investment and economic growth; and the bizarre realities of negative interest rates. Markets explains how interest rates change the value of all financial instruments, highlighting the role of the bond and stock markets that have toppled empires

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks