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Detailed Certificate Requirements
To earn the certificate, you must meet all of the following requirements.
— Timely & Thoughtful Completion of All Coursework by Required Deadlines —
As you move through the course and exercises, you will soon discover how important it is for participants to be doing so at a similar pace. While you will have a great deal of flexibility to work on modules on your own time, we are very firm that all work in a given module must be completed by its deadline. We require this to ensure the social and group elements of the course (such as Peer Help) function as intended. Simply put, you won't be able to contribute to the discussion of your peers if you are far behind them in the course. With the guidance of the course calendar, and support from the HBS Online team, you will need to schedule enough time for yourself to thoughtfully consider the course materials and meet all of your deadlines:
Complete all modules and quizzes by their associated deadlines. There are seven modules in Financial Accounting, and each module concludes with a quiz. You will earn a score out of 100, based on the number of questions you answered correctly, upon completion of each module's quiz. If you do not complete a module by the deadline, you must still access and work through the module materials and complete the module quiz before you can move on. If you have not completed all seven quizzes by the final required deadline, we will not consider you satisfactorily complete and you will not earn a certificate for the course.
Achieve a 50% minimum overall quiz average. In calculating your overall quiz average for the course, we will exclude your lowest score. However, you may not leave a module unfinished and have it counted as the lowest score to be dropped. Your overall quiz average must be at least 50% to be eligible to earn a Certificate of Completion.
Originality of responses and use of outside sources. Though we do not expect that participants will always be able to provide a correct response to every question, you are expected to answer in your own words and to the best of your ability, which is an essential component of the HBS Online learning process. Skipping questions by providing insufficient responses such as Yes, Okay, or other one-word responses is considered incomplete participation. Citations are expected to be applied to your responses whenever you include outside information that is not from your personal knowledge, such as a website or Generative AI. This includes facts, statistics, definitions, and company information such as descriptions, earnings, and accounts. Please review the HBS Citation Guide for assistance with citing your sources. Improper citations or unauthorized use of Generative AI are considered a violation of the HBS Online Honor Code and are strictly prohibited. For more information regarding responses, properly cited sources, and acceptable Generative AI use, please consult the Academic Honesty Guidelines page.
— Active Contributions to Your Peers' Learning —
Following the HBS Online learning model, we believe learning should be social. Our goal is for this course to be an interactive and social learning experience and a chance for you to meet other school leaders from whom you can learn and seek advice. To get the most out of the course, every participant must commit to teaching and learning from one another. Your cohort’s diversity provides a unique opportunity to consider new perspectives and strengthen your own learning. You should be a problem-solving colleague for and with your peers. There are several ways you can show your participation:
Comment on other participants' postings. Throughout the course you will be able to see the reflections and insights from other participants. We encourage you to read these postings and "star" or comment on them. The Activity Feed – accessible via the homepage – includes "stars" and comments you receive on your postings.
Participate in team-based assignments. At various points in the flow of the course, you will be asked to work with one or more course participants to complete an assignment. Everyone involved will benefit from active and engaged participation to complete these course requirements.
Post to Peer Help. The Peer Help functionality gives you the opportunity to ask questions, share your observations, and respond to others’ ideas while you are working through the course. While we do not have a specific number of comments that we expect from each participant, we value the quality of each contribution. Participants who do not exhibit engagement in the collective conversation will not be eligible for a Certificate of Completion.
Please note: Participants who fail to meet all certificate requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the program. | 
