Fundamentals of Financial Analysis

Overview

Making decisions based on financial data is essential to the success of any company. This accounting and finance Professional Certificate, brought to you by Babson College, the #1 school in Entrepreneurship (U.S. News & World Report), will give learners the foundational accounting and finance skills needed to make critical business decisions.Whether you’re an entrepreneur, in management, or looking to become a financial analyst, this program will help you make informed decisions by teaching you financial fundamentals: terms, metrics, and the pillars of primary financial statements: income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow.

You'll learn how to interpret and use the information contained in financial statements to make key operating decisions, evaluate a company’s performance, and create forecasts of profits and cash flow. You will learn how to use ratios to diagnose a company's financial health and apply these concepts and tools to valuation, liquidity and other factors for sound decision-making.

Job Outlook

This  Fundamentals of Financial Analysis Professional Certificate in collaboration with Babson College ‑ BabsonX is perfect for those looking to break into roles as financial analysts or financial managers and any business professional seeking foundational finance skills for making data-driven decisions.

Employment of financial managers is projected to grow 17 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. About 64,200 openings for financial managers are projected each year, on average, over the decade.

The median salary for a financial analyst was nearly double the median salary of all occupations The median annual wage for financial analysts was $83,660 in May 2020.

What you will learn

• How primary financial statements are constructed and what types of information are captured in each statement.
• How to calculate key performance ratios and use those metrics to evaluate the performance of your business.
• How to create a financial forecast that you can use to better manage your business and to present to potential investors and creditors.
• Apply data analysis to managerial decisions, especially in start-ups.