IIT Kanpur and IIT Delhi invite applications for Free Online Course on Finance and Accounting for Engineers via NPTEL

IIT Kanpur has organised this course while keeping in mind the changing paradigm of the construction industry; the introduction of different contracting models, with the government trying to play more of a regulatory role; withdrawing from financial commitments, and the space being occupied by financial institutions.

IIT Kanpur suggests that civil engineers in the modern-day should be familiar with basic accounting and finance. This aspect is almost completely missing from any curriculum in civil engineering. Hence, there is a need to make relevant material available in an online course, which students and practising engineers can refer to at their convenience.

Who can enrol in the course?

This is an Undergraduate level course. But anyone can enrol in the course. There are no prerequisites, except you must have the desire to expand the horizon of your knowledge. Moreover, this course is a must-take for young practising engineers and engineering students from other departments.

Timeline of the course

This Elective course has a duration of 8 weeks. It will start from 18 January 2021 and end on 12 March 2021. If you want the certificate, you have to give a proctored exam on 21 March 2021. The last date to enrol is 25 January 2020.

Who will teach this Finance course?

Prof. Sudhir Misra and Dr Kumar Neeraj Jha will lead the course. Sudhir Misra is a Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur. He has a keen interest in concrete materials, construction and engineering. He has worked with consulting and construction companies also during his 35 years of professional experience. Further, he has also led the effort to initiate a graduate programme in Infrastructure Engineering and Management at IIT Kanpur.

Further, Dr Kumar Neeraj Jha is with the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi. He started his career with Larsen and Toubro. Here, he was instrumental in the successful completion of a number of construction projects of national importance. He has published more than 80 papers in a number of international and national journals and conference proceedings. He has supervised 4 PhD students and more than 60 M.Tech. students.

What will the course teach?

This is an 8-week-long course. Here’s the itinerary for the course.

W1: Basic Accounting and concepts in finance week, i.e. Book-keeping: definitions, objectives, elements, journal and ledger.

W2: Accounting & Concepts in Finance I: definitions, objectives, characteristics, limitations, basic terms GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)

W3: Accounting & Concepts in Finance II: Systems of accounting, cashbook, bank book, depreciation, provisions, reserves, accounting equation, journal & ledger entries, trial balance, profit & loss account, balance sheet, cash flow statement)

W4: Analysis of financial statements I: Financial leverage, financial ratios

W5: Analysis of financial statements II: Significance and applications

W6: Financial planning including capital budgeting I: Definition, financial planning options and objectives, time value of money

W7:  Financial planning including capital budgeting II: simple and compound  interest, rule of 72, methods of capital budgeting - payback period

W8: Financial planning including capital budgeting III: Accounting rate of return (ARR), net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR)

How to obtain a certificate from IIT Kanpur?

The course is free to enrol and learn. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the optional proctored exam. The fee for this exam is ₹ 1000. Also, the successful completion of the exam does not guarantee a certificate. To get a certificate, you need to get 25% from the assignments and 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100.

Final score = Average assignment score (>10/25) + Exam score (>30/75). If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will still not get the certificate even if the Final score > 40/100.

This printable certificate will carry the stamp from both NPTEL and IIT Kanpur. Further, you can enrol in the course here.