Corporate Finance: Financial Analysis and Decision-Making (Udemy.com)
Unlocking Financial Insights for Informed Decision-Making and Valuation Strategies: An In-Depth Course
Created by: Robert (Bob) Steele
Last updated July 2026
What you will learn
- Apply financial ratios (liquidity, profitability, efficiency) to assess the financial health of companies accurately.
- Analyze financial statements using current ratio, quick ratio, and cash ratio to evaluate the company's liquidity position.
- Evaluate solvency by calculating debt ratio, debt-to-equity ratio, and interest coverage ratio for a comprehensive assessment.
- Assess operational efficiency using inventory turnover, receivables turnover, and asset turnover ratios to identify areas of improvement.
- Utilize forecasting and budgeting techniques to predict sales and cash flow accurately for effective financial planning.
- Perform break-even analysis and analyze leverage to determine the profitability and risk of the company.
- Evaluate financing decisions by considering optimal capital structure and its impact on the cost of capital.
Course Description
Welcome to our comprehensive online course on corporate finance and financial statement analysis. In this course, we will provide an in-depth exploration of the key concepts and tools used in corporate finance.
We will start with an introduction to financial statements, covering the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. You will learn how to analyze these statements to assess a company's financial performance and make informed decisions.
Financial ratios will be a central focus of the course. We will delve into liquidity ratios, such as the current ratio and quick ratio, to evaluate a company's short-term solvency. Profitability ratios, including return on equity and gross margin, will help you assess a company's profitability. Additionally, we will explore leverage ratios, such as debt-to-equity ratio and interest coverage ratio, to gauge a company's financial risk.
Forecasting and budgeting are crucial skills in corporate finance. You will learn techniques to create financial forecasts and budgets, enabling you to anticipate future financial outcomes and plan for growth. We will discuss methods such as trend analysis, regression analysis, and the use of financial models to make reliable projections.
Leverage and break-even analysis will be covered extensively. You will understand the impact of debt and fixed costs on a company's profitability and risk. We will calculate and interpret various leverage ratios, such as the debt ratio and equity multiplier, and explore break-even analysis to determine the level of sales needed to cover costs.
Financing decisions are fundamental to corporate finance, and we will explore different sources of financing available to companies. You will learn about debt financing, equity financing, and the trade-offs between them. We will discuss the cost of capital and capital structure optimization to help you make optimal financing decisions.
Effective management of current assets is vital for maintaining liquidity and operational efficiency. Topics covered include working capital management, cash flow analysis, inventory management, and accounts receivable management. You will gain practical insights into techniques for optimizing current assets to support the company's financial health.
Short-term financing options, such as bank loans, lines of credit, and trade credit, will be explored in detail. You will understand the benefits and risks associated with different short-term borrowing options and how to assess their suitability for a company's financing needs.
The time value of money is a fundamental concept in finance, and we will cover it extensively. You will learn about present value, future value, annuities, and the calculation of interest rates. These skills will enable you to evaluate investment opportunities, project valuation, and capital budgeting decisions.
Valuation methods for bonds, common stock, and preferred stock will be thoroughly explained. We will discuss discounted cash flow analysis, dividend discount models, and price-earnings ratios to assess the intrinsic value of these securities. You will gain insights into the factors that influence the valuation of financial instruments.
Capital budgeting techniques, including net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period analysis, will be covered in detail. You will learn how to evaluate investment projects and make informed decisions based on their expected cash flows and profitability.
Managing investment risk is crucial, and we will explore techniques for measuring and managing risk. You will gain a deep understanding of portfolio theory, diversification strategies, and risk-adjusted return metrics to optimize your investment decisions.
The course will also delve into investment banking and the role of underwriters in capital markets. You will learn about the process of issuing securities, initial public offerings (IPOs), and the various functions of investment banks in facilitating capital raising activities.
Long-term debt financing, including bonds and loans, will be discussed extensively. We will cover debt valuation, debt covenants, and the impact of long-term debt on a company's capital structure. You will gain insights into the factors to consider when evaluating and structuring long-term debt financing.
Additionally, we will explore financing through common stock and preferred stock, dividend policy, convertible bonds, and warrants. You will understand the complexities associated with these financing instruments and their implications for a company's capital structure and shareholder value.
Finally, we will examine the dynamics of corporate acquisitions and the challenges posed by foreign currency. You will gain insights into the complexities of international finance, including exchange rate risk and the management of foreign currency transactions.
Throughout the course, you will have access to comprehensive case studies, practical exercises, and downloadable resources, including Excel files and reference materials, to reinforce your learning and provide hands-on experience in applying the concepts.
Enroll now in this comprehensive corporate finance course to enhance your financial analysis skills, decision-making abilities, and strategic insights, and gain a competitive edge in the dynamic world of corporate finance.
