Best Online Business Courses

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania often ranks first as the best business school in the United States. Full-time attendance can be costly, but Penn offers a free online course taught by a Wharton professor on the edX platform.

The Business Strategy from Wharton: Competitive Advantage course will help you evaluate your current business strategy, locate sources of potential competitive advantage, and assess the strategic impact of the moves of your competitors.

The course is self-paced and requires a commitment of four hours per week for six weeks within a scheduled timeframe. The audit version is free, but an optional upgrade provides students with graded exams and a certificate of completion.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers Business Legal Requirements as a 16-part video course covering business registration, taxes, licensing, and employment. The series concisely explains the steps to follow to start a business.

Each video is simple and easy to understand. The course covers topics that may not apply to all businesses, such as securities registration and environmental regulations. However, the short video format provides a manageable and informative course load for all students.

The course is offered by the Small Business Administration, a primary source for business regulations in the United States. The video series is free, self-paced, and can be completed within twenty minutes.

The Sloan School of Management at MIT ranks as one of the best business schools in the United States and offers free online courses through MITx. Available globally for both undergraduate and graduate students, MITx uses the edX platform.

Financial Accounting teaches students how investors, creditors, and other users analyze financial statements to assess corporate performance. The course is part of the MicroMasters® Program in Finance, a five-course year-long experience offered by the university.

This course is instructor-paced and requires students to commit to fourteen hours per week for twelve weeks. Financial Accounting is offered as a free online course with an optional upgrade that includes graded exams and a certificate of completion.

The Leading with Finance course is part of the Finance & Accounting track at Harvard Business School Online. The six modules cover financial analysis, finance versus accounting, capital markets, creating value, valuation, and capital allocation.

The $1,750 course works through six modules with instruction, exercises, quizzes, and a final capstone project. The course is tailored to aspiring finance leaders and new to mid-career professionals and requires a free application to enroll.

The class is self-paced with regular deadlines. Students who commit to the six-week course for six hours per week will receive a certificate from the online Harvard Business School upon completion.

Presented by professors from the University of Maryland, this course introduces students to digital marketing strategy, lead generation, marketing through mobile devices, and omnichannel marketing.

Fundamentals of Digital Marketing benefits marketing professionals, analysts, entrepreneurs, small business owners, investors, and consumers and is part of the university's Digital Marketing Professional Certificate.

The four-week course is free and self-paced and requires students to commit three to five hours per week. Offered on the edX online platform, you can choose an optional upgrade for a cost of $199 that includes graded assignments and exams and a certificate of completion.

Entering into a contract is commonplace for business owners, employees, vendors, and government entities. This course provides an introduction to what a contract is and defines the purpose and significance of contracts.

From Trust to Promise to Contract is presented by Charles Fried, who has taught at Harvard Law School for over 50 years and has written extensively on contracts. The class is categorized at the intermediate level.

The course is offered by HarvardX, the online offering of the university, using the edX platform and is self-paced. Students must commit to eight hours per week for eight weeks. The online class is free, but an optional upgrade is available for $199 for students to receive a certificate upon completion.