Course
The Foundations of Business Analysis course teaches the foundational concepts and analytical skills needed to answer quantitative business questions commonly encountered in the workplace. Students also learn to apply these concepts and skills to develop Excel-based analysis that provides clear, meaningful insight.
Students learn how to understand the questions being asked, structure the analysis needed to answer them, use Excel to generate insight that can support business decision-making, and communicate the resulting insight clearly.
The course focuses on the conceptual foundation underlying the financial tools and calculations it covers. With this understanding, students will be better equipped to apply these tools to the business questions they encounter in the workplace.
Excel skills are a central focus of the course. Rather than focusing on Excel functions and tools, as traditional Excel training often does, the course teaches students how to use Excel to analyze business questions. Students learn to build formulas, translate business questions into Excel-based analysis, and use the results to draw conclusions.
Those who master the material will develop a valuable analytical skill set that can provide them with a competitive advantage in the workplace.
UNITS
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The Accounting Matters unit teaches the basic principles of accounting. In addition to teaching the structure and function of each financial statement, the course emphasizes the conceptual logic behind accounting. With this understanding, students learn to read financial statements and analyze a business’s performance and financial health.
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The Pricing & Profitability unit introduces students to the process of developing the mathematical framework to analyze common business questions. A central focus of the unit is teaching how to translate equations into Excel-based business analysis. The unit applies these skills to problems such as break-even analysis, pricing decisions, and determining the sales volume needed to achieve a targeted profit.
This is the most quantitative and analytical unit in the course. It focuses on teaching students how to manipulate equations and build analysis in Excel. While the specific examples may not be directly relevant to every industry, the skills taught are applicable to many types of business decisions and form the foundation for business analysis.
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The Interest Rates and Debt unit introduces students to the factors that affect interest rates and the different types of debt used in the market. After establishing this conceptual background, the unit shifts to the quantitative and Excel-based skills used to calculate periodic debt payments, build an amortization schedule, and size a loan. The unit also teaches how changes in interest rates affect loan proceeds and covers simple interest, compound interest, and discounting cash flows.
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The Valuation unit focuses on how the market values assets. Students learn several approaches to determining value including multiple-based valuation, required-return valuation, cap rates, and discounted cash flow analysis, as well as factors affecting valuation.
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The Returns unit teaches how investors evaluate the returns on an investment. The unit covers cash-on-cash returns, return on equity, net present value, internal rate of return, selecting the appropriate return metric, the impact of debt pricing on investment returns, and how debt can enhance or reduce returns.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
I really enjoyed Rephael Cohen’s course and felt like I got a lot out of it. We learned a lot of practical things about business and finances, like COGS, break-even, target profit, income statements, interest rates, and Excel, but he made sure we actually understood what we were doing and not just how to get an answer.
What I really appreciated was how much time he took with each person. If someone didn’t understand something, he would stop and go through it with them until it made sense, even if it meant spending extra time after class or meeting separately.
You could tell that he put a lot of thought and effort into preparing each class, and he genuinely cared that everyone walked away understanding the material.
I also found Rephael to be a really good person to know, both because of his experience in the business world and because he is very willing to help and share what he knows.
Overall, it was a really good experience, and I think the skills I learned from the course will be useful whether I end up working in business or starting something of my own.