Finance for Non-Financial

With every business comes the cost of running it. If you have too many expenses, even if you're bringing in revenue, you won't end up with a net profit. That's why evaluating costs is so vital to the success of your company. In this program, we'll discuss the comprehensive information you'll need to gather. We'll go over how to evaluate that data to determine which costs are essential and which ones need to be reduced or eliminated. We'll also go over some helpful strategies to reduce your costs.

Welcome to Finance 101. Feeling anxious already? That is okay, not all of us are numbers people. This series is designed for anyone who wishes to dip a toe into the world of finance and is ready to learn the basics.

It is important for everyone to have a general understanding of this broad-ranging topic, not just for career purposes but for personal finance benefits too. In this first course, we discuss all that the term "finance" encompasses, the various skills that come with a solid understanding of finance, and why and how those skills are beneficial to you.

Finance jargon is a language all its own. In order to really delve into the study of finance, you'll need to know and understand some important terms. This course will cover some common terminology including assets and liabilities, expenses and cash flow, capital gains and losses, ROI, and more. These courses will give you a solid foundation of knowledge as you move forward in your study of finance, helping you to comprehend more complex financial concepts.

As a whole, a company's financial report provides a comprehensive look at their financial health. It's typically reviewed and may be shared with current and potential investors, government entities, and others who have a financial stake in the company. It lists every single transaction a business takes part in throughout a given period of time, including loan payments, purchases, and sales. This program will help you understand the main resources and documents needed for a financial report.

Every employee at every company impacts the budget of the business they work for, either directly or indirectly. Whether you're an accountant, supervisor, janitor, marketing intern, or anything in between, understanding your company's budgetary expectations and goals will help you be a better employee. In this course, we go over the basics of budgeting, including the different types, common timelines, necessary details, and objectives.

It's important to understand which types of budget will work best for your purposes. This course takes a look at the different types of budgets that are used depending on the strategy. We'll go over the most common types of business budgets: Zero-based, Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Value Proposition, and Incremental. Each budgeting method has its pros and cons, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each one can help you determine which is the most appropriate for your company at any given stage.

You've determined your budget, distributed it to the proper recipients, and now you're carrying out the plan. The next and perhaps most vital part of the process is budget reporting. Not sure what that is? That's what this course is all about. We define budget reporting and explain two important terms: favorable and unfavorable variances. Budgets aren't meant to be inflexible; they should evolve with the business, and budget reporting is the tool that lets companies adapt and grow.

Expense budgeting plays an integral part in ensuring that a company can turn revenue into profit while still being able to pay the costs associated with running the business.

In this program, we cover what budgeting expenses means and why it is important. We also discuss the difference between fixed and variable costs, and which costs may fall into both categories. A solid understanding of these terms will help you properly estimate total expenses in a given budgetary period and aid in better profit generation.

Budgeting revenue is often where business owners start, because revenue is what provides the money to pay for the expenses incurred by running a company.

Budgeting for revenue is also an estimate and requires careful attention to data to ensure your estimate stays reasonable and accurate. In this course, we cover how to budget revenue correctly, the impact of past, present and future trends, and two important considerations: capacity and supplies. This knowledge will allow you to accurately and reasonably plan a revenue budget.

Discounts on products or services are a part of every business. Perhaps you're running a promotion to increase sales, or lowering prices to move overstock off the shelves. Whatever the case, it's important that you understand how discounts can impact your budget. In this course, we'll take a look at planning and writing discounts into your budget and looking at your company's history of discount patterns. We'll also discuss friends and family discounts, reward programs, and wholesale discounts.

An inventory budget is an estimate of how much money or capital a business needs to purchase inventory. In this program, we'll talk about how to create this type of budget. We'll discuss data analysis and the types of data used for inventory budgeting. We'll go over sales forecasts, bottom-up budgeting, vendor analysis, and internal inventory controls. With an in-depth analysis of these key factors, you can create an accurate budget that helps your company reach its goals.

Businesses use accounting to create financial statements and analyze them to keep track of their finances. For that information to be meaningful and to represent companies fairly, everyone has to play by the same set of rules. Those principles are what this course covers, including the various standards used throughout the world and why they differ. We focus on the U.S. standard in particular and some of its most important principles, which aim to make financial reporting useful to investors, creditors, and anyone making financial decisions or improving company performance.

Accounting jargon is a language all its own. If you're not familiar with the terminology, having an accounting-based conversation is nearly impossible. In this program, we help you translate common financial terms so you can feel more comfortable interpreting and engaging in corporate finance discussions. We go over four useful terms to give you a solid foundation for understanding and discussing company finances.

When a company tracks its income and expenses, the method it uses is called its "basis of accounting." The two most commonly used methods are the cash basis and the accrual basis.

