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Business Essentials

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This online certificate program incorporates a consolidated, highly focused curriculum to provide you with a solid understanding of four key business concepts and how you can apply them at work.

Final Enrollment Date

Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023

Duration and Format

11 weeks online, three hours per week

Apply Now
Schedule an Advising Appointment
Online Format

Asynchronous, with four live webinar sessions.

Management: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Marketing: Wednesday, March 15, 2023, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Accounting: Wednesday, April 5, 2023, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Finance: Wednesday, April 19, 2023, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Students are strongly encouraged to attend all live webinar sessions; however, recordings can be arranged when scheduling conflicts arise.

Program Cost

$1,800

Session Start Date

Jan. 29, 2023

Applications will be received and processed on a rolling basis through Feb. 2, 2023. The next session begins on Jan. 29, 2023, and we encourage you to submit your materials prior to the program start date.

Request More Information

Boost Your Business IQ

Make better business decisions and gain skills to help you succeed in four key business areas: accounting, finance, management, and marketing.

The Business Essentials certificate is ideal for recent graduates, working professionals, and current college students looking for a flexible and time-efficient way to gain essential business skills, boost job performance, improve their business, or explore new opportunities. You will:

  • Increase your business fluency
  • Gain important skills valued by employers
  • Learn business tools and best practices
  • Gain a competitive advantage on the job or in the job search
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Program Highlights

The Business Essentials online certificate program gives you the opportunity to leverage UVA McIntire’s expertise in the case method of teaching. You will analyze real firms and business scenarios and engage in online discussions with faculty and your peers.

  • Curriculum specifically designed for non-business majors
  • Explore essential business concepts devoted to accounting, finance, marketing, and management
  • Flexible, self-paced, online format
  • Instructor developed video lectures combined with curated content to complement your studies
  • Engage in online discussions with your peers led by McIntire faculty and industry experts
  • Case-based learning featuring real Fortune 500 companies
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Who Is This For?

Business Essentials is designed for individuals seeking a cost-effective way to develop their core business competencies, including:

  • Current undergraduate students or recent graduates
  • Working professionals
  • Entrepreneurs or small business owners
  • Individuals considering future graduate-level study in business
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Coursework and Assessment

In a typical week, you will be provided with two hours of video content and participate in one hour of practice (e.g., discussion, quizzes and exercises). If desired, students may spend more time learning to enhance their understanding of the curriculum outside of these three hours.

Students are required to pass a mastery exam at the end of each of the four modules in order to earn the Business Essentials certificate.

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This program has rounded out my education...complementing my engineering knowledge with knowledge of how these technologies function in real-world markets. It is rare that people possess knowledge in both of these fields... It gave me a huge advantage in my career.

William Vieth (Engineering '14, Law '19)

Law Clerk, Desmarais LLP

Curriculum

Curriculum covers four key business competencies.

Management

  • Organizations and the role of the manager
  • Organizational design
  • Competitive strategy
  • Business models
  • Competitive environment
  • Understanding firm performance
  • Decision making
  • Competition
  • Role of business in society

Marketing

  • What is marketing?
  • Marketing mix
  • Consumer behavior
  • Consumer decision process
  • Global marketing
  • Marketing research
  • New product development
  • Product life cycle
  • Segmentation, targeting and positioning
  • Branding/brand equity/rebranding
  • Pricing
  • Supply chain management
  • Promotions/marketing channels
  • Ethics and marketing
  • Different types of marketing specializations

Accounting

  • Role of accounting within organizations
  • Walkthrough of the financial statements–definitions and discussion of key items
  • Role of the balance sheet (key assets, liabilities, and component of owners’ equity)
  • Role of the income statement (overview, revenues, expenses, margins, SG&A, and others)
  • Statement of cash flows and working capital
  • Case study–tracking resources and measuring performance within organizations
  • Using financial information for planning, decision making, and control

Finance

  • Introduction to corporate finance
  • The financial system
  • Analyzing financial performance and financial ratio analysis
  • Financial mathematics: the time value of money
  • The investment decision (how organizations spend money)–decision tools, computing future cash flows, and making decisions
  • The financing decision (how organizations raise money)–risk vs. return and capital structure
  • The dividend decision (how organizations distribute money)

Program Faculty

Adam S. Koch
Adam S. Koch
Hear my name

Associate Professor of Commerce,Area Coordinator—Accounting,Director, Business Essentials Certificate

Mark A. White
Mark A. White
Hear my name

Richard D. Wood Associate Professor of Commerce,Director, McIntire Business Institute

Kathy Crosby
Kathy Crosby

Affiliated Staff - Instructor

Jeremy Marcel
Jeremy Marcel

Associate Professor of Commerce

Connect with Us

We look forward to connecting with you about your interest in our online Business Essentials certificate program and encourage you to be in touch with any questions you may have.

Contact Information

businessessentials@virginia.edu

+1 434-982-6800