Financial Basics for Small Businesses

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Financial Basics for Small Businesses

4.6(29 reviews)
Estimated study time: 6h
Total video time: 47m
Award-winning instructor: Rachel Barnett
View pricing 14 day money-back guarantee
Beginner No prior experience needed
Bite-sized content Learn at your own pace
Get certified Accredited by CPD

For small business owners and employees, it can feel daunting to manage the financial side of your business. This is especially true for organizations in the United States, where tax forms and regulations can be frustrating and confusing at best.

That’s where finance expert and GoSkills course instructor Rachel Barnett comes in.  Rachel shares clear, financial basics that offer insight into how to navigate your organization's unique challenges and help you make confident financial decisions.

This focused, beginner-friendly course is designed to be a gentle introduction to the financial aspects every small business owner should know. 

In 11 bite-sized lessons, we will: 

  • Introduce Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Statements of Cash Flows, and explain their importance.
  • Discuss the corporate entities relevant to small businesses.
  • Explore common US tax forms and tax filing options.
  • Dig deeper into Costs of Goods Sold, and how to identify expenses.
  • Distinguish between cash basis and accrual accounting methods.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to understand important financial terms and statements, allowing you to confidently make financial decisions for your small business.

If you've been looking for a way to learn the financial basics you've been missing - or could use a refresher - this course is for you! 

Syllabus

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  • 1
    Income Statements Understand how business income and expenses are recorded and summarized. 4m
  • 2
    Significance of the Income Statement The Income Statement (aka the Profit and Loss) is a key to making well-informed financial decisions. 6m
  • 3
    Balance Sheets Understand the meaning of assets, liabilities, and equity, and how this report is different from the profit and loss. 3m
  • 4
    Significance of the Balance Sheet Understanding this report will help users identify errors and generally see the health of a business, regardless of it's size. 4m
  • 5
    Cash Flows This report tells the story of a business, where the money is coming from, and where it's going. 4m
  • 1
    Entities, Tax Types, Payroll, and More Identify different terms and tax types 7m
  • 2
    US Tax Forms for Small Businesses Recognize terms such as sales tax, excise tax and use tax 3m
  • 1
    Cost of Goods Sold Learn to identify which expenses are actually a cost of sales 3m
  • 2
    Expenses (and What are Not Expenses) Learn about categorizing expenses 3m
  • 1
    Accounting Methods Identify the differences between cash basis and accrual accounting 4m
  • 1
    Conclusion and Review A review of our course and advice for the future 2m

Certificate

Certificate of Completion

Awarded upon successful completion of the course.

Certificate sample

Instructor

Rachel Barnett

Rachel Barnett has been a QuickBooks user since 1995, eventually earning QuickBooks ProAdvisor status. Rachel owned and operated Primarily Bookkeeping, d/b/a Your Bookkeeping Fairy Godmother, a Seattle-area bookkeeping firm, for six years, until selling the firm in 2018.

Following the sale of her business, Rachel embraced her passion to provide behind-the-scenes support for other professionals. She started Gentle Frog to support businesses that employed an in-house bookkeeper or owners who chose the DIY route.

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QuickBooks ProAdvisor Rachel Barnett

Rachel Barnett

QuickBooks ProAdvisor

  • Quickbooks

Accreditations

How GoSkills helped Chris

I got the promotion largely because of the skills I could develop, thanks to the GoSkills courses I took. I set aside at least 30 minutes daily to invest in myself and my professional growth. Seeing how much this has helped me become a more efficient employee is a big motivation.

Chris Sanchez GoSkills learner
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Chris Sanchez, GoSkills learner