What is business finance?

Business finance is the initial capital that is required to start a business and the managing of that money. It is usually in the form of funding that you've raised to start, maintain, or expand the commercial business venture. In a broader sense, business finance refers to the entire category of a company or organization managing its money, to have clarity on the company's investments, budgeting, credit, savings, and business forecasting. The financial decisions for a small startup or a sole proprietorship usually fall to the owner of the business. In a larger company, the matters of business finance are under the responsibility of an accountant or financial manager. These managers may have a team of people to help with the administrative tasks involved with company payroll, taxes, payments, and other areas of business finance.

Why is it important to learn business finance?

It's important to learn business finance because you can gain insights into funding a business operation, whether through a commercial loan, line of credit, or crowdfunding. Business finance can help you understand the pros and cons of raising money for your business, how to allocate capital, and how to best fund the day-to-day operations of the business. If you want to work in business, you'll have to learn to deal with financial issues of all kinds, especially if you own or manage the business. Learning business finance helps you determine how to make capital investment decisions, how to obtain business loans as needed, assess business valuation for the business, apply for grant funding, or liquidate some of your business to raise money.

What career opportunities can arise from learning business finance?

The types of careers associated with business finance knowledge and a good educational background include financial management roles like financial analysts, budget analysts, tax accountants, financial forecasters, and financial managers. Once you're armed with good work experience, you can branch out to work on your own or move into different industries as an insurance agent, a real estate broker, or a commercial loan officer.

How can taking online courses help me learn business finance?

Taking online courses about business finance can open up new areas of interest to you in venture capital financing, cash flow analysis, international finance, investments and markets, and more. If you're already working in a financial role, and want to expand your knowledge, taking online courses in business finance can help you to better understand income statements, balance sheets, and financial ratio analysis models.

What are the benefits of taking an online Business Finance course?

Online Business Finance courses offer a convenient and flexible way to enhance your existing knowledge or learn new Business Finance skills. With a wide range of Business Finance classes, you can conveniently learn at your own pace to advance your Business Finance career skills.

What Business Finance courses are best for training and upskilling employees or the workforce?

When looking to enhance your workforce's skills in Business Finance, it's crucial to select a course that aligns with their current abilities and learning objectives. Our Skills Dashboard is an invaluable tool for identifying skill gaps and choosing the most appropriate course for effective upskilling. For a comprehensive understanding of how our courses can benefit your employees, explore the enterprise solutions we offer. Discover more about our tailored programs at Coursera for Business here .

Top Business Finance Courses - Learn Business Finance Online

Explore the Business Finance Course Catalog

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Certificado en Gestión de Inversiones
Skills you'll gain: Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Statements, Capital Markets, Portfolio Management, Accrual Accounting, Financial Analysis, Investments, Income Statement, Risk Management, Financial Reporting, Balance Sheet, Financial Data, Financial Accounting, Financial Market, Accounting, Business Ethics, Business Risk Management, Finance, Financial Modeling, Financial Trading
Credit offered
Mastertrack · 6 - 12 Months
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Graduate Certificate in Digital Marketing
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Management Accounting, Fund Accounting, Operations Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Statement Analysis, Marketing, Risk Management, Machine Learning Algorithms, Business Strategy, Financial Auditing, Descriptive Statistics, Variance Analysis, Process Improvement, Marketing Analytics, Generative AI, Financial Market, Strategic Decision-Making, Corporate Tax, Global Marketing
Credit offered
Graduate Certificate · 6 - 12 Months
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
CPA Pathways Graduate Certificate
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Management Accounting, Fund Accounting, Operations Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Statement Analysis, Marketing, Risk Management, Machine Learning Algorithms, Business Strategy, Financial Auditing, Descriptive Statistics, Variance Analysis, Process Improvement, Marketing Analytics, Generative AI, Financial Market, Strategic Decision-Making, Corporate Tax, Global Marketing
Credit offered
Graduate Certificate · 6 - 12 Months
Status: New
Coursera
Facebook Monetization: Collaborate with Brands
Skills you'll gain: Facebook, Target Audience, Social Media Management, Social Media Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Content Strategy, Content Marketing, Goal Setting, Business Development, New Business Development, Live Streaming
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
Status: New
Coursera
Instagram Strategy: Effective Content
Skills you'll gain: Instagram, Social Media Content, Competitive Analysis, Target Audience, Content Strategy, Social Media Strategy, Content Marketing, Market Intelligence, Social Media, Scheduling, Content Creation
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Value Chain Management Graduate Certificate
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Management Accounting, Fund Accounting, Operations Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Statement Analysis, Marketing, Risk Management, Machine Learning Algorithms, Business Strategy, Financial Auditing, Descriptive Statistics, Variance Analysis, Process Improvement, Marketing Analytics, Generative AI, Financial Market, Strategic Decision-Making, Corporate Tax, Global Marketing
Credit offered
Graduate Certificate · 6 - 12 Months
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Accounting Foundations Graduate Certificate
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Management Accounting, Fund Accounting, Operations Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Statement Analysis, Marketing, Risk Management, Machine Learning Algorithms, Business Strategy, Financial Auditing, Descriptive Statistics, Variance Analysis, Process Improvement, Marketing Analytics, Generative AI, Financial Market, Strategic Decision-Making, Corporate Tax, Global Marketing
Credit offered
Graduate Certificate · 6 - 12 Months
IIT Roorkee
Executive MBA
Skills you'll gain: New Product Development, Mergers & Acquisitions, FinTech, Capital Budgeting, Supply Chain, Integrated Marketing Communications, Business Marketing, Sales Process, Innovation, Succession Planning, Management Accounting, Supply Chain Management, Statistical Process Controls, Product Management, Marketing Management, Revenue Management, Sampling (Statistics), Production Schedule, Project Portfolio Management, Financial Statement Analysis
Earn a degree
Degree · 1 - 4 Years
Status: New
University of Virginia
Coding Algorithms with AI
Skills you'll gain: Model View Controller, Debugging, JSON, User Story, Test Case, Algorithms, User Interface (UI), User Experience Design, Artificial Intelligence, Javascript, Automation
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Graduate Certificate in Taxation
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Management Accounting, Fund Accounting, Operations Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Statement Analysis, Marketing, Risk Management, Machine Learning Algorithms, Business Strategy, Financial Auditing, Descriptive Statistics, Variance Analysis, Process Improvement, Marketing Analytics, Generative AI, Financial Market, Strategic Decision-Making, Corporate Tax, Global Marketing
Credit offered
Graduate Certificate · 6 - 12 Months
University of North Texas
Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences
Skills you'll gain: Operations Management, Exploratory Data Analysis, Mediation, Change Management, Business Writing, Compensation and Benefits, Integrated Marketing Communications, Apache Hadoop, Consumer Behaviour, Organizational Change, Stakeholder Management, Event Management, Grammar, Social Media Strategy, Business Ethics, Sales Process, Diversity Awareness, Conflict Management, Research, Nutrition and Diet
Earn a degree
Degree · 1 - 4 Years
Google Cloud
Modernizing Data Lakes & Data Warehouses with GCP - 한국어
Skills you'll gain: Google Cloud Platform, Data Lakes, Data Warehousing, Cloud Engineering, Cloud Storage, Data Infrastructure, Cloud Solutions, Data Pipelines, Data Architecture, Big Data, Business Intelligence, SQL, Scalability
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 3 Months