Finance Essentials

This online certificate program introduces non-financial managers to the essentials of finance. The course will help you become conversant in critical financial terminology, and you'll learn how to calculate key financial management indicators.

You will learn how to assess your organization's financial health by reviewing balance sheets, income statements, and statements of cash flow, and you will discover how finance and accounting tools can be used to support informed decision making within organizations.

Each 3 to 5 hour, self-paced course offers an assortment of interactive exercises, videos, selected readings, case studies, and self-assessments that engage you and structure your learning about organizational finance.

Upon successful completion, you can download a printable certificate of completion for this online course suite. This certificate has no textbooks or prerequisites.

Students who complete the Finance Essentials certificate are awarded a total of 19 PDUs (13 Strategic and Management PDUs, .25 Leadership PDUs and 5.75 Technical PDUs).  PDUs will be printed on the certificate of completion.

The Finance Essentials certificate consists of six courses for a total of 19 hours of online instruction. Students have approximately six months to complete all of the coursework.

  • Financial Planning and Control
  • How to Read a Financial Statement
  • Introduction to Business Statistics
  • Introduction to Finance
  • Time Value of Money and Risk
  • Understanding and Managing Budgets

After completing this entire certificate, students should be able to complete each of the following:

Financial Planning and Control:

  • Explain cost benefit analysis
  • Calculate return on investment and the payback period
  • Explain fixed and variable costs
  • Calculate break even and understand CVP (cost-volume-profit) analysis
  • Explain tracking and performance measures
  • Explain and calculate Balanced Scorecard measures

How to Read a Financial Statement:

  • Identify and describe the documents and financial statements included in an organization's financial report
  • Itemize and interpret the information in the income statement, balance sheet, statement of changes in shareholders' equity, and statement of cash flows
  • Correctly state the impact of specific business activities on cash flow
  • Define financial (ratio) analysis and explain its objectives and limitations
  • Identify the various types and categories of financial ratios
  • Perform calculations using financial ratios

Introduction to Business Statistics:

  • Differentiate between descriptive and inferential statistics
  • Distinguish between the 4 different scales of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio
  • Identify the appropriate graphical or tabular method for presenting your data
  • Create frequency distributions
  • Create meaningful presentations and graphs including: frequency polygons, bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, histograms
  • Calculate probability and explain its practical application
  • Compute the mode, median, and mean of a dataset
  • Calculate the variance and standard deviation of a dataset
  • Interpret sampling with and without replacement
  • Explain the significance of the area under a curve

Introduction to Finance:

  • Identify and differentiate the three most common types of business organizations and the structure of each
  • State the fundamental objectives of a corporation and the differences between wealth and profit maximization
  • Recognize the impact of social and ethical responsibility on business
  • Identify and describe the structure and functions of the finance department within an organization
  • Define the principal-agent relationship and strategies for overcoming conflicts of interest and motivating managers
  • List and define the five key principles that form the foundation of financial management
  • Recognize and define the five key financial markets
  • Identify the sources, rules, and life-cycle stages of corporate financing
  • Describe the function of the stock market and the three trading venues it utilizes
  • Recognize the factors related to interest rate determination and the impact of interest on an organization

Time Value of Money and Risk

  • Distinguish between points in time and periods of time as shown by a time line
  • Define compounding and discounting
  • Compute future value or present value for single payment amounts
  • Distinguish between single payments and streams of payments and between uneven streams and annuities
  • Solve for the interest rate or time period for simple present value and future value problems
  • Define risk
  • Describe how risk influences investment decisions
  • Calculate risk and rates of return
  • Describe how diversification can limit risk
  • Explain how diversifiable risk can be lowered using a portfolio approach

Understanding and Managing Budgets:

  • Recognize the uses and functions of budgeting
  • Recognize the key activities, considerations, and benefits of strategic organizational planning
  • Recognize the purpose and make-up of a master budget
  • Identify the components and calculations used to create a master budget and recognize uses for this information
  • Identify the components and purpose of an operating budget
  • Recognize how sales, production, and cost of goods sold budgets are created and perform related calculations
  • Recognize the purpose of cash budgets and how they are prepared
  • Identify ways the budget process can be managed for optimal results and recognize the benefits and limitations of the management-by-objective system

Each of these self-paced courses offers an assortment of interactive exercises, selected readings, quizzes and self-assessments. It is recommended that students complete the courses in sequential order, but students are able to access all six courses at any time.  Upon completion, learners are given a summary of what they've learned for quick reference while at work.

