Financial Statement Analysis

Upcoming Dates and Tuition

Spring 2026 Enrollment Coming Soon

Two courses, Five-weeks each

3-5 hours of self-paced learning per week

Tuition: $950.00 per course*

*Bundle both courses for a 20% discount

Course Overviews

Course 1 - Financial Statement Analysis: Fundamental Ratio Analysis

Welcome to Financial Statement Analysis: Fundamental Ratio Analysis, a practical online course designed to increase your ability to extract, interpret, and use information from financial statements. We will emphasize the understanding, organizing, and summarizing of financial data for decision-making purposes.  

Rice University’s online business courses provide a convenient, yet interactive and hands-on, way to learn or brush up on the practical skills needed to analyze corporate financial statements.

Taught by an industry professional from Rice Business, learners will explore the financial analysis journey, from extracting firm specific financial information to conducting an advanced DuPont analysis. Through a combination of engaging lectures, practical case studies, and hands-on exercises, students will gain invaluable insights into the principles and best practices that will allow them to confidently examine firm financial information and use it to analyze the firm’s position and performance. 

Recommendation: To gain the foundations of your building your financial statement analysis skills, we recommend completing the first course in this series, Financial Statement Analysis – Fundamental Ratio Analysis.

Course Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain how the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows work together to describe a company’s financial position and performance.
• Identify key information within financial reports and external disclosures that helps explain a firm’s operating environment and strategy.
• Distinguish between operating and non-operating components of financial statements to better evaluate core business performance.
• Calculate and interpret key financial metrics to identify deviations from expectations and generate insights about firm performance.
• Evaluate a firm’s financial performance by analyzing trends over time and comparing results to relevant industry peers.

Applied Learning and Real-World Skills

Participants will develop practical capabilities they can apply immediately in their organizations, including the ability to:

• Interpret financial statements to understand how companies report performance and financial position.
• Separate operating and non-operating elements to obtain a clearer view of operating performance.
• Use ratio analysis and DuPont decomposition to evaluate profitability, efficiency, and leverage.
• Analyze working capital, cash flow, and the cash conversion cycle to evaluate operational efficiency and sustainability.
• Compare financial performance across time and against industry peers to identify trends and insights. 

Course 2 - Financial Statement Analysis: Company Forecasts and Valuations

Welcome to Financial Statement Analysis: Company Forecasts and Valuations, a practical online course that culminates in using financial statement information for equity valuation. Specifically, you will learn how to create and forecast a full set of pro forma financial statements to determine the intrinsic value of a firm using cash flow and income models. The course will enhance your understanding of valuation by focusing on leveraging information in the financial statements to guide the valuation process.  

Rice University’s online business courses offer a convenient, yet interactive and hands-on way to learn or refresh the practical skills needed to analyze corporate financial statements.

Taught by an industry professional from Rice Business, learners will explore the financial valuation process—from assessing the quality of key accounting inputs to forecasting and performing valuations. Through a blend of engaging lectures, practical case studies, and hands-on exercises, students will gain valuable insights into the principles and best practices that enable them to confidently value firm equity and determine intrinsic stock prices.

Recommendation: To gain the foundations of your building your financial statement analysis skills, we recommend completing the first course in this series, Financial Statement Analysis – Fundamental Ratio Analysis.

Course Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify accounting errors, estimation challenges, and managerial incentives that may affect the reliability of financial statement inputs.
• Interpret revenue recognition practices and other accounting policies to understand how they influence reported performance.
• Develop structured forecasts for revenue, operating performance, and key balance sheet accounts.
• Construct integrated financial statement forecasts that link the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement into a coherent model.
• Calculate cost of capital and other inputs required for valuation models.
• Evaluate company value using multiple approaches, including discounted cash flow, dividend discount, residual operating income, and market-based multiples.

Applied Learning and Real-World Skills

Participants will develop practical capabilities they can apply immediately in their organizations, including the ability to:

• Assess the reliability of financial data used in forecasting and valuation.
• Translate business drivers into structured financial projections that support forecasting and valuation.
• Build structured financial forecasts that support strategic analysis.
• Estimate cost of capital and other key inputs used in valuation models.
• Compare valuation results across multiple methods to develop a well-supported range of value estimates for decision-making. 

Course Structure

Within each module, you’ll find a variety of lecture videos, readings and accompanying quizzes or reflection exercises, allowing you to check your understanding of the material. There will also be interactive activities allowing you to apply your learning using real-life scenarios or examples.

Who Should Attend

• Financial Professionals and Analysts: Individuals currently working in finance, accounting, or corporate roles (e.g., investment banking, corporate development, equity research, portfolio management) who need to master or refresh their skills in financial statement analysis, forecasting, and company valuation.
• Aspiring Investors and Analysts: Those looking to enter the finance industry or improve their personal investment acumen by learning to extract, interpret, and use corporate financial data to make informed decisions and determine a company's intrinsic value.
• Executive/Management Professionals: Decision-makers, business owners, or managers who need to confidently analyze a firm's financial health, performance, and position to guide strategic business decisions.
• Individuals with Foundational Accounting Knowledge: Learners who have a basic understanding of financial accounting concepts and are seeking a practical, hands-on application of that knowledge to real-world financial statement analysis and equity valuation scenarios.

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