Course description

Busy but never sure whether you're really making money? This course shows you, step by step, how to understand the numbers behind your small business and use them to make better decisions, with no finance background needed.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and every calculation is shown step by step. You follow the owner of a bike repair and hire workshop as she works out her real costs, raises her prices, builds a budget and a cash flow forecast, and reviews her first half-year, including the mistakes along the way. Every section has a worksheet, answers, a cheat sheet and ready-made spreadsheets.

What you'll learn

• The basics: sales, costs, profit and cash, and why profit isn't the same as money in the bank.
• Costs: fixed and variable costs, direct costs per job, overheads, a cost per hour and paying yourself.
• Pricing: markup and margin, pricing your time, value pricing, discounts and raising prices.
• Break-even: contribution, break-even point, margin of safety and your sales mix.
• Budgets and forecasts: a 12-month budget, budget against actual, and a cash flow forecast with tax payments and seasonal gaps.
• Managing cash: getting paid on time, late payment rules, stock, suppliers and cutting costs sensibly.
• Borrowing and reviewing: finance options in outline, comparing offers safely, reading a profit and loss account and a monthly money routine.

The final project

You'll build your own cost sheet, check your prices, and create a 12-month budget and cash flow forecast for your business, then learn to review them as the year goes on. A project brief, a half-year review workbook and a yearly money calendar are included.

Who this course is for

• Sole traders and small business owners who want to understand their figures.
• Makers, freelancers and service businesses unsure whether their prices are right.
• Anyone who has been caught out by a cash shortage and wants to see it coming next time.

How the course works

Read each lesson, then do the practical task with your own figures using the workbooks in the practice pack. It is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice, and it points you to GOV.UK, an accountant or free help where you need it. Go at your own pace and keep lifetime access.

What will I learn?

• Explain the difference between sales, profit and cash, and why a profitable business can run short of money
• Work out your fixed, variable and direct costs, and a cost per hour that includes your own pay
• Set prices using markup, margin and value, and check what discounts really cost
• Calculate contribution, break-even and a margin of safety for your business
• Build a 12-month budget and compare it with what actually happens
• Build a 12-month cash flow forecast that includes tax payments and seasonal gaps
• Get paid on time, keep stock lean, and compare finance offers safely
• Read a simple profit and loss account and run a monthly money routine

Frequently asked questions