Each course has an "Ask the Expert" feature, which submits your questions directly to an expert in the field you are studying. Questions are answered within 3 business days.

This certificate requires no textbooks or prerequisites.  There are some downloadable materials which students can save during the program to access for further use.

Quizzes and Testing

There are quizzes and tests throughout the program. Each course contains exercises and scenarios for students to answer and self-assess their learning. Students are required to complete all content elements in each course and earn at least a 70% average test score to earn their certificate. Students will have three attempts at all graded tests.

As a non-credit program, students earn a complete/incomplete status.  Letter grades are not issued, nor recorded by Duke Continuing Studies.

Eligibility

All registrants must meet the following requirements:

  • Be at least 18 years of age
  • Possess word processing and internet skills
  • Be fluent in the English language (including reading and writing)
  • Be familiar with how online programs work and be comfortable using them
  • Be computer literate, have reliable internet access and a valid email account  (Please note personal email accounts are preferred as they are less likely to be blocked by fire walls and spam filters)
  • Meet the computer technical requirements specifications

Admission is discretionary. The office of Duke Continuing Studies, Professional Certificate Programs, requires students be a least 18 years of age and meet minimum suitability standards. Students are not matriculated Duke University students and university student privileges do not apply to Continuing Studies students.

Duke Continuing Studies reserves the exclusive right, at its sole and absolute discretion, to withhold registration or require withdrawal from the program of any student or applicant.

Certificate requirements

In order to earn a certificate of completion from Duke Continuing Studies, students must successfully:

  • Pay tuition in full (upon registration)
  • Complete all assignments and tests with a minimum score of 70% (Students have three attempts at all graded assignments and tests).
  • Complete the program within the six month time frame

Technical requirements

Operating System
  • Windows XP SP2 or newer
  • Mac OS 10.4.11 or higher
  • Linux/Unix (any recent version)
Hardware
  • 1 Ghz or faster CPU
  • 512 MB RAM
  • video card
  • sound card and headphones or speakers (some assignments have audio components)
Software
  • Microsoft Office 97 (or newer) or comparable office suite such as Open Office (free download available at openoffice.org)
  • Adobe Flash Player 9 or greater (free download available at adobe.com)
  • Adobe Reader/Acrobat Reader 7.0 or greater (free download available at adobe.com)
Web Browser
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or greater
  • Firefox 3.6 or greater (free download available)
  • Netscape, Safari, Opera, Chrome, and other web browsers may work, however may not render all features of the course(s)
  • Cookies must be enabled
  • JavaScript must be enabled
Internet
  • Reliable internet connection
  • E-mail account (to be able to register and to receive e-mail from the system regarding registration, course status, etc.)

Registration

Registration is ongoing; therefore students can begin the program when it is convenient for them! 

Registration is not available June 24 - June 30 annually due to the close of the fiscal year for the university.

Note: our enrollment system is a separate system from that used for your online training, and therefore, access to the online training is not an automated process upon your registration. Please be aware that there may be a time delay of up to 5 business days before you receive the email with your access to the online program. This delay will not affect your allotted completion time for the program. Please check your spam/junk folder because sometimes the access emails end up there.

  1. Register for the program using the links provided above.
  2. Receive an email within five business days from our program partner MindEdge containing details about how to access the program’s web portal.
  3. Log-in and begin coursework.  Students will have 6 months to complete their coursework from the date they receive their program access.

