Accounting OER: OER Courses

Our goal is to help you develop a framework for understanding financial, managerial, and tax reports. The course goal is divided into five subordinate challenges that can help you organize the way you learn accounting:

The record keeping and reporting challenge
The computation challenge
The judgment challenge
The usage challenge
The search challenge
The course adopts a decision-maker perspective of accounting by emphasizing the relation between accounting data and the underlying economic events generating them. Restricted to first-year Sloan MBA students.

This six-week summer course teaches basic concepts of corporate financial accounting and reporting. This information is widely used in making investment decisions, corporate and managerial performance assessment, and valuation of firms. Students perform economics-based analysis of accounting information from the viewpoint of the users of accounting information (especially senior managers) rather than the preparer (the accountant). This course is restricted to MIT Sloan Fellows in Innovation and Global Leadership.

Principles of Accounting is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of a two-semester accounting course that covers the fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting. Due to the comprehensive nature of the material, we are offering the book in two volumes. This book is specifically designed to appeal to both accounting and non-accounting majors, exposing students to the core concepts of accounting in familiar ways to build a strong foundation that can be applied across business fields. Each chapter opens with a relatable real-life scenario for today’s college student. Thoughtfully designed examples are presented throughout each chapter, allowing students to build on emerging accounting knowledge. Concepts are further reinforced through applicable connections to more detailed business processes. Students are immersed in the “why” as well as the “how” aspects of accounting in order to reinforce concepts and promote comprehension over rote memorization.

This course is an introduction to the use of accounting information by managers for decision making, performance evaluation and control. The course should be useful for those who intend to work as management consultants, for LFM (Leaders for Manufacturing) students, and in general, for those who will become senior managers.

In managerial accounting, we examine complex financial decision-making and identify the tools and methods managers use to make informed decisions. We begin by introducing the terms we will reference in later units. We will discuss various methods and theories managers use to track costs and profits. In the final section, we explore how managers report the overall performance of a firm or department for internal use.

Principles of Accounting is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of a two-semester accounting course that covers the fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting. Due to the comprehensive nature of the material, we are offering the book in two volumes. This book is specifically designed to appeal to both accounting and non-accounting majors, exposing students to the core concepts of accounting in familiar ways to build a strong foundation that can be applied across business fields. Each chapter opens with a relatable real-life scenario for today’s college student. Thoughtfully designed examples are presented throughout each chapter, allowing students to build on emerging accounting knowledge. Concepts are further reinforced through applicable connections to more detailed business processes. Students are immersed in the “why” as well as the “how” aspects of accounting in order to reinforce concepts and promote comprehension over rote memorization.

This course introduces the viewer to the most important principles in accounting. This course is also designed for corporate or legal professionals to be able to better work with corporate accounting departments.