Finance Foundations

Build the accounting, valuation and markets knowledge that underpins every finance career.

Start lesson one

Your route through the course

Know what comes next.

Each section teaches one defined skill set, followed by a short test before the next section unlocks.

0 of 5 lessons passed0/50 course XP

Section 1 · 8 min

What finance does and how the careers connect

Understand how finance connects providers and users of capital, and distinguish the adviser, lender and investor career paths.

Intermediaries help capital move efficiently.Advisers, lenders and owners ask different questions.Most finance work still returns to three decisions.The job changes as responsibility increases.One company—three professional perspectives.Compare the whole career proposition—not one headline number.

Start section

Test 18 applied questions6/8 required to pass · Immediate explanations · 10 XP

Section 2 · 12 min

Financial statements and cash flow

Read the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and debt summary; then trace operating and financing movements across them.

Move from revenue to the bottom line in the right order.The balance sheet shows what the company controls and how it's funded.The cash flow statement reconciles opening cash to closing cash.A debt summary explains how each borrowing balance moves.Every operating decision leaves more than one footprint.Trace three movements without losing the accounting logic.£10m of net income becomes £4m of cash before financing.

Locked

Test 28 applied questions6/8 required to pass · Immediate explanations · 10 XP

Section 3 · 9 min

Enterprise value and equity value

Distinguish the value of the operations from the value attributable to ordinary shareholders.

Enterprise value prices the operating business.Move from enterprise value to equity value.Match the numerator with the right denominator.A higher enterprise value needn’t mean higher equity value.

Locked

Test 36 applied questions5/6 required to pass · Immediate explanations · 10 XP

Section 4 · 16 min

Valuation methods and DCF

Compare market-based valuation methods and build a DCF from forecast free cash flow through to enterprise value and equity value.

Match each value measure with a consistent profit measure.Public markets show how similar companies are priced today.Completed deals show what buyers paid for control.A DCF asks what future cash flows are worth today.The financial model supplies the DCF inputs.Use unlevered free cash flow for an enterprise-value DCF.WACC blends the required returns of debt and equity.Convert each forecast cash flow into present value.Estimate the value beyond the explicit forecast period.The DCF produces enterprise value before equity value.A DCF is a range controlled by assumptions—not a precise answer.DCF works best when cash flow can be forecast with credibility.Reconcile the methods rather than averaging them mechanically.

Locked

Test 412 applied questions9/12 required to pass · Immediate explanations · 10 XP

Section 5 · 9 min

Risk, return and how markets price uncertainty

Explain why required returns change and connect risk, discount rates, valuation and capital structure.

Investors require compensation for risk and time.Higher required returns reduce present value.Priority shapes expected return.Price is the output of assumptions.

Locked

Test 56 applied questions5/6 required to pass · Immediate explanations · 10 XP