Registration Methods

  • Register Online using a credit card with our secure, real-time registration system. Add the course to your shopping cart and follow the instructions for checking out.
  • Register by Phone at 919-684-6259 during our business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm EST).

Is this program affiliated with any other office at Duke University?

This program is not affiliated with any other Duke office. It is offered exclusively through Duke Continuing Studies in a collaboration with MindEdge. 

Does Duke faculty serve as instructors/mentors/subject matter experts in the program?

For programs that include such features (not all do) we have chosen as instructors to use individuals who practice, and in many cases are certified, in the subject matter area being taught to enrich the professional working adult learning experience.

Is this program offered online only?

Yes, this program is exclusively offered online and is self-paced. No classroom programs are currently available for the Finance Essentials Program.

Who should take this course?

This course is designed for adult learners and/ or non-financial managers that are interested in learning about organizational finance.

Do I have to log on a certain times on certain days?

No, these courses are completely self-paced, allowing students to schedule the courses work as they so desire within the allotted access time.

Am I able to take individual courses?

No, the Finance Essentials certificate program is available as a certificate only and individual courses cannot be purchased separately.

When is registration open?

Students may register between July 1 and June 23 each year. Registration is not available from June 24 - June 30 annually due to the close of the fiscal year for the university.

After registering, when will students receive additional program details?

Within 5 business days of enrollment (excluding Duke holidays), students will receive an email from our program partner MindEdge with web access information.

Is access to a computer required during this program?

This is an exclusively online program and access to a reliable computer is required for the duration of the program.

How long do students have access to each online course?

Students will have access to all courses within the certificate for six months (180 days) from the date in which they receive program access.

How long does each course take to complete?

Each individual course is estimated to take between 3 and 6 hours to complete. The entire certificate is estimated to take 35 hours to complete. Completion time will vary by student.

Are extensions granted to students who request them?

No. Sufficient time to complete coursework has been given, and therefore no extensions will be granted. If a course is not finished and a student wants to re-enroll to complete it, he or she will have to purchase the course/package again and restart the training from the beginning of the course.

What are the technical requirements for this program?

See the Requirements section above.

How do students ask questions?

Each course has an "Ask the Expert" feature, which submits your questions directly to an expert in the field you are studying. Questions are answered within 3 business days.

What do students do if there are technical issues while completing the course?

Students should contact the Program Manager via email to troubleshoot technical issues. Students will receive a response within 3 business days.

How do students earn a certificate of completion from Duke Continuing Studies?

Students who complete all assignments with an average minimum score of 70% within the given time frame and pay tuition in full (upon registration) will receive a certificate of completion from Duke Continuing Studies. The certificate is downloadable after the course is completed. Students will be able to download the certificate for up to six months after completing the course.

Will these courses count for credits or degrees?

No. These courses are not applicable to a degree.

Upon completion of one or more courses how do students get verification of their PDU and IACET CEU credits?

Students download their certificate of completion from the Learning Management System. The certificate will include PDU and IACET CEU credits earned.

What is the refund policy for these courses?

There are no refunds given for online courses.

Tuition: $525

Duke Employee Discount

  • $20 off the fee of $525; Duke employee pays fee of $505
  • Student must register and pay tuition in full prior to receiving program access
  • Questions:  Contact Program Manager at 919-684-3379 

Discount must be requested and applied during the registration process and cannot be applied in addition to any other discount that may be offered. You may be asked to verify your status as a Duke employee.

​Group Discount

Do you have a group (Duke or non-Duke entity) interested in training? Contact the Program Manager for details.

Funding Sources

No loans can be construed to imply any degree-seeking status for students of Duke Continuing studies. Duke Continuing Studies courses are non-credit.

Duke Continuing Studies (DCS) will not certify (approve) loan amounts greater than the amount of the tuition regardless of the amount approved by the lending agency. DCS reserves the right to reject any loan which exceeds the tuition amount. DCS will not be responsible for refunding monies in excess of the tuition. Students needing to secure loan funding for books or other items in relation to the program are responsible for making separate loan arrangements with the funding agency. No loan funds will be refunded to the student.

