CERT X468 - Finance Fundamentals
Description
Build the financial fluency needed to contribute confidently to strategy, budgeting, and business planning.Outline
You don’t need to be a financial expert to make smart business decisions—but you do need to speak the language of finance. This course is designed to help managers and emerging leaders not trained in finance build the financial fluency needed to contribute confidently to strategy, budgeting, and business planning.
Through clear, practical instruction, you’ll learn how to read and interpret key financial statements—income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements—and use them to assess a company’s financial health. You’ll also dig into the critical difference between profit and cash flow, and why managing these matters in both day-to-day operations and long-term planning.
The course also covers how to evaluate new projects or investments using simple but powerful tools like ROI, risk assessment, and opportunity-cost analysis. You’ll explore the time value of money concepts to better understand how today’s decisions affect tomorrow’s outcomes.
What You'll Take Away:
- working knowledge of essential financial terms and principles
- the ability to analyze financial statements and spot key performance trends
- confidence in distinguishing between profit and cash flow—and why both matter
- tools to evaluate the financial risks and returns of business initiatives
- an understanding of financial concepts like ROI, free cash flow, and time value of money to support smart, data-informed decisions
Who Should Enroll:
This course is ideal for managers, team leads, and aspiring business leaders who want to strengthen their financial know-how and lead with greater confidence in today’s data-driven workplace.
Course Format
This four-week course blends elements of asynchronous and synchronous components to provide learners with flexibility in project work, while also having face-to-face time with instructors and fellow learners via Zoom.
Each week students will:
- attend one 90-minute Zoom, during which students will participate in discussions and workshop their project with the instructor and peers
- complete three hours of assignments or project work
Students will be graded based on completion of assessed assignments/projects.
Technology Requirements
To participate in this course, learners will need:
- Access to Microsoft Excel
- If you do not already have Excel, you can access a free version through Microsoft
Testimonials
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Applies Toward the Following:
- Budget and Financial Management Certificate : Required Courses