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Core Financial Analysis

Microsoft via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

13 weeks, 1 hour a week
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Intermediate
Subtitles

English

Found in

Part of

GenAI Enhanced Financial Analysis

Overview

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In this intermediate-level specialization, you will develop foundational financial analysis techniques using Excel, Power BI, and AI tools. You'll learn to evaluate budget variances, analyze financial ratios, decode financial statements, and calculate margins while leveraging AI tools to accelerate your workflow. Through hands-on exercises with real financial data, you'll build the analytical foundation needed for advanced FP&A work. This course is for financial analysts, FP&A professionals, and business analysts with 1–3 years of experience. By the end of this course, you will be able to apply variance analysis formulas for budget gap detection using Excel, evaluate financial ratios against industry benchmarks, assess financial statements using AI-powered insights, and investigate margin erosion and cost drivers using Power BI analytics. This course requires Power BI Desktop, which runs on Windows PCs or Macs with Parallels Desktop. Microsoft 365 online can be used as an alternative, though the desktop version is recommended for full feature access. Microsoft Copilot is optional but enhances several activities with AI-powered insights.

Syllabus

Budget Variances: Flag Budget Gaps

Build an automated variance detection system in Excel that flags budget deviations exceeding thresholds. You'll use modern Excel formulas to compare actuals to budgets and highlight variances that require attention.

Budget Variances: Analyze Root Causes

Discover how to use Power BI's AI-powered Decomposition Tree to drill into variance drivers. You will learn to navigate hierarchical data to identify the biggest contributors to budget deviations.

Budget Variances: Evaluate Materiality

Learn to assess which variances require immediate attention based on materiality thresholds, business impact, and escalation policies. You'll develop the judgment to prioritize variance investigations.

Budget Variances: Communicate Findings

Transform your variance analysis into clear, actionable communications. You'll learn to write effective variance explanations, create exception reports, and present findings that drive decisions.

Ratio Analysis: Calculate and Benchmark

Build a comprehensive ratio analysis model in Excel and compare results against industry benchmarks. You'll calculate key financial ratios and identify statistical outliers requiring attention.

Ratio Analysis: Identify Performance Trends

Learn to spot meaningful patterns in ratio trends and connect changes to business events. You'll use visualization and analysis techniques to uncover the stories behind the numbers.

Ratio Analysis: Create Board-Ready Summaries

Transform your ratio analysis into executive-ready reports. You'll learn to synthesize complex findings into clear narratives, with professional visualizations that inform strategic decisions.

Calculate Product Margins and Profitability

Build a comprehensive margin analysis model in Power Business Intelligence (Power BI) using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX). You'll create measures for gross margin and contribution margin at the product level, enabling granular profitability analysis.

Cost Drivers in Margin Analysis

Use Power BI's Key Influencers and decomposition analysis to identify what's driving margin changes. You'll learn to systematically investigate cost increases and margin erosion patterns.

Margin Detective: Drive Action

Transform margin analysis into strategic recommendations. You'll evaluate improvement opportunities, prioritize actions, and create compelling presentations that drive pricing and cost decisions.

Financial Statements: AI-Powered Analysis

Harness Power BI Copilot to rapidly analyze income statement variances and identify key EBIT drivers. You'll learn to prompt AI effectively, interpret results, and validate insights for accuracy.

Financial Statements: Build Analysis Templates

Create reusable financial analysis templates in Excel with automated formatting and alerts. You'll build a professional framework that standardizes your analysis process and highlights key insights automatically.

Project Module: Integrated Financial Analysis

Bring together all core financial analysis skills in a comprehensive quarterly review project. You'll analyze a company's Q4 performance using variance analysis, financial ratios, margin investigation, and AI-powered insights to create an executive-ready report that simulates a real-world quarterly close process.