Analytical Thinking
This course leads you through a journey on key finance and accounting principles that enable you to understand and interpret financial data and make immediate key financial management decisions in your firm.
It has been said that the language of business is accounting; it is how firms communicate essential information about the business to external stakeholders and tells the story of how an organization operates and competes in the marketplace. Finance interprets that information to make critical business decisions. This Analytical Thinking course leads you through a comprehensive journey of key finance and accounting principles to translate a balance sheet into a management tool.
This course incorporates real examples with a focus on decision-making to help you interpret financials like a P&L owner. You will understand how to measure the value generation process in your firm. By the end of the course, you’ll have developed a toolkit to make and understand key financial decisions at a firm.
Outcomes include:
- Identify the key value drivers in your organization
- Diagnose the current performance of your organization using financial statements
- Build a scorecard to track performance while understanding its tradeoffs
- Learn how to select investment projects at your organization
- Consider how a financial investor would determine the value of your organization
- Explore how the capital markets work and how to evaluate an optimal capital structure
What sets this program apart?
- Live sessions with the professor
- Assessments at the end of the course provide assurance of learning
- Opportunities for group work as well as learning on your own
- Expand your perspective and network by interacting with cross-functional faculty and participants with diverse backgrounds
- Learn from a Financial Times Top 10 global executive education provider
- Director, Senior-Manager, Entrepreneur, and persons recognized as High Potentials in the organization
- Managers moving into greater organizational responsibility in the areas of Finance and Accounting
- Next-level leaders who are on the path to gaining additional finance and accounting management responsibilities
- Individuals seeking professional or entrepreneurial growth
- Professionals without prior formal finance expertise and/or who lack a formal business education background in accounting and finance
The Program Structure
This online course consists of eight asynchronous modules with two live synchronous sessions. The combination of the online platform, discussion groups and interactive live sessions fosters a dynamic learning environment.
Module 1: Principles of accounting building blocks
- Understand the content and purpose of the income statement and balance sheet
- Apply accounting principles: revenue recognition
Module 2: Understanding key measurement problems in a business
- Cash vs profits Accruals accounting
- Recognize the impact of judgment and bias on financial statements and accounting practices
Module 3: Building a framework of financial analysis
- Understand the building blocks of financial analysis
- Explore the three pillars of value creation and how to achieve them
- Apply your knowledge to identify companies by reviewing their financial statement
Module 4: Making capital allocation decisions
- Discuss capital allocation and the use of free cash flow: NPV and IRR
- Understand economic value added
- Analyze the various options companies have for investing their cash through reinvestment or distribution
- Live session
Module 5: Cost of capital
- Risk and beta
- Cost of debt and equity capital; Weighted average cost of capital
Module 6: Valuation
- Understand present value
- Determine how the future affects value today
Module 7: Credit analysis
- Understanding defaults
- Determine your creditworthiness
Module 8: Introduction to capital markets
- Build a strong understanding of the players in the financial services industry and the roles they each play
- Contemplate the financial system, its flaws, and potential solutions
- Live session
Time Commitment
Duration: 6 weeks
Weekly Coursework: 5-7 hours/week
Format: Asynchronous & Synchronous sessions
Badge: Earn a digital social media-friendly badge upon successful completion of the Analytical Thinking program
Program Certification
This course is part of the Accelerated Management Development Certificate Program. This six-month program helps you strengthen your business acumen, broaden your management capabilities, and gain actionable tools to advance your career. This fully online and customizable program will help you achieve a managerial mindset through an integrated exploration of business functions and strategy. Earn a digital certificate upon completion of the full online Accelerated Management Development Certificate Program. For more information on this new online program click here.
- Learn to “Speak Accounting and Finance” to better collaborate within your organization
- Develop data-driven decision-making skills to maximize financial ROI
- Upskill or Refresh knowledge in managing through Accounting and Financial practices
- Immediate Application - Learn on Monday, Apply on Tuesday
- Earn a digital badge to share on social media with colleagues and friends after successful course completion
Fee includes program materials, assessments and simulations.
Fee must be paid in full in US dollars (net of any tax) before access to the course platform can be granted.
Program discounts may be available for selected programs; contact us for specific details.
See our Cancellation, Transfer and Substitution Policy.
Contact us for special team pricing.
For more information, please contact: RossExecEd@umich.edu | +1.734.763.1000.