Accounting for Finance: Free Course

About this course

Financial statements provide much of the starting material for business analysis and valuation. This free course with Aswath Damodaran approaches accounting from the perspective of someone using those statements. It introduces the main reports, explores examples and asks how accounting choices can affect the picture an analyst sees.

Course at a glance

What you’ll learn

• Identify the distinct roles of the three principal financial statements.
• Distinguish reported earnings from cash-flow information.
• Recognize accounting choices that can complicate company comparisons.
• Use financial ratios as questions for analysis rather than final verdicts.

Skills you’ll gain

• Financial statement reading
• Accounting interpretation
• Ratio analysis
• Comparative analysis

Course Overview

The course moves through the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows, pairing the explanations with company examples. It then considers inconsistencies that matter when accounting information is used for financial analysis. The final sessions examine ratios and comparisons. The emphasis is on interpreting information for finance; it is not a complete professional accounting qualification or a comprehensive treatment of accounting standards.

How the course develops

• Understanding the statements: connect income, assets, liabilities and cash flows with the questions each report answers.
• Using examples: compare the explanatory sessions with the accompanying applications to actual financial statements.
• Interpreting differences: examine inconsistencies and ratios before drawing conclusions about profitability, leverage or liquidity.

The classroom retains every entry from the selected source playlist, including introductory or review videos when present. Follow the lesson sequence, or use the lesson search to return to a specific explanation. The source lesson titles are preserved so that you can match your place with the instructor’s materials.

Who is this for?

Students, managers, entrepreneurs and beginning finance learners who want to read financial statements more confidently before studying valuation or corporate finance.

Before you start

No formal accounting qualification is needed. Basic arithmetic and a willingness to work carefully through financial statement examples are sufficient preparation.

Put the lessons into practice

Download one company's public annual report and locate its three main financial statements. Write a short explanation of what each adds to your understanding of the business. Choose two ratios, show the figures used to calculate them and note one comparability issue you would investigate before comparing the company with a peer.

This optional activity is provided by WikiFree for independent study. It is not a graded assignment from the instructor. Keep your working notes and separate evidence from assumptions so that you can review your reasoning as you progress.

Certificate / Assessment

The public YouTube videos are free to watch. Viewing them through WikiFree does not include a certificate, academic credit, an NYU degree, instructor feedback or admission to a university program. Separate enrolled or certificate programs can have different requirements and fees.

Mark complete records your study progress; it does not assess your work or award a qualification. Examples and figures belong to the source recordings. Use the lessons to learn the analytical methods and verify current inputs before applying them to a real decision.

Frequently asked questions

Provider: Aswath Damodaran. Videos play from the Aswath Damodaran channel on YouTube.