Starting a Business 5: Managing Finances
Find out how forecasting and managing your finances can lead to a profitable and sustainable business.
About the course
The management of finances is crucial to a successful business; financial information provides the evidence to support your decisions about a business and helps to justify those decisions when you present them to other people. Whether you have an idea for a future venture or you already have a side-line business whilst studying, this course will introduce you to key financial information and gives you a chance to discuss your ideas with others.
This course is the fifth in a series of six about ‘starting a business’.
Course topics
- The importance of financial information
- An introduction to key financial information: sales revenue forecast; profit and loss forecast; and cash flow forecast
- Analysing and interpreting financial performance
- How to increase profitability
- Marketing a product in terms of price and number of sales
- Key financial forecasts: determining the viability of a business opportunity
- The business plan: business finances
Duration: 2 weeks | Weekly study: 2 hours
Course outcomes
By the end of the course, you'll be able to:
- Discuss why forecasting and planning are key skills within any successful business.
- Evaluate the entrepreneur’s business challenge: How can Hannah make her business more profitable?
- Assess costs, prices, gross profit and cash flow forecasts.
- Discuss sales revenue forecast, net profit and the purpose of a cash flow forecast.
- Identify business finances in a business plan.
Course developed by
As one of the UK’s largest research-based universities, the University of Leeds is a member of the prestigious Russell Group and a centre of excellence for teaching.