Free Online Financial Analysis Courses

1. Understanding Financial Analysis

How can you tell if a business is stable, profitable and solvent? This comprehensive course explains the basic principles of modern financial analysis to give you a good baseline understanding of how to interpret financial statements.

2. Diploma in Decision Making Using Financial Accounting

Once you know what financial statements (often called ‘the financials’) mean, this course shows you how to take decisions and actions based on what statements show. It is a crucial aspect of being a successful financial analyst.

3. Introduction to Finance and Financial Analysis

If you’re a total beginner, then make this course your first stop. Learn about bonds, stocks, financial statements and the importance of maintaining good financial ‘ratios’. 

Both require the ability to read and interpret financial statements, and there is a lot of common ground between the two. The major difference is that a financial analyst will look at past and present statements to make decisions that will determine future statements, while accountants generally look at the day-to-day financial health of the business. If you already have a background in accounting, then taking the next step into financial analysis should be much easier for you.

Every company runs on its finances, some very simply and others in highly complex ways. Doing courses in financial analysis could help your small business to do better, and there are also plenty of careers in large companies and global corporations. These specialist roles include:

• Investment officer
• Financial advisor
• Budget analyst
• Investment banking analyst
• Actuary
• Securities trader
• Portfolio manager
• Quantitative analyst