Should a student choose to borrow less than the tuition amount, the balance must be paid prior to the close of the registration period.

Funding Sources

Our Professional Certificate programs are non-credit (not degree applicable); therefore, they are NOT eligible for federal education loans. DO NOT SUBMIT FAFSA FORMS for these programs. Some of our programs may offer payment plans. Please see individual program web pages for those details.

Other Funding Sources

The funding options listed below may not be applicable to all programs at this time. Please contact the organization offering the funding to see if you qualify and if the funds can be used for the program in which you are interested.

Sallie Mae Smart Option Loan

To apply for this private student loan, visit Sallie Mae’s website, and click the I’m ready to apply button. The following application should populate with the pertinent information for Duke Continuing Studies.

  • Under Loan Needs, select Student and then Undergraduate degree.
  • Select Career training school.
  • Select North Carolina from the drop down menu.
  • Under name of school begin typing DUKE PROFESSIONAL, then select DUKE PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATES, DURHAM, NC, 00292099 when it populates.
  • Click Continue.
  • Next, You've confirmed that you want a Smart Option Student Loan for DUKE PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATES will appear.
  • Click Continue.
  • Fill out Basic Information.
  • Fill out Permanent Address section.
  • Fill out School Information.
    • DUKE PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATES, DURHAM, NC, 00292099 should already have populated for the school.
    • Select Certificate for Degree/Certificate of Study.
    • Select your Specialty or select Other if it is not shown in the options.
    • Select Half Time for Enrollment Status.
    • Select Certificate/Continuing Ed for Grade Level.
    • Enter your Loan period begins and loan period end dates.
    • Enter your Anticipated Graduation / Completion.
    • Enter loan amount. NOTE: This may not exceed the cost of tuition.
    • Estimated financial assistance should be $0.00.
    • Under Loan request, click Use calculated need.
    • Do not check any box in typical school expenses.
  • Follow the remaining loan application prompts.
Wells Fargo Graduate Loan

Please note that Wells Fargo is no longer accepting new applications for their private student loans. However, students with an outstanding balance on a Wells Fargo private student loan may be eligible to be borrowers on a new private loan. See here for details.

Duke Hospital Employees

Duke University Hospital employees may be eligible for support from the Employee Development Initiative (EDI), which helps employees pay for short-term career-related programs, workshops, and seminars. For more information, visit the Employee Development Initiative site or call Duke Hospital Human Resources at (919) 668-2170.

Workforce Investment Act

The WIA provides professional and basic skills training services to those who have been unable to find employment. Please keep in mind that this process can be lengthy, so plan to apply well in advance of the program start date.  For more information on eligibility, the application process, or to find your local Workforce Development Board, visit the NC JobLink Career Center website.

AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps Education Awards are available only for AmeriCorps volunteers and can be used for educational expenses for non-degree courses, such as Continuing Education courses offered by qualified schools. For more information on qualified schools and programs, contact the National Service Trust at 1-800-942-2677, or visit the FAQ page of the AmeriCorps website.

Wire Transfers

Contact our registration office at learnmore@duke.edu for details on how to send wire transfers. Very specific instructions must be followed in order for our office to receive a successful transfer.

Online Refund and Transfer Policy

There are no refunds, cancellations, or transfers for online, self-paced courses.

Extension Policy

No extensions will be granted. Students who require additional time to complete the course(s) they registered for will be responsible for re-registering and paying for the course in full for a second time.

Tax Deductions

Course fees and expenses are sometimes tax deductible. Please consult an accountant concerning this matter. Non-credit programs at Duke Continuing Studies do not generate 1098-T forms, in accordance with the following IRS guideline:

  • Instructions for Forms 1098-E and 1098-T published by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, states “You do not have to file Form 1098-T or furnish a statement for: Courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is otherwise enrolled in a degree program…”