Excel Skills for Business Specialization
Beginner 56 hours English Professional CertificateFREE
Editor's Pick
Highest-rated Excel course on Coursera (4.9 from 54k reviews) and the only specialization run by a university accounting faculty.
What you'll learn
Confidently navigate Excel and create well-structured spreadsheets
Use intermediate formulas: IF, VLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, SUMIF
Build PivotTables and PivotCharts for analysis
Apply data validation, conditional formatting and charts
Use Power Query to clean and combine datasets
Automate work with macros and basic VBA
Run financial analysis: NPV, IRR, depreciation
Build dashboards for management reporting
This course includes
56h
On-demand video
60+
Practice files
20+
Graded assessments
Yes
Certificate
Comparison · LBS
Compare alternatives for Python
Same topic, different providers. We surface the trade-offs others hide so you can pick the course that actually fits your time, budget, and goals.
CCoursera4.9(54,000)
Excel Skills for Business Specialization
- Price
- FREEAudit free · Cert $49/mo
- Duration
- 56 hrs
- Level
- Beginner
- Certificate
- Professional
CCoursera4.8(124K)
Google Project Management Certificate
- Price
- FREEAudit free · Cert $49/mo
- Duration
- 160 hrs
- Level
- Beginner
- Certificate
- Professional
eXedX4.6(4,800)
Introduction to Financial Accounting
- Price
- FREEAudit free · $199 cert
- Duration
- 14 hrs
- Level
- Beginner
- Certificate
- Verified
Prices and ratings refreshed daily. We're not affiliated with any single provider.
Syllabus· 4 courses · 17+ lessons
- Getting started with Excel
- Performing calculations
- Formatting
- Working with data
- Printing and saving
- Logical and lookup functions (IF, VLOOKUP)
- Data validation and named ranges
- Conditional formatting
- Tables and charts
- Advanced functions (INDEX-MATCH, INDIRECT)
- PivotTables and PivotCharts
- What-if analysis and Goal Seek
- Auditing and protecting workbooks
- Macros and an intro to VBA
- Power Query and PowerPivot
- Financial functions: NPV, IRR, PMT
- Capstone: build a business dashboard
Instructor
NB
Nicky Bull
Lecturer in Accounting, Macquarie Business School
650K learners4 courses 4.9 instructor rating
Nicky Bull is a Lecturer at Macquarie Business School in Sydney, where she has designed Excel curricula used by Fortune 500 corporate training teams. She co-leads the Excel Skills for Business specialization with Dr Yvonne Breyer and Prudence Frith.
Requirements
- Microsoft Excel installed (any modern version)
- No prior Excel experience required
- Basic computer literacy
- 4–6 hours per week for about 6 months
Who this course is for
- Business analysts and finance staff
- Career switchers wanting a portable office skill
- Students preparing for first-job interviews
- Small-business owners running operations in Excel
About this provider
C
Coursera
University-backed online learning platform · 142M learners · 7,000+ courses
4.6 trust score·Refund within 14 days
Frequently asked questions
Macquarie's is broader and business-focused; Microsoft's MOS Excel exam is shorter and Microsoft-branded. Take Macquarie for depth; take MOS if you want a vendor certification.
For finance, ops and analyst roles — yes. Excel proficiency is still on most non-technical job descriptions, and Macquarie + Coursera is a recognised pairing.
Yes, the Advanced course covers macros and an introduction to VBA. It is not a full programming course but enough to automate routine work.
Coursera estimates 6 months at 5 hours/week. Most learners finish in 3 months by doubling up.
Audit the whole specialization for free (lectures + readings, no graded assignments). Or try ExcelIsFun on YouTube — completely free, project-based.