Finance for Technical Managers

Overview

In Finance for Technical Managers course offered by Coursera in partnership with University of Colorado Boulder, you will explore the fundamental principles of financial management. Topics include understanding and interpreting a company’s financial statements, the time value of money and its role in evaluating the economic viability of different projects, and the annual capital budgeting process every company performs when selecting which projects to fund. In addition, you will cover some highly practical topics, such as how to determine product costs, establishing a department’s annual budget, and ways of forecasting future sales. As a side benefit, the quantitative skills you will learn for business are identical to the skills necessary to manage your own personal finances. Therefore, you will extend your analyses to cover investing of mutual funds composed of stocks and bonds, and you will explore the fascinating area of asset allocation.

This specialization can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management (ME-EM) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The ME-EM is designed to help engineers, scientists, and technical professionals move into leadership and management roles in the engineering and technical sectors. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the ME-EM is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience.

Applied Learning Project

Learners develop the quantitative skills to create the business case for a project and to assess the health of a company from its financial statements. Learners then apply their knowledge to secure their own financial future by creating a personalized retirement plan.

What You Will Learn:

• Articulate the principles and concepts of finance and financial management, particularly with your financial peers.

• Understand how capital budgeting processes work within a company, how to select projects, and how to plan for the financial future of a firm.

• Interpret a company’s financial statements, calculate financial health, and use metrics to evaluate the financial viability of a new project.

• Apply your knowledge to personal finance investments in stock and bond mutual funds.

Skills You Will Gain:

• Project Valuation

• Financial Adviser

• Discounted Cash Flow Analysis

• Product Cost Analysis

• Financial Statement Analysis