Seeking Resources for Small Business Financial Know-How!
May 11, 2023
by a searcher from University of British Columbia in British Columbia, Canada
Hello Searchfunder community!
Here's the deal: Next week, I'll be going under the knife to fix my jacked-up knee from an old sports injury (wish me luck!), and while I'm on the road to recovery for about 2 weeks, I want to make the most of my downtime by expanding my financial knowledge regarding buying a small business.
I'm reaching out to tap into your collective wisdom as I gear up to ride my couch for the next 2 weeks and improve my understanding of small business acquisitions. Basically, I'm looking for a 2-week MBA!
By trade I'm a mechanical engineer with an extensive background in operations and business management from the Canadian oil and gas, chemical, and energy industries. I know my way around operations, but only know enough about the financial side to know how much I don't know.
If all plays out well, the plan is to go full time searcher by year end, primarily self/spouse funded but I'm open to anything.
I'm hoping for a few great recommendations for books, online courses, podcasts, or any resources that can help me up my financial game.
Wishing you all the best, and thank you!
from United States Naval Academy in Colleyville, TX 76034, USA
For a good general "MBA" book, look at "The Ten Day MBA" off Amazon. It does a good job of summarizing a lot of MBA knowledge.
I've done a lot of coursework on Coursera over the years and have learned a ton from it. In many cases the courses are free.
For accounting, you should sign up for the course "Financial Accounting Fundamentals" from UVA Darden https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-financial-accounting)
This particular course is taught by Luann Lynch. I may be a bit biased but she taught my first year MBA Accounting class and was an amazing teacher, I'm a huge fan of hers.
You should also take an intro to finance class to learn cash flow modeling, discounted cash flow, IRR, etc. Example would be https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-finance
from Villanova University in West Chester, PA, USA