University of California, Santa Barbara
Public University • US
Showing 12 courses from University of California, Santa Barbara
Taxation Concepts
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
Learn the fundamentals of corporate taxation in the United States and how tax rules influence business decisions and compliance. In this course, you’ll explore how federal tax laws are structured and enforced, focusing on the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations, and the hierarchy of tax guidance used by accountants and tax professionals. You’ll examine how corporate taxation applies to different business structures, including C corporations and S corporations, and review how these entities report financial activity for tax purposes. The course introduces key components of corporate tax compliance, including Forms 1120 and 1120-S, and explains how businesses report income, expenses, depreciation, compensation, and gross receipts. Throughout the course, you’ll analyze practical scenarios that show how tax guidance affects real business decisions. By the end, you’ll understand how corporate tax rules shape compliance, reporting, and planning strategies used by businesses and their advisors. This course is designed for learners seeking a practical introduction to corporate taxation and provides foundational knowledge useful for accounting, tax, and finance careers.
Contracts and Commercial Agreements
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you will be able to identify the essential elements of a valid contract, distinguish between void and voidable agreements, analyze how offer and acceptance create binding obligations, and evaluate how common law and the Uniform Commercial Code govern commercial transactions. You will also determine when contractual rights can be assigned and differentiate among bilateral, unilateral, express, and implied contracts. Contracts and Commercial Agreements provides a practical, business-focused foundation in contract law. Rather than focusing solely on theory, the course uses applied scenarios and role plays to help you analyze real-world business relationships involving employees, vendors, suppliers, and commercial partners. Through structured practice assignments and graded assessments aligned to clear learning objectives, you will build the confidence to assess enforceability, recognize legal risk, and apply contract principles in professional settings. This course is designed to give you a clear, structured framework for understanding how contracts function in modern business environments.
Business Structures and Legal Entities
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
In this course, you’ll learn how and why businesses choose different legal structures—and how those choices shape liability, taxation, governance, and financial risk. You’ll develop the ability to identify and compare sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies, and to evaluate how each structure affects owners, investors, and advisors in real-world business situations. You’ll begin by examining the foundational characteristics of each business form, including ownership, authority, and exposure to personal liability. From there, you’ll explore how partnerships operate in practice, how corporations are formed and governed, and how businesses raise capital through debt and equity. Throughout the course, you’ll apply these concepts to realistic scenarios that mirror the kinds of decisions accountants and business professionals face every day. What makes this course unique is its applied, judgment-focused approach. Rather than memorizing definitions, you’ll practice analyzing trade-offs, assessing risk, and explaining why one structure may be more appropriate than another in a given context. By the end of the course, you’ll be better prepared to interpret business structures, advise stakeholders, and apply legal reasoning with confidence in professional settings.
Foundations of Financial Reporting
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you will be able to explain the foundations of financial reporting, apply the accounting equation, analyze transactions using debits and credits, and navigate the full accounting cycle from journal entry to financial statements. You will build the skills needed to interpret and prepare core financial statements—including the balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, and statement of stockholders’ equity—with accuracy and confidence. This course walks you step by step through the mechanics behind financial reporting. You’ll begin with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and the logic of accrual accounting, then move into transaction analysis, journal entries, ledger posting, trial balances, adjusting entries, and closing entries. Rather than memorizing rules in isolation, you’ll see how each step connects and feeds into the next. What makes this course unique is its structured, end-to-end approach. You won’t just learn definitions—you’ll understand how everyday business events are transformed into reliable financial statements used by investors, creditors, and management.
Managerial and Cost Accounting
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
Build practical skills in managerial and cost accounting to support stronger business decisions. In this course, you’ll learn how organizations use internal accounting information to plan operations, control costs, evaluate performance, and guide strategy. You’ll explore core managerial accounting concepts, compare managerial and financial accounting, examine the value chain, and work with budgeting, cost allocation, cost objects, and manufacturing costs. You’ll also study cost accounting tools such as cost behavior analysis, cost-volume-profit analysis, and job costing versus process costing. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to interpret key managerial and cost accounting concepts and apply them to realistic business scenarios. You’ll practice analyzing how accounting information supports pricing, planning, production, and operational decisions made by managers and business leaders. This course is designed for learners who want a practical foundation in internal decision-making tools used across accounting, finance, and management roles. Its emphasis on real-world application makes it especially useful for aspiring accountants, business professionals, and learners preparing for more advanced accounting study.
How Audits Work
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you will be able to evaluate audit risk, design appropriate audit responses, assess audit evidence, and determine the correct audit opinion based on professional standards. You’ll move through the full execution and completion phases of an audit engagement — from understanding the entity and developing an audit strategy to performing substantive testing, forming conclusions, and addressing post-audit responsibilities. This course takes you beyond theory. You will analyze assertion-level risks, distinguish between control testing and substantive procedures, evaluate sufficient appropriate evidence, and determine when to issue an unmodified, qualified, adverse, or disclaimer opinion. You’ll also examine critical end-of-engagement procedures such as searching for unrecorded liabilities, performing final analytics, evaluating subsequent events, and handling omitted procedures. What makes this course unique is its judgment-driven approach. Rather than memorizing standards, you will think like a CPA — applying professional skepticism and audit logic to realistic scenarios that mirror real-world audit engagements.
