Small business owners in addition to understanding the business also need to understand two basic subjects. Finance and accounting. Here are two free online courses on accounting and finance that provide introductory training in accounting and finance. You can jump straight in or take a more detailed tour that follows:

• Corporate Finance Training: First Course in Corporate Finance – Training Guide
• Basic Accounting Training: First course in accounting for small business – Training Guide

Accounting Crash Course

The basic accounting short course for small business was put together as a quick accounting survival guide for accounting neophytes.  As small business owners while most of us understand debit and credit and the concept of Journals and Ledgers, some of us missed the formal organization of an accounting course.  The course starts with the very basics of accounting and builds up to the trial balance. The next part of this course will review the 3 financial statements including the balance sheet, the P&L and the statement of cash flows.

For those of you new to the topics of finance and accounting a quick terminology refresher may be useful. You may want to see the first course in finance before you start on the accounting materials.

• Basic Accounting training: Accounting training for small businesses
• Basic accounting training: Accounting training for small businesses – Introducing Debit & Credit
• Basic accounting training: Accounting training for small businesses – Preparing the T-account
• Accounting training: Small business accounting training – Books of Original Entry – Journals and Ledgers
• Accounting training: Small Business Accounting Training – Sales Journal and Sales Ledgers
• Accounting training: Small Business Accounting Training – Sales Journal, Sales Ledger and Trade discounts
• Accounting training: Small Business Accounting Training – Purchases Journal and Purchases Ledger
• Basic Accounting training: Small Business Accounting Training- Integrating Sales, Purchases & Returns
• Basic Accounting training: Accounting Training for small businesses- Cash Book and recording cash discounts
• Basic Accounting training: Small Business Accounting Training: Cash Book Example
• Basic accounting training: Small business accounting training – General Ledger example
• Accounting Short training: Small Business accounting training – The Trial Balance and accounting control
• Accounting short training: Small business accounting training – Reviewing the Trial balance example

First Course in Corporate Finance

The first course in Corporate Finance introduces concepts of Financial Statements,  Time Value of  Money, Risk and Return, Opportunity Cost, Cost of Capital, Weighted Average Cost of Capital and Return measures. It includes a case study on Electronic Arts valuation.

• The first training course in Corporate Finance – Session Zero
• Corporate Finance Training: Financial Statements – Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss and Cash flows
• Corporate Finance Training: The Balance Sheet, Assets, Depreciation
• Corporate Finance Training: Balance Sheet: Liabilities & Working Capital
• Corporate Finance Training: Equity and the Income Statement
• Corporate Finance Training: Risk & Return
• Corporate Finance Training: The many faces of Return: ROE, ROIC and Payback
• Corporate Finance Training: Discount rate and time value of money
• Corporate Finance Training: Present Value in Action
• Corporate Finance Training: Calculating Internal Rate of Return or IRR
• Corporate Finance Training: Opportunity Cost and Cost of Capital
• Corporate Finance Training: Beta, Calculating WACC or Weighted Average Cost of Capital
• Corporate Finance Training: Case Study: Electronic Arts (EA): Session IV