Curriculum
Online Accounting Certificate Curriculum
Our Accounting Undergraduate Certificate Program is geared toward students looking to supplement their current knowledge, learn new skills, or prepare to further their financial education. Your online classes will cover foundational topics such as mathematics for business and finance, financial management, and intermediate accounting.
Accounting
Online Accounting Certificate Curriculum
- 11 courses
- 31 credits
- 72 exams
- 8 submitted projects
Estimated completion time:
- Fast track = 16 months
- Average time = 16 months
With Penn Foster, you can learn at whatever pace works best for you. Some learners will be more comfortable moving faster, and dedicating more time, and the fast track estimate will apply to them. The average track will apply to most learners who can dedicate a few hours per week to completing their coursework. The estimated completion times per semester are based on completion times for learners enrolled in this program from November 2020 - October 2021, excluding withdrawals.
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(1 CREDIT)
In this course, you’ll develop the necessary skills to ensure your success in the program. You’ll learn how you can improve your study skills so you’re able to use a number of tools that will help you to be successful.
You’ll also learn about the similarities between personal financial goals and business goals and how to determine personal financial goals. You’ll cover setting up a budget and researching, planning, starting up, and maintaining a business.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Identify skills needed to be a confident and independent online learner
- Analyze the interdependent goals of life and business and the steps needed to achieve them
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(3 CREDITS)
This course outlines the elements of business and the challenges businesses face in a global environment, such as competition and economic factors. You'll learn why accounting, technology and information systems, marketing, and management are essential to starting and growing a business. You'll also learn the basics of managing financial and human resources and the ethical and social responsibilities required of a successful manager.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Identify different elements that distinguish capitalism, socialism, communism, and mixed economies
- Define the role of small business in the free enterprise system
- Assess elements of the global economy, such as labor, capital, trade, and natural resources, and how they influence business
- Analyze the functions of business, such as management, organization, human relations, marketing, financing, and ethics
- Identify the purpose of business policy and strategy
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(3 CREDITS)
This course will provide a foundation in basic mathematical operations. You'll learn about percentages, discounts, interest, present worth, sinking funds, installment buying, pricing, depreciation, investments, insurance, the use of symbols and their applications, equations and formulas, and the importance of statistics.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Analyze functions of whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents
- Show calculations involved in simple interest, compound interest, and time value of money
- Prepare various business math applications involving financial reports, installment buying, and depreciation
- Analyze various financial concepts related to taxes, insurance, financial investments, and basic business statistics
- Describe other HRM functions including collective bargaining, labor relations, global HRM, and building a high-performance organization
- Prepare for the final exam
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(3 CREDITS)
You’ve chosen to study a vibrant, thought-provoking subject that’s full of challenges and opportunities. The key ideas discussed in this course are useful in many careers and for you as well.
For example:
Toni Tiller bought a pony for $50 and sold it for $60. Later she bought the pony back for $70 and sold it to someone else for $80. How much did Toni make on the pony?
Answer: Add the amounts Toni paid for the pony ($50 + $70 = $120). Add what she received when she sold the pony ($60 + $80 = $140). Calculate the difference between what she earned and what she spent ($140 - $120 = $20).
You’re responsible for your success in this course. Here are three tips to help you achieve it:
1. Know your learning style.
2. Assume you’ll receive an A.
3. Keep the big picture in mind.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Solve important accounting principles and concepts by creating four common types of financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, statement of retained earnings, and statement of cash flows
- Explain inventory systems, the inventory process, and the role of ethics in accounting
- Explain cash and receivables, assets, current liabilities, and debt
- Analyze stocks and the statement of cash flows and financial statements that are used to assess the value of a business
- Solve accounting problems using knowledge of accounting forms and functions
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(3 CREDITS)
Managerial accounting is a practical world of analysis interpretation and problem solving. It’s a practical world of analysis interpretation and problem solving. You’ll have to work through transactions, complete calculations and financial statements, and analyze and interpret your results to answer the questions. You’ll also need to keep your eye on the goal of sound decision making. Understanding how to apply what you learn in this Managerial Accounting course to everyday business situations can help make you a more effective decision maker. May your judgment be sound and your choices lead you to success.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Analyze the various concepts related to managerial accounting and cost accounting
- Explain the different tools of management used for the decision-making process
- Identify the various budget analysis processes and the performance measurements for decision making
- Analyze the various components of capital budgeting, cash flow statements, and ratio analysis
- Solve examples of real-world accounting problems using knowledge of accounting forms and equations
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(3 CREDITS)
This course will introduce students to the world of finance, including financial concepts, instruments, and financial decision making. Topics covered include financial assets, investing in long-term assets, capital structure and dividend policy, financial planning, and working capital management.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Categorize financial management functions and organizational structure
- Analyze the time value of money, financial ratios, and risks and returns from investments
- Categorize the capital structure and the capital management of a firm
- Perform financial calculations and analysis related to basic financial concepts
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(3 CREDITS)
This course will provide students with the knowledge to apply accounting theory, concepts, and procedures to financial problems. Topics covered include: computing earnings per share; lease transactions; income tax accounting; cash flow information; pension and benefit information; financial statement analysis.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:
- Point out the process of creating journal entries and balance sheets for disclosing financial information.
- Analyze the fundamentals of income statement, cash flows, revenue recognition, and value of money concepts.
- Compare the different ways to properly account for cash, receivables, and inventory.
- Analyze value and account for changes to long-term assets as well as intangible assets.
- Prepare for the final exam.
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(3 CREDITS)
This course will provide students with an expansion on materials presented in Intermediate Accounting 1. Topics examined and discussed include: inventories; investments; intangible assets; current, contingent, and estimated liabilities; premium and discount on long-term debt; stockholder’s equity.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:
- Evaluate how companies deal with investments, current liabilities, and the contingencies they present.
- Differentiate among leases, bonds, and long-term notes.
- Analyze and account for other types of liabilities including, income taxes, pensions, and post-retirement benefits.
- Categorize the fundamentals of share-based compensation, accounting changes, and the statement of cash flows.
- Prepare for the final exam.
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(3 CREDITS)
This course will provide information related to cost accounting. All businesses—whether they make things, sell things, or sell services—must be able to predict, record, and control their costs. They need this information to run their companies effectively and efficiently and to inform external parties about profitability and financial structure.
Cost accounting represents an important bridge between financial and managerial accounting. Some cost accounting topics in this course may require numerical analysis and calculations, in addition to concepts related to this field that are explained throughout your studies.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Analyze the fundamentals and processes of cost decision making
- Categorize the various costing processes related to cost accounting
- Identify the methods of analyzing cost performance and the importance of management control systems
- Apply your accounting skills on cost accounting computation and analysis
- Prepare a balance sheet, an income statement, and post-closing trial balance for Ice Cream Systems
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(3 CREDITS)
This course builds on concepts learned in Financial and Managerial Accounting and covers Sage 50® Accounting. Combines real-world accounting systems and examples with computer-based solutions. The course is a blend of problem solving, reading, case projects, and computer applications to problems encountered in today’s accounting environment.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Explain how to install, register, and update the Sage 50® accounting software
- Print reports and back up data files using Sage 50®
- Record, post, and complete the accounting cycle for a service and merchandising enterprise using an automated accounting system
- Analyze the business flow of transactions in automated accounting systems, including customer lists, vendor files, inventory records, and employee files
- Demonstrate knowledge of the voucher system, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll systems, and departmentalized accounting
- Analyze and solve management accounting problems relating to operations and business profitability and financial reporting
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(3 CREDITS)
This course is an introduction to the legal environment of business. Topics covered include American court practice and procedure, alternative dispute resolutions, employment law, business organization and regulation, contract law, and agency relationships.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Categorize the various sources of law in the U.S. legal system
- Analyze the formations and characteristics of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and the corporation forms of business entities
- Point out the various constituents of the contract law
- Show the rules of a written contract with the rights and breaching of a contract
- Report the contract laws that govern principal-agent relationships, law of agency, and labor-management relationships
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This assessment will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the program. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.
Note: We reserve the right to change program content and materials when it becomes necessary.
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