Economics of Markets, Government, and Nonprofits
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you will be able to navigate the complex ethical frameworks and professional standards that govern the modern auditing profession. You will learn how to confidently apply the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct to maintain integrity, objectivity, and independence when facing real-world conflicts of interest. Furthermore, learners will benefit from a deep dive into the specific rules that shape different types of professional engagements. You will understand the crucial differences between auditing private entities under Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS) and auditing publicly traded companies under strict PCAOB regulations. What makes this course uniquely valuable is its holistic approach; it not only covers domestic attestation and quality management standards, but also prepares you for global and internal roles by unpacking the IIA’s International Professional Practices Framework and the IAASB’s International Standards on Auditing. Whether you are verifying financial statements for a local startup or managing risks for a multinational corporation, you will gain the foundational knowledge necessary to protect the public interest and maintain the highest levels of audit credibility.
Balance Sheet Issues
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you will be able to analyze how major balance sheet accounts are measured, estimated, and reported under financial accounting standards. You will evaluate capitalization decisions, apply multiple depreciation methods, assess accounting estimates such as credit losses and warranties, and interpret equity transactions including common stock, preferred stock, and retained earnings. This course is designed for learners developing strong financial reporting competency, particularly those preparing for professional accounting exams or advancing in accounting and finance roles. Through practical examples and journal entry walkthroughs, you will see how financial decisions affect both the income statement and the balance sheet. What makes this course unique is its applied, decision-oriented approach. Rather than memorizing definitions, you will examine the real-world implications of financing choices, equity issuance, depreciation strategies, and retained earnings management. By connecting technical accounting mechanics to business strategy, you will strengthen your ability to interpret financial statements with confidence and professional judgment.
Liability and Legal Responsibility in Business
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you will be able to identify the elements of a legally enforceable contract, distinguish between bilateral and unilateral agreements, differentiate express and implied contracts, and analyze how contracts are formed and enforced under both common law and the Uniform Commercial Code. Contracts shape nearly every business relationship — from employment agreements and vendor arrangements to online terms of service and sales transactions. In this course, you will move beyond memorizing definitions and instead learn how to recognize how contracts operate in real-world business settings. Through practical examples, you’ll examine how mutual promises create obligations, how conduct can form binding agreements, and how courts determine enforceability. What makes this course unique is its applied business focus. Rather than treating contract law as abstract doctrine, you’ll evaluate everyday commercial scenarios and build the analytical judgment needed to interpret agreements with confidence. Whether preparing for professional licensure or strengthening your business decision-making skills, you’ll develop a clear framework for understanding how contracts function in modern commerce.
Assurance Essentials
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you’ll understand how assurance and attestation services strengthen financial reporting, support public trust, and shape the responsibilities of CPAs and their clients. You’ll learn how audits, reviews, and agreed-upon procedures differ in scope and purpose—and how professional standards guide each engagement. This course explores the real-world dynamics of CPA-client relationships, auditor independence, internal control evaluation, risk assessment, and evidence gathering. You’ll examine both sides of the engagement: what auditors are responsible for, and what financial statement preparers must do to ensure a successful audit. You’ll also explore the growing demand for CPAs, the structure of the profession, and the regulatory environment that governs assurance services. What makes this course unique is its applied, judgment-focused approach. Rather than memorizing definitions, you’ll analyze how assurance services operate in practice, how professional responsibilities intersect, and why financial transparency is critical to markets and stakeholders.
Assurance Guidance and Standards
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to identify and apply the core regulatory and professional standards that govern modern auditing and assurance engagements. You’ll evaluate auditor responsibilities under the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, understand independence and integrity requirements, and distinguish between standards issued by the PCAOB, IAASB, and the Institute of Internal Auditors. This course explores the regulatory framework that shapes audit practice in both U.S. and international contexts. You’ll examine the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the role of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the structure of International Standards on Auditing, and the evolution of internal audit standards under the IIA framework. What makes this course unique is its integrated, cross-framework approach. Rather than studying standards in isolation, you’ll compare how they interact across public company audits, private engagements, internal audit functions, and multinational contexts. By the end, you’ll have a clear, structured understanding of how audit oversight bodies and professional standards collectively safeguard financial reporting integrity in global capital markets.
Revenue and Expense Recognition
University of California, Santa Barbara (via Coursera)
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to analyze how revenue adjustments, expenses, and long-term assets are recognized and reported under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). You’ll calculate and record sales returns, discounts, and allowances, distinguish between service, merchandising, manufacturing, and startup expenses, and evaluate how tangible and intangible assets affect financial statements. You’ll also determine gains and losses on asset disposals and assess when long-term assets must be written down for impairment. Throughout the course, you’ll move beyond definitions and apply accounting treatment to realistic business scenarios, strengthening your ability to interpret balance sheets and income statements with confidence. What makes this course unique is its applied, decision-focused approach. Rather than memorizing rules, you’ll learn how accounting choices impact financial performance, reporting transparency, and business valuation. By the end, you’ll have a stronger command of asset accounting and financial reporting mechanics—skills essential for aspiring CPAs, accounting professionals, and finance-focused business leaders.