For many, finance is the scariest areas of business practices. This is because finance incorporate the use of mathematics. Let me dissuade your fear by saying that basic finance requires only basic skills in mathematics.

Finance serves numerous purposes in business practice, but the most important is it’s role in decision making. That is finance, allows individuals to estimate the value of a decision or course of action. Understanding the value expected to be returned by multiple courses of action allows the decision maker to choose the course of action with the highest return on the investment necessary to undertake the project.

Finance entails or facilitate the following functions:

• Valuing projects or opportunities,
• Funding projects or opportunities,
• Establishing a budget and managing cash, and
• Forecasting future economic activity.

We will touch on each of these functions throughout this course. If you desire a more in-depth revue of finance, consider taking our Finance course.