Profitable and out of cash confuses you
You have heard it can happen and cannot see how.
Courses
See what you would learn
Read a set of accounts and know what the business is doing.
A course on financial statements for people who are not accountants. It covers what profit, cash flow and the balance sheet each show, how they fit together, and the questions to ask when the numbers do not line up.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.
Type this when Cadence asks what you want to learn
I want to understand what financial statements say about a business. Teach me the basics of profit, cash flow, and the balance sheet and how they fit together.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
- Best for
- Business
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons, sized to your goal
- Lesson pace
- About 10 minutes a day
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store, with early features and Android testing access
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- Do you need this for your job, for investing, or to understand your own business?
- Have you looked at a set of accounts before, or is this the first time?
- Which number confuses you most: profit versus cash, or the balance sheet?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
You skip the finance slides
The numbers go up on screen and you wait for the words to come back.
You run something and fly blind
The accountant sends statements and you file them unread.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06Three questions, three statements
Did we make money, do we have money, and what do we own and owe.
The income statement
Revenue, costs and profit, and the judgement calls hidden in each line.
Cash flow
Why profit is an opinion and cash is a fact, and where the gap comes from.
The balance sheet
Assets, liabilities and equity, read as a snapshot of what the business has to work with.
Fitting them together
Following one transaction through all three statements.
Reading a real set
Applying the questions to accounts from a business you know.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Read the three statements
Know what each one answers and what it hides.
Connect profit to cash
Explain why the two differ and which one to worry about when.
Ask the right questions
Spot the numbers that need explaining, in your own business or someone else's.
Ideas this course corrects
Profit is the number that matters
Profit matters, and cash is what pays wages. Businesses close for lack of cash while showing a profit.
Accounting is exact
Accounts are full of estimates and choices. Knowing where the judgement sits is most of the skill.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
A course on financial statements for people who are not accountants. It covers what profit, cash flow and the balance sheet each show, how they fit together, and the questions to ask when the numbers do not line up. It sits under Business in the Work & ambitions part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Courses run 7 to 30 lessons of about 10 minutes, sized to what you asked for. One lesson a day is the intended pace, and you can go faster. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
The sentence to type
I want to understand what financial statements say about a business. Teach me the basics of profit, cash flow, and the balance sheet and how they fit together.
Open Cadence on the App Store, type the sentence when it asks what you want to learn, and answer a few setup questions. Free to start. Android testers can request early access.