Budgeting and Financial Analysis for Small Businesses

Course Description

This course will introduce you to the budgeting process and financial analysis. In module one, you will develop your ability to prepare budgets, generate pro forma financial statements, and analyze budget variances. Module two will focus on analyzing the financial position of your business through financial ratio analysis, benchmarking, and break-even analysis.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the learner should be able to:

• Understand the importance of budgeting and financial planning
• Demonstrate an understanding of the role that budgets play in measuring performance against established goals
• Differentiate between strategic and tactical budgeting
• Analyze the master budget through variance analysis
• Prepare and analyze pro forma financial statements
• Explain the importance of the cash budget and describe how it is created
• Define financial (ratio) analysis and explain its objectives
• Assess the pitfalls of financial (ratio) analysis
• Identify the various categories of financial ratios typically used in small business environments
• Explain the factors and assumptions involved in break-even analysis
• Compute the break-even point and break-even revenue for a given product