Finance and Accounting Short Courses

Online Short-Term Certification Courses in Finance and Accounting

Avatar Virtual Academy offers a comprehensive range of online short courses designed for professionals in the Philippines, each targeting specific skill sets. Our catalog includes short-term certification courses in finance and accounting, meticulously crafted for both experienced practitioners and those eager to delve deeper into these disciplines. Covering a spectrum of topics from fundamental refreshers to advanced skills, our finance and accounting short courses ensure a robust learning experience tailored to meet diverse learning needs.

In the dynamic realm of finance, professionals navigate a landscape shaped by stringent regulations and constant evolution. To thrive in this competitive arena, continuous learning and skill enhancement are essential.

Avatar Virtual Academy short certification courses offer an ideal solution for busy finance professionals seeking to refresh their knowledge or bolster existing skills. Designed to be concise and flexible, our courses accommodate your schedule, allowing you to progress at your own pace.

By acquiring new, pertinent skills, you not only strengthen your proficiency as an accountant but also enhance your value to your organization or clients. Our certifications serve as a gateway to career advancement for both seasoned professionals and newcomers to the finance industry.

Embrace continuous learning and upskilling to sustain your career growth and flourish in the dynamic field of finance and accounting.

Accounting Foundations

Brothers and esteemed accounting professors at Brigham Young University, Jim and Kay Stice, delve into a comprehensive review of fundamental accounting principles. Their expertise spans the accounting equation, the intricacies of the three primary financial statements, and the strategic role of accounting in informed decision-making. They also illuminate the impact of income taxes on both business strategies and personal finances.

Drawing on real-world data from Walmart and other prominent businesses, Jim and Kay Stice vividly illustrate how numerical insights underpin critical aspects such as wage structures, product costing, and household budgeting. Through their practical examples, you gain invaluable insights into how accounting principles influence and drive diverse facets of financial management.

Accounting Foundations: Bookkeeping

In this course, accounting professors Jim and Kay Stice guide you through the essential steps of bookkeeping: analyzing transactions, recording them accurately, summarizing data, and preparing financial reports. They clarify the components of a journal entry, including debits and credits, and highlight the critical questions that bookkeepers and accountants ask when reviewing transactions. Additionally, they demonstrate how accountants convert ledger information into meaningful financial statements and discuss the role of computer programs like Quicken in streamlining business account management.

Accounting Foundations: Budgeting

This comprehensive course delves into various types of budgets essential for business management: purchase budgets, production budgets, hiring budgets, overhead budgets, and cash budgets. Professors Jim and Kay Stice provide insights into the implications of strict versus moderate budgeting on employee morale. They also illustrate how budgets become invaluable tools for evaluating business performance, offering a clear path to future success based on informed financial planning.

Accounting Foundations: Managerial Accounting

Managerial accounting equips managers with the tools to utilize financial data effectively in decision-making. Understanding this discipline enables you to determine product costs, assess break-even points, and strategically plan budgets for current expenses and future expansion. Professors Jim and Kay Stice comprehensively cover essential topics in this course, including cost behaviors, cost-volume-profit relationships (CVP), cost flows, standard costing, activity-based costing, and budgeting. This foundational knowledge empowers learners to enhance their managerial skills and drive informed financial decisions within their organizations.

Accounting Information System

This course deals with the principles involved in the monitoring, distributing and securing of information by accountants. Evaluating AIS investments as well as dealing with challenges involved in building AIS systems are also tackled.

Accounting Review with Qualifying Exam

This course aims to evaluate candidates' proficiency in applying accounting principles and standards. It provides essential preparation for further studies in accounting by equipping candidates with comprehensive knowledge.

Focused on topics from Financial Accounting and Reporting I and II, this review includes Theory of Accounts and Practical Accounting I, essential for the Certified Public Accountant licensure examination.

Accounts Payable Officer

Jumpstart your accounting career and enhance company operations as an accounts payable officer. This learning path provides a robust foundation in accounting, finance, and cash flow management, coupled with practical proficiency in essential tools like QuickBooks.

You will:

Refine essential math concepts and strategic applications.
Master the fundamentals of accounting and corporate finance.
Engage in hands-on training with QuickBooks to sharpen your skills.

Prepare to make a meaningful impact in your role with this comprehensive preparation.

Bookkeeper

Are you eager to launch your finance career? Bookkeepers play a crucial role in small business success. This pathway is designed to establish a solid groundwork in accounting, small business finance, QuickBooks, and bookkeeping best practices.

Here's what you'll achieve:

Gain mastery of essential bookkeeping, accounting, and finance principles.
Develop proficiency in setting up sample company files and maintaining records in QuickBooks.
Learn invaluable insights from industry experts on optimizing business profitability.

Prepare to embark on a rewarding journey in finance with practical skills and expert guidance.

Corporate Financial Planning Analyst

In the last decade, the financial planning and analysis profession has experienced significant growth. This path equips you with essential skills to gather, analyze, and present financial data, preparing you for a role as a Corporate Financial Planning Analyst and paving the way towards becoming a strategic partner within a corporation.