Instructor Details
- 4.2 Rating
2,096 Reviews
Robert (Bob) Steele
Through working with students from many different schools, Mr. Steele has learned best practices for helping people understand accounting fast. Learning new skills and finding the best way to share knowledge with people who can benefit from it is a passion of his.
Mr. Steele has experience working as a practicing Certified Public Accountant (CPA), an accounting and business instructor, and curriculum developer. He has enjoyed putting together quality tools to improve learning and has been teaching, making instructional resources, and building curriculum since 2009. He has been a practicing CPA since 2005. Mr. Steele is a practicing CPA, has a Certified Post-Secondary Instructor (CPI) credential, a Master of Science in taxation from Golden Gate University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in accounting from The University of California Santa Barbara, and a Global Management Accounting Designation (CGMA) from The American Institute of CPA (AICPA).
Mr. Steele has also authored five books that can be found on Amazon or in audiobook format on Audible. He has developed bestselling courses in accounting topics including financial accounting and QuickBooks accounting software.
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Reviews
By Viktoryia Satsouta on 1/19/2026
If you are a newcomer and want to study at a very slow pace, that would be an ideal course for you. If you already know Excel and prefer to get condensed information, the course would be too dull and repetitive. It says the same things over and over again till the moment you feel frustration with that kind of repetitions. Each lecture contains too little new material. Probably if we eliminated all the repetitions, the course would be shorter like 10 times. For example, it takes 28 minutes to explain how to make a calculation of 2 numbers (honestly, it's a 2-minutes task). The lecturer says the same things about a balance sheet in 5 lectures (5-7 minutes in each), 5+ times he tells the same things about corporate shares. Maybe some people like that studying approach, but for me it was rather demotivating. Pro: - detailed explanation - it seems that the lecturer knows the subject - practice probs Cons: - too repetitive - the structure of the lectures - each lecture contains too little new material in comparison with a previous one - PPT quality (for me it wasn't a problem though, but it could be better in 2026)
By Felipe Sotomayor on 12/2/2024
Lot of people say the contents of this course repeats over and over, but i can tell this is explained very well, and it is explained in so many ways you won't be able forget anything and won't come back to this course. I wish there would be more courses like this, it'll take longer but it is going to stay in your mind forever.
By Suren Khosravi on 12/26/2023
I like the tutor, he is really competent and knows his stuff and is able to teach well, however the entire course content can be boiled down to 20h - 25h. 160h looks impressive and gives you, the potential buyer, the impression that you're getting a ton of value for the money you're paying, but more than half of the course content just consists of watching him typing down stuff in excel (excel probs) and repetition. I'd either wait until the course is really cheap like 15 bucks or so, or just go and watch a free youtube course on corporate finance (and there are some really good ones out there) because there is no way this course is worth 70 bucks, I'm sorry. I have seen other courses from Bob Steele having similar course lengths. Dear Bob, quantity doesn't equal quality. This might hold true for a company's income or cash flow statement, but NOT for a video course. I hope you can take this criticism to heart and focus more on key information for future courses.
By Matthies Verstegen on 9/23/2023
The course is not very well structured. Sometimes it is duplicative, sometimes it seems to skip stuff. It does not explain how different sections link or often fails to provide definitions or theories. It's very much practioner oriented, not academic.
By R C Manubhai & Pte Limited on 8/18/2023
It is a great eye-opener for me to enable my business knowledge with financial insights and I'm quite impressed that I could see a direct application of these concepts in my organization - thank you
By Anagha Jadhav on 5/23/2023
nice but repeating the same points with mixing different words although still good, the tutor is very knowledgeable and exactly what i was looking to :)
By Abuelkhair Adam Ibrahim Mohamed on 11/19/2022
The course is wonderful and the content is comprehensive. We hope that it will be translated into Arabic, and this will be wonderful and increase the purchase of this course in the Middle East. Because of my admiration for this content, it made me give this advice Thank you
By Perihan AYDIN on 7/30/2022
I didn't finished yet this amazing course but I learned a lot. I am sure when i finish this course i will realy improve myself in this field. Because this course not only inclueded theoretical knowledges, practical and theoretical knowledges are combined. Thanks a lot your efforts.
By Doruk San on 5/1/2022
If he didn't repeat every sentence that much, the course could have been significantly shorter, but impossible to understand and internalize also. He teaches in a way that whenever a question comes up, the next minute you have the answer. And repeating makes it easy to understand the big picture after every new information. Tried different ways to learn this stuff. Best course I have ever encountered for starters. Much appreciated.
By Deirdre Parsons on 1/9/2022
Learning a lot of practical information very quickly that I can immediately implement. For example, reading the financial articles in a newspaper make more sense!
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 84 / 100












