8 Colleges and Universities Offering Free Accounting Courses Online
Looking to expand your knowledge of accounting? Here's a list of colleges and universities that offer free, high quality accounting courses online.
Earn the Lowest-Cost college credit from free courses!
Most free courses don't lead to college credit. Education Portal Academy's free courses do!
Here's how it works:
1. Watch free video lessons.
2. Take free quizzes.
3. Pass an exam to earn real college credit.
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (mit.edu)
- Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting Course
- Financial Accounting
- Taxes and Business Strategy
The MIT OpenCourseWare project makes graduate level accounting courses from the MIT Sloan School of Management available to everyone. Online courses consist of PDF lecture notes, reading lists, and in some cases, quizzes and examinations. No registration is required.
2. Open University (open.ac.uk)
- Introduction to the Context of Accounting
- Influences on Accounting Regulation Course
- Investment Risk
The U.K.'s Open University is dedicated to providing a high quality university education that is free for everyone. There are several accounting courses offered through the project, all of which are comprehensive and easily accessible from the site. No registration is required.
3. New Jersey Institute of Technology (njit.edu)
The New Jersey Institute of Technology offers several free business and accounting courses through their OpenCourseWare project. Course materials include syllabi and video lectures, and are available without registration.
4. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (kutztownsbdc.org)
Kutztown University's Small Business Development Center offers four different free accounting courses online. Courses range from intermediate to advanced and include audio stream, high end graphics and interactive case studies. Registration is required, but there is no charge.
5. University of Alaska - College of Business and Public Policy (scob.alaska.edu)
Dr. Fred Barbee's Principles of Financial Accounting Course is an introduction to financial accounting concepts and principles. The course is free for everyone and includes access to homework assignments, practice exams, PowerPoint slides, learning games and other course materials. No registration is required.
6. University of California- Irvine (uci.edu)
The University of California Irvine offers one free accounting course that covers the basics of financial planning. The comprehensive text-based course is accessible through the school's OpenCourseWare website. No registration is required.
7. Gresham College (gresham.ac.uk)
Britain's Gresham College is well known for the free public lectures the school's professors give in London. Thousands of these lectures are now available online in streaming audio and video, including several on finance and accounting. RealPlayer is necessary to play most of the free accounting lectures. Registration is not required.
8. Wikibooks (wikibooks.org)
Although Wikibooks isn't a traditional university, it is a worthwhile free educational resource. The Wikimedia community also has a huge textbook collection that is free to everyone. The accountancy collection is a great place for beginners to start. No registration is required.
Earn Real Credit from Free Courses
While the free courses above don't award credit directly, there are two widely recognized and affordable options for students to gain real college credit.
Option #1: Pass a CLEP Exam
The College Board's 33 CLEP exams allow you to test out of your general education requirements. Credit is accepted at 2/3 of colleges and universities in the U.S.
Option #2: Prepare a Portfolio
LearningCounts.org helps you prepare a portfolio that proves your knowledge. A faculty expert then recommends how much credit should be awarded. The process is call 'prior learning assessment'.
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