- …→
- Harvard Business School→
- HBS Online→
- →
Online Business Certificate Courses
- Online Business Certificate Courses
- Business Essentials
- Business in Society
- Business Strategy
- Digital Transformation
- Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability
- Marketing
- Strategy
This course is part of the track.
Introduction to Leading with Finance
Build an intuitive understanding of finance to better communicate with key stakeholders and grow your career.
6
weeks
6-7
hours per week
6
modules
Self-Paced
with regular deadlines
This course earns you a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online. What you earn.
Overview
Syllabus
Enrollment
Stories
FAQs
Key Concepts
Who Will Benefit
Gain the skills and confidence needed to understand the financial landscape of your business and industry in order to advance your career, especially if you’re in a non-finance role.
In an ever fast-changing world, it is important to keep abreast with how people around the world tackle finance-related issues and the experiences they go through.
Saad Hashmi
Associate Corporate Relationship Mangaer at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
Prepare for future professional opportunities and jumpstart your career by gaining an understanding of financial concepts, terms, and principles.
Leading with Finance offered the perfect opportunity to refresh my core finance skills and interact with a global group of colleagues in an online format that was ideal for my schedule.
Praveen Jayakumar
Medical Director & Co-CMO at Culinary Health Fund
Elevate your business knowledge and prepare for leadership responsibilities, such as assessing value and performance, budgeting, and communicating the financial implications of your decisions.
The program expertly leads you through progressively more complex theories and analysis with a pace that keeps you challenged and engaged.
Lisa Arpey
Executive Board Member at Ford's Theatre
What You Earn
Certificate of Completion
Certificate of Specialization
Learn More about what you earn
Syllabus
Download full syllabus
6-7
hrs
Module 1
Financial Analysis
Understand the building blocks of financial analysis and develop an intuition for the concepts behind finance principles.
- ShowHide Details
-
Concepts
-
Examining the Balance Sheet
-
Utilizing Ratios
-
Finding Meaning
-
Case: Unidentified Industries
-
Comparisons
Featured Exercises
-
Categorize financial ratios
-
DuPont Analysis exercise
-
6-7
hrs
Module 2
Finance vs. Accounting
Identify the fundamental differences between accounting and finance, and examine the use of cash as a measurement of value creation.
Highlights
What Is Cash
Our First Measure of Cash
Cash Conversion Cycle
Hon Hai Sharp
- ShowHide Details
-
Concepts
-
What Is Cash? From Income to EBITDA...
-
...and then to Operating Cash Flows...
-
Cash Conversion Cycle
-
Time Value of Money
Featured Exercises
-
Balance sheet and financial ratios exercises
-
Calculate net present value
-
6-7
hrs
Module 3
Capital Markets
Build a strong understanding of the players in the financial services industry and contemplate the financial system, its flaws, and potential solutions.
Highlights
Institutional Investors
Signaling
Tops Friendly Market
- ShowHide Details
-
Concepts
-
Capital Market Participants
-
Capital Market Problems
-
Solutions
-
Implications for Your Company
Featured Exercises
-
Evaluate perspectives on information asymmetry
-
6-7
hrs
Module 4
Creating Value
Explore the three pillars of value creation, why capital is costly, and how to use this information to benefit your organization.
Highlights
Three Sources of Value
Weighted Average Cost of Capital
Beta
- ShowHide Details
-
Concepts
-
How Is Value Created?
-
Costs of Capital
-
Cost of Equity
-
Mistakes
Featured Exercises
-
Market-to-book ratios exercises
-
Match companies to their cost of debt and industries to their betas
-
6-7
hrs
Module 5
Valuation
Determine how the future affects value today, compare various valuation methods, and discuss potential risks involved in mergers and acquisitions.
Highlights
Common Multiples
Spirit Aerosystems
Dell, Inc
- ShowHide Details
-
Concepts
-
Valuation
-
Multiples
-
Problematic Methods
-
Discounted Cash Flows
-
Intricacies
-
Mistakes
Featured Exercises
-
Calculate free cash flows, WACC, and terminal values
-
Practice scenario analysis
-
6-7
hrs
Module 6
Capital Allocation
Discuss capital allocation, analyze the various options companies have for investing their cash, and determine which “type” of money will empower new business ideas to flourish.
