Business Essentials Certificate | Northwestern SPS - Northwestern School of Professional Studies

Introduction to Financial Accounting covers the foundational concepts of accounting and the fundamental basics of financial statements, allowing students to identify, measure, and record accounting information, as well as communicate that information to external users. Specific topics will include the accounting cycle, accrual accounting, receivables, inventory and cost of goods sold, depreciation, debt vs. equity financing, and stockholders' equity. By the end of this course, students will be proficient in preparing financial statements and applying key ratios to analyze specific financial information. Students will join group discussions, complete online homework assignments and individual projects, and complete online examinations.

This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

A continuation of the introduction to accounting, with emphasis on providing relevant and timely accounting information and analysis to managers for use in planning, decision making, and controlling strategic operational objectives. Topics include the classifications of costs and different ways of reporting and analyzing those costs; the operating budgeting process; capital budgeting; and job-order, standard, process, and activity-based costing systems. To enhance the overall understanding of the textbook material, practical business references will be made through the use of videos and selected article reading.

Prerequisite: ACCOUNT 201 Introduction to Financial Accounting or similar knowledge is expected.

This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This course is an introduction to economics with emphasis on macroeconomics. The course covers aspects of general economics that everyone should know, including how the market system works, how prices are determined, why shortages and surpluses occur, and why some people earn high incomes and others earn low incomes. Topics include: supply and demand, competition vs. monopoly, inflation, unemployment, recessions, booms, fiscal and monetary policy, budget deficits, international trade, and exchange rates. Prerequisite: two years of high school mathematics or MATH 101.

This course familiarizes students with the basic principles of macroeconomics including the role of the government, the role of banks, the importance of interest rates, and the effects of policies involving trade, tax, and other concepts. The course covers a variety of economic topics, including why auction markets are so common, why countries would desire to trade with one another, how currencies are valued and traded, why shortages and surpluses occur, and why some people earn high incomes while others earn low incomes. Also, the class with have a couple interactive online opportunities to learn from different economic situations. Topics include: supply and demand, competition vs. monopoly, inflation, unemployment, recessions, booms and recessions, fiscal and monetary policy, budget deficits, international trade, and exchange rates.

An introductory course covering the basic concepts and models used in finance. Explores the mathematics and spreadsheet modeling techniques used in evaluating various financial assets, including stocks and bonds. Also surveys the risk-return tradeoff in financial markets and how investors gauge risk, as well as the basic concepts of Markowitz's mean-variance portfolio theory. The nature and impact of interest-rate risk on financial institutions is considered, and the duration of a financial asset is introduced in this context. Introduces the efficient market hypothesis and its implications for personal investing and corporate finance.  Prerequisite: While there is not a formal prerequisite for this course, it is helpful for students to have a basic understanding of algebra and statistics, especially concepts such as standard deviation, correlation, covariance and regression. Also, some knowledge of accounting is helpful, such as familiarity with balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements.

The focus of this course will be on quantitative tools that are primarily used in the field of finance. In particular, we will put heavy emphasis on the mathematics of interest rates, including the tools used to value common stock and fixed rate bonds. We will discuss how rates of return for these instruments are measured. We will then look at the capital budgeting process and learn how managers determine in which projects to invest a firm’s limited resources. We will also study the probabilistic and statistical tools necessary to understand how investors and financial economists evaluate risk. Primary emphasis will be on an intuitive understanding of portfolio theory and its impact on estimating the expected return on an asset given its systematic risk through use of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. Prerequisite: While there is not a formal prerequisite for this course, it is helpful for students to have a basic understanding of algebra and statistics, especially concepts such as standard deviation, correlation, covariance and regression. Also, some knowledge of accounting is helpful, such as familiarity with balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements. The course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition. This course was canceled on 3/7/23.

This course will introduce students to marketing research and the marketing research process. Students will examine the fundamental concepts and techniques used in marketing research and learn the value of marketing research with respect to decision-making in marketing and in business. We’ll discuss problem formulation, research design, survey design, sampling, data collection, and data analysis as well as how to effectively present the data and insights uncovered during the marketing research process. We’ll also explore qualitative and quantitative research methods, primary and secondary research, exploratory and causal research, and data visualization techniques. Throughout the course, students will gain hands-on experience in conducting, analyzing, and presenting both qualitative and quantitative research.

This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

Organizations are a part of our everyday lives. Whether at work, school, church etc., similar interpersonal and group behaviors and dynamics apply. The focus of this course is to examine several aspects of organizations from an integrated perspective, including how the formal organization, culture, people and work can all connect to transform inputs to outputs. Emphasis will be placed on understanding individual differences as the foundation of our interpersonal and managerial effectiveness. Case studies, classroom and online discussions, team assignments and presentations will all be part of the learning. At the end of the class, it is anticipated that students will have a better understanding of today's complex organizations and more equipped to navigate the workplace.

This course combines in-person sessions with online components - in-person Saturday dates are: 1/7, 1/21, 2/4, 2/18 and 3/4 on the Chicago campus. For the lecture and discussion components, this course is paired with ORG BEH 311-CN. This course is part of the Business Leadership year one curriculum.

This course has been cancelled as of 12/22/22. Please instead register for SOCIOL 302-CN: Sociology of Organizations. This is another required class for your program and is running at the same time and location as this canceled Organization Behavior class.

Our contemporary lives are shaped by participation in commercial, social, and government organizations. This course uses social science research to explicate the dimensions of formal organizations and show how they influence our public and private behavior. The course will investigate sources of organizational success (positive function) and failure. Students will learn how to address organizational dysfunction through applying research-based solutions. Exercises include case study scenarios, role-play videos, simulations, and path-dependent decision making. By the end of the course, students will be able to diagnose organizational problems and devise targeted remedies.

This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This course applies the concepts of strategic planning to various types of organizations. Initial discussions will provide a basic framework for preparing a strategic plan for corporations, non-profits and government agencies. Practical applications will be developed from case studies and the experiences of the instructor and students. Since we can learn from wide range of situational discussions, we will consider entrepreneurial and established operations, as well as success stories and failures. This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This example-based course examines technology companies and the various ways one can interact with the world of entrepreneurship. The course targets students who want to understand start-ups and venture capital or work at a technology company. We will focus on how businesses get off the ground and how your individual skills might fit into a technology company at various stages. A primary focus for the course is bringing real world experience to each topic via recordings, speakers and current events. You’ll leave this course having a better idea of career paths available in the technology industry. This is not a sector-specific course and will touch on various verticals within start-ups.

This course will include six required synchronous sessions on Thursday evenings from 6 PM - 8 PM on 3/28, 4/4, 4/18, 5/2, 5/16 and 5/30 via Zoom.

This course examines, from a philosophical perspective, a variety of ethical issues relating to contemporary business. Types of questions asked in the course include: Should corporations be viewed solely as profit-making entities? What is the appropriate regulatory response to recent corporate scandals? What obligations do corporations have when they market their products? How should corporations be evaluated when it comes to broader issues of social and economic justice, such as CEO compensation, health care coverage, and income disparities? What is the impact of the increasing globalization of corporations on these topics? The course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This course was formerly PHIL 390 Special Topics: Business Ethics.

Note: This course is limited to School of Professional Studies students only. Undergraduate students in other schools at Northwestern are not permitted to enroll in this course.