The role of an Analyst is dynamic, complex, and driven by a variety of skills. These skills range from a basic understanding of financial statement data and non-financial metrics that can be linked to financial performance, to a deeper dive into business and financial modeling. Analysts also utilize spreadsheet models, modeling techniques, and common investment analysis application as part of their toolkit to make informed financial decisions and investments.

This multifaceted specialization will equip a learner who might be interested in entering the dynamic world of data and business analysis, and/or is interested gaining deeper technical knowledge in Finance and Quantitative Modeling. Starting from the fundamentals of quantitative modeling, you will learn how to put data to work by using spreadsheets and leverage spreadsheets as a powerful, accessible data analysis tool. You will also be introduced to the world of corporate finance, and gain a better understanding of finance fundamentals, including a variety of real-world situations spanning personal finance, corporate decision-making and financial intermediation.

The Program

1. Fundamentals of Quantitative Modeling
   Through a series of short lectures, demonstrations, and assignments, you’ll learn the key ideas and process of quantitative modeling so that you can begin to create your own models for your own business or enterprise. By the end of this course, you will have seen a variety of practical commonly used quantitative models as well as the building blocks that will allow you to start structuring your own models. These building blocks will be put to use in the other courses in this Specialization.
2. Introduction to Spreadsheets and Models
   This course is designed to give you an introduction to basic spreadsheet tools and formulas so that you can begin harness the power of spreadsheets to map the data you have now and to predict the data you may have in the future. Through short, easy-to-follow demonstrations, you’ll learn how to use Excel or Sheets so that you can begin to build models and decision trees in future courses in this Specialization. Basic familiarity with, and access to, Excel or Sheets is required.
3. Financial Acumen for Non-Financial Managers
   In this course, you’ll explore how financial statement data and non-financial metrics can be linked to financial performance. You’ll learn more about the frameworks of financial reporting, income statements, and cash reporting, and apply different approaches to analyzing financial performance using real-life examples to see the concepts in action. By the end of this course, you’ll have honed your skills in understanding how financial data and non-financial data interact to forecast events and be able to determine the best financial strategy for your organization.
4. Introduction to Corporate Finance
   This course provides a brief introduction to the fundamentals of finance, emphasizing their application to a wide variety of real-world situations spanning personal finance, corporate decision-making, and financial intermediation. Key concepts and applications include: time value of money, risk-return tradeoff, cost of capital, interest rates, retirement savings, mortgage financing, auto leasing, capital budgeting, asset valuation, discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, net present value, internal rate of return, hurdle rate, payback period.

What will you learn 

• Harness the power of spreadsheets to map and predict data.

• Create your own quantitative models.

• Read income and cash flow statements.