Here’s what you’ll achieve:

Develop fundamental financial analyst skills crucial for success as a Corporate Financial Planning Analyst.
Demonstrate technical proficiency to execute tasks effectively.
Cultivate leadership and communication abilities essential for excelling and advancing in your career.

Prepare to make a substantial impact in financial planning and analysis with these foundational skills and capabilities.

Cost Accounting and Cost Management

This course is intended to orient students to the accounting of costs of a manufacturing business. These cover overview of cost accounting, manufacturing cost accounting cycle, product costing systems, and variance analysis.

Finance Accounting

Explore fundamental concepts in financial analysis, accounting, and budgeting. Learn to leverage financial data for diagnosing business conditions, identifying challenges, and formulating strategic plans. Discover effective processes for budget allocation and maintenance to support operational efficiency.

Dive into the nuances of financial, managerial, and tax accounting. Understand how accounting practices influence decision-making and contribute to financial health.

Master the interpretation of financial statements and the art of communicating results clearly and effectively.

Finance Foundation

In this course, Brigham Young University business professors Jim and Kay Stice deliver a thorough exploration of finance, covering topics ranging from interpreting balance sheets to comprehending derivatives and securities. They address critical questions such as "What distinguishes short-term financial management from long-term financing?" and "How do traditional banks, investment banks, and investment funds differ?

Finance Foundations: Business Valuation

In this course, accounting professors Jim and Kay Stice offer a comprehensive introduction to essential business valuation methods. Beginning with the valuation of individual assets and liabilities, they progress to the valuation of entire businesses. The curriculum includes hands-on practice with straightforward valuation models like multiples and price-to-earnings ratios, as well as the more intricate discounted cash flow model. The final chapters provide an engaging analysis of the valuation of a real-world business, McDonald's, alongside valuable parting insights.

Finance for Non-Financial Manager

If you are looking to grow your career and take on greater responsibility within your organization, you’ll need to demonstrate a basic understanding of financial management even if you’re not in a financial role. You do not have to be a numbers person! You just have to appreciate their role in business. In this course, accounting professor Jim Stice helps you develop the financial acumen necessary to:

Interpret financial reports and make decisions based on available data.
Manage inventory and receivables.
Create an accurate budget.
Cost a product or service.
Analyze customers.
Understand your income taxes.
Communicate your contribution to the bottom line.

Finance Foundations: Income Taxes

In this course, accounting and finance professors Jim and Kay Stice simplify the process of filing this year’s taxes by demystifying fundamental taxation concepts and terminology. They cover essential topics including taxable income, tax brackets, average tax rates, withholdings, deductions, and credits. Exploring federal tax deductions for mortgages, dependents, and charitable contributions, they clarify the rationale behind these deductions. The course also guides through the steps of filing a personal income tax return, addresses challenges encountered by corporations and small businesses in filing their returns, and underscores the importance of effective tax planning strategies.

Finance Literacy : Reading Financial Report

In this course, accounting professors Jim and Kay Stice offer a comprehensive introduction to essential business valuation methods. Beginning with the valuation of individual assets and liabilities, they progress to the valuation of entire businesses. The curriculum includes hands-on practice with straightforward valuation modaels like multiples and price-to-earnings ratios, as well as the more intricate discounted cash flow model. The final chapters provide an engaging analysis of the valuation of a real-world business, McDonald's, alongside valuable parting insights.

Financial Accounting and Reporting 1

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to accounting theory, exploring its nature, functions, scope, and limitations. It examines the theoretical framework guiding financial statements, accounting conventions, and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), as well as the standard-setting processes for accounting practices both nationally and internationally.

Key topics include the objectives and application of financial statements, considerations for appropriate usage, and their impact on financial reporting. The course critically evaluates common criticisms of accounting principles and delves into detailed discussions on asset accounting—covering financial and non-financial assets.

Special emphasis is placed on interpreting and applying accounting theories to assets such as cash, investments, receivables, inventories, prepayments, long-term investments, property, plant, equipment, intangibles, and other assets. It also covers requirements for financial statement presentation and disclosures, alongside considerations of internal controls, ethical issues, and asset management.

Students gain practical exposure to computerized systems for receivables, inventory management, and depreciation schedules, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of modern accounting practices.

Philippine Tax System and Income Taxation

This course is intended to give students an overview of the Philippine Tax System. These include basic principles and rules of the income tax system that are applicable to individuals and corporations. This also covers a guide on how to file the income tax returns, know the prescriptive periods and the remedies of the taxpayers.

Running a Profitable Business: Understanding Cash Flow

Join professors Jim and Kay Stice as they introduce the theory, practice, and implications of revenue recognition. Together they demonstrate how this seemingly innocent accounting topic can turn a reported profit into a reported loss, sometimes with multibillion-dollar implications for company values.

Running a Profitable Business: Understanding Financial Ratios

Financial ratios like ROI (return on investment) and ROA (return on assets) serve as essential metrics for assessing a company's performance relative to financial objectives, competitors, and industry benchmarks. Professors Jim and Kay Stice, in this course, delve into the interpretation of these ratios as extracted from balance sheets, income statements, and cash-flow statements, illustrating their application with case studies from prominent corporations such as Walmart, Nordstrom, and McDonald's.