By the end
What you'll build
- Explain the accrual basis and say which period a given transaction's revenue or cost belongs to
- Read a profit and loss statement line by line and name what each line means
- Calculate gross, operating and net margin, and name the four possible causes of a gross margin move
- Read a balance sheet, explain why it balances, and link net profit to retained earnings
- Bridge net profit to cash from operations and explain how a profitable business runs out of cash
- Calculate days sales outstanding, days inventory, days payables and the cash conversion cycle, and value one day of each
- Work out contribution margin, break-even volume, the volume needed for a target profit, and margin of safety
- Find a loss-making segment hidden inside a healthy average and choose between repricing, re-costing and exiting it
- Build a bottom-up budget where every line is a driver times a rate, and explain a monthly variance in under a minute
- Assess an investment using payback, net present value and internal rate of return, and state the limits of each
The shape of it
How this course works
Short lessons
48 lessons across 7 modules, each small enough to finish in one sitting.
Practice as you go
Every lesson ends with a small space for what you noticed — the doing is the learning.
A certificate at the end
Finish the course and earn a certificate anyone can verify with a link.
Ready when you are.
Make an account and this course opens up — your progress is saved from the very first lesson.