In this course, we cover what these two methods are, how they differ, and the pros and cons of each.

Fraud is a biggie in the financial world. It can affect companies of every size, so one of the biggest concerns for any company should be the avoidance of fraud. Understanding what constitutes fraud can help make sure you have procedures in place to avoid it. In this program, we'll be discussing what fraud is, why it happens, and what can be done to prevent it.

The balance sheet is one of the three components that make up a company's financial report. It indicates a company's assets, liabilities and owner's equity, and it helps a company evaluate its financial health and communicate that information to interested parties.

In this course, we go over the parts of a balance sheet, how to create one, and how to ensure that your balance sheet is balanced.

Did you see the title of this course and think, "Big, scary financial words"? Have no fear. In this program, we're going to break down benchmarking, ratios, comparisons, and trends so that they're easy to understand. We'll discuss what each of these terms mean, how they work together on a balance sheet, and what they mean to the financial health of your company.

We know that assets and liabilities are two important sections that make up a balance sheet. But what exactly constitutes an asset? Or a liability? There are many things that may or may not qualify, so this course is designed to help you determine what should and should not be included. We'll discuss the two categories of assets and two categories of liabilities.

Cash flow is one of the most important indicators of corporate financial health. It paints a picture of how a company receives, pays, and invests money. In this program, we'll talk about the basics of cash flow: what it is and why it matters. We'll go over cash flow statements, inflow, and outflow. Applying these cash flow management basics will help you better understand and develop your own company's finances.

A payable is money your company owes to someone. When you receive a bill from a company that has provided you with a service, that money owed is considered an account payable. Managing these accounts is an important part of cash flow management, and that is what this short program covers. We discuss prioritizing payables and go over some strategies for managing them.

Managing receivables is another important aspect of cash flow management. It refers to collecting the monies owed to the business and is essentially the opposite of payables. A receivable is an asset on the balance sheet that represents the amount of product sold on credit to a customer.

In this program, we cover issuing credit and setting up effective collection and billing systems.

Cash flow statements paint a picture of how money is flowing through a company, both in and out, from one period of time to another. They can be difficult to follow, but hold a wealth of valuable financial information. In this course, we'll go over how to interpret a cash flow statement. We'll discuss the four main sections that make it up, go over some key things to look for, and talk about the valuable analytics that come from this important statement.

The success of a business lies in balancing income and expenditures. Without expenditures, a business can't expand and grow. But without income, a business can't manage day-to-day operations or pay its employees. So in this program, we're going to talk about the basics of what income and expenditures are and how they affect a company's finances. We'll also go over both revenue and capital expenditures, how they differ, and where they'll appear on a financial report.

You're hopefully making money from your products or services, but have you thought about other potential income streams to help your company achieve its financial goals? In this course, we take a more in-depth look at income and the various ways that companies can bring in revenue besides simply selling their products and services. We'll talk about calculating net income and go over the most common types of income streams.

Every business has costs that are necessary to keep the company running. To stay financially healthy, you must balance these expenditures against the income coming in. Two kinds of expenditures affect financial goals: revenue expenditures and capital expenditures. In this program, we take a deeper look at what these are, provide common examples of each, and discuss their financial impact on a company.

Careful analysis and balancing of income and expenditures is key to keeping your organization on track to meet its financial objectives. This course helps you with the strategy involved in determining what works best for your company. We discuss analyzing expenditures and ways to reduce them when necessary, along with healthy ways to increase expenditures that will help your business in the long run.

Productivity indicates that a company is using its resources well, an area that should be examined closely when analyzing a company. Revenue ratios are a good metric of productivity and efficiency.

Metrics may vary from company to company, but the mathematics are simple once you determine which ratios need to be analyzed. In this program, we look at four common revenue ratios: sales per customer, sales per employee, sales per cash register, and sales per unit of time.

The cost of goods sold ratio and the gross margin ratio are two very helpful indicators of a company's efficiency. They provide valuable information that can reveal trends, help you budget, and help you calculate product markup. In this program, we'll talk about these two important financial ratios. We'll discuss what they are, how to calculate them, and what they mean for your business.

Comparing your company's financial statements against other companies can benefit you in many ways. This information can help you develop your own company's goals or show you how you're progressing against industry standards. Whatever your reasons, it's important to know the best methods to compare companies. In this course, we'll discuss different types of ratio analyses that allow you to make those comparisons.

Anyone looking to pour money into a company is looking for a good return on their investment. In this program, we go over three metrics a company can focus on to attract investors: liquidity, growth and return on assets.

We take a look at what each of these metrics means and what you can do to positively impact those numbers to help your business become a more desirable investment.