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Ratio Analysis

Learn how to use financial ratios and assess the financial health of a business.

Two people discussing papers with images of graphs next to a laptop

  • Duration

    2 weeks

  • Weekly study

    8 hours
Overview
Requirements
Educators

Get an insight into the true value of a business with ratio analysis

Financial statements contain important information, but what can this data show us about the health of a company? Welcome to Ratio Analysis.

Ratios are used to help stakeholders identify trends, compare results with other companies and assess performance. This course will show you how to use ratios to evaluate various aspects of the business, such as profitability, liquidity, efficiency, gearing and investment.

What are ratios? How do we calculate them? What do they mean and what are the implications for the business? These are some of the questions this course will help you address.

What topics will you cover?

  • Introduction to trend, common size, ratio and industry analysis
  • Use of analyses to evaluate company performance
  • Explanation of the main liquiduty and efficiency ratios
  • Introduction to and calculation of the main investor ratios
  • Learn how to interpret outcomes and identify causes of changes

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Identify the main user groups of financial information and their requirements
  • Apply ratios to analyse key areas of interest
  • Explore the limitations of ratio analysis
  • Calculate the main liquidity and efficiency ratios
  • Explain and calculate the main investor ratios

Who is the course for?

This course would suit anyone looking for additional basic accounting skills. These are skills that can help you make better decisions and advance in your career. It may be of particular interest to people in senior management and leadership roles, who lack an accounting background.

Please note that the staff described in the ‘Who will you learn with?’ section below may be subject to change.

Who will you learn with?

Winfred Akomeah

Winfred is a lecturer in Accounting at Coventry University. He presently teaches on various accounting modules and his research interests are in ownership structure developments in emerging markets.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured 5 QS Stars for Teaching and Online Learning in the QS World University Ranking 2020 and has received No. 1 in the world for Massive Open Online Courses in MoocLab’s World University Ranking 2021.

  • Established

    1992

  • Location

    Coventry

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control

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Join the conversation on social media

You can use the hashtag #FLusingvariousmethodsofanalysis to talk about this course on social media.