Highlights
The High-Class Problem of Too Much Cash
The Capital Allocation Decision Tree
Preparing for Mergers and Acqusitions
- ShowHide Details
-
Concepts
-
The Capital Allocation Problem
-
How to Grow: Organic vs. Inorganic Growth
-
Distributing Cash to Shareholders
-
Distribution Motivations
Featured Exercises
-
Capital allocation decision tree analysis
-
Weigh value of dividends vs. share buybacks
-
Capstone project
-
Free E-Book
Access your free e-book
Our Difference
Leading with Finance will equip you with an intuitive knowledge of financial principles and enable you to understand the market in which your organization operates, create and assess value, and communicate business decisions to stakeholders.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes and applying your knowledge through quizzes and a capstone project.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes and applying your knowledge through quizzes and a capstone project.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner completes an interactive question by dragging and dropping choices into two different categories
Get social by collaborating with a global community of peers before, during, and after your course. Learners who successfully complete an HBS Online program will be added to the HBS Online Community's Official Networking Group and gain exclusive access to events and other networking opportunities.
Get social by collaborating with a global community of peers before, during, and after your course. Learners who successfully complete an HBS Online program will be added to the HBS Online Community's Official Networking Group and gain exclusive access to events and other networking opportunities.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner types an answer in the discussion board in response to a peer's question
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based examples brought to life by industry-leading experts from companies like Heineken, Biogen, and Sanford C. Bernstein.
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based examples brought to life by industry-leading experts from companies like Heineken, Biogen, and Sanford C. Bernstein.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner scrolls through video interviews from prominent business leaders
About the Professor
Mihir Desai
Leading with Finance
Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance
"This course is about the big ideas of finance, and how they map the most important business and life decisions people make."
Dates & Eligibility
Starting
Mar
20
6 Weeks $1,750 + applicable international taxes
Application deadline March 11
View weekly calendar
Starting
May
15
6 Weeks $1,750 + applicable international taxes
Application deadline May 6
View weekly calendar
Starting
Jul
24
6 Weeks $1,850 + applicable international taxes
Application deadline July 15
-
- Free application
-
- No documentation required
-
- Confirmation within one week
All applicants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the course.
Learn about bringing this course to your organization.
Learner Stories
91%
gained deeper expertise in specific areas
I now feel that I have a broad overview of finance and can approach topics with a strong, integrated framework instead of approaching them in isolation.
Emer Moloney
Research Associate at Harvard Business School European Research Center
I use what I learned on a daily basis. Even though I'm not in a finance role and operating in a general management position, I need to make decisions utilizing the principles we learned on a daily basis. The course empowered me to do that with confidence.
Paul Accornero
International Commercial Director (MD) Asia Pacific & Americas
Read more learner stories
* Source: 2022 surveys and course data
All FAQs
Leading with Finance FAQs
Participants in Leading with Finance are eligible for a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Business School Online.
Participants are expected to fully complete all coursework in a thoughtful and timely manner. This will mean meeting each week’s course module deadlines and fully answering questions posed therein. This helps ensure your cohort proceeds through the course at a similar pace and can take full advantage of social learning opportunities. In addition to module and assignment completion, we expect participation in the social learning elements of the course by offering feedback on others’ reflections and contributing to conversations on the platform. Participants who fail to complete the course requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the course.
More detailed information on course requirements will be communicated at the start of the course. No grades are assigned for Leading with Finance. Participants will either be evaluated as complete or not complete.
You will have access to the materials in every prior module as you progress through the program. Access to course materials and the course platform ends 60 days after the final deadline in the program.
At the end of each course module, you will be able to download a PDF summary highlighting key concepts and accounting and financial formulas used throughout the course. At the end of the program, you will receive a PDF compilation of all of the module summary documents. We hope the module summary documents will serve as a helpful resource after you finish the course.
Once you've earned your Certificate of Completion, list it on your resume along with the date of completion:
Harvard Business School Online
Certificate in Leading with Finance
[Cohort Start Month and Year]
List your certificate on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" with the language from the Credential Verification page:
School: Harvard Business School Online
Dates Attended: [The year you participated in the program
Degree: Other; Certificate in Leading with Finance
Field of Study: Leave blank
Grade: "Complete"
Activities and Societies: Leave blank
Description:
Leading with Finance is a 6-week, 40-hour online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Leading with Finance helps students understand key financial levers that drive financial performance, examine how the capital markets work, develop a toolkit for making smart financial decisions, and gain the confidence to clearly communicate those decisions to both internal and external stakeholders. The program was developed by leading Harvard Business School faculty and is delivered in an active learning environment based on the HBS signature case-based learning model.
Related Programs
Financial Accounting
Professor V.G. Narayanan
Discover what's behind the numbers in financial statements.
8 weeks, 6–8 hrs/week
Apply by April 8$1,750Certificate
Alternative Investments
Professors Victoria Ivashina, Randolph Cohen, & Arthur Segel
Grow the value of investment portfolios with alternative investments.
5 weeks, 6–7 hrs/week
Apply by March 25$1,750Certificate
Sustainable Investing
Professors Shawn Cole & Vikram Gandhi
Evaluate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, and measure and manage impact investments.
6 weeks, 5 hrs/week
Apply by May 6$1,750Certificate
