Online Business Essentials Certificate Program

An integrated look at management, finance, accounting, operations, analytics, and marketing.

This online business certificate program is designed to enhance your ability to understand and apply business concepts and skills. As you develop a broader perspective on how a business or organization works, you’ll gain fundamental insight into how you, your employees, and the decisions you make as a manager impact the performance and profitability of your enterprise. We accomplish this with integrated topics, the creation of a professional development plan, and a 90-day virtual follow-up and check-in.

Online Certificate in Business Essentials

Format: Online business certificate comprises four courses. Each course begins the first full week of the month and runs for three consecutive weeks.

Estimated Time Commitment: Three to four hours per week

Would you prefer an on-campus experience? Make sure to view our Business Essentials in-residence option.

Price: $3,200

Flexible Payment Options: Please take advantage of special discount offers listed below.

We accept PayPal for non-credit certificates. Students who qualify for PayPal Credit can take advantage of interest-free offers that enable you to spread payments over several months. If you need an individual payment plan, please don’t hesitate to ask us.

Registering early? We can bill you two weeks before class starts. Select “Bill Me Before Class Starts” as a payment option when you checkout.

Is your employer paying for the course? Select “Send My Employer an Invoice” as the payment option to reserve your spot in class and put the employer’s info into the billing address details and we can invoice them directly.

25% off for early registrants. Receive 25% off certificate and individual courses when you register and pay 30 days prior to class start. Use code EARLYBIRD at checkout.
35% off for IU faculty, staff, and alumni
50% off for Kelley School of Business alumni
Discounts are also available for Kelley School of Business staff and faculty. Contact Jazmin at jazramos@iu.edu or complete the form for promotional codes.

Upcoming Dates:

Fall 2022: Sept. 6 – Dec. 17

Register Now for Fall

New benefits for Kelley alumni!

See Alumni Benefits

Online Business Certificate: Key Takeaways

Is this online business certificate right for you?

This certificate program is for people who realize that advancing their careers will require a new approach, a new game plan. Business Essentials will help do that by exposing you to the essentials of management, finance, accounting, operations, analytics, and marketing. You will work with Kelley faculty in each of these areas, along with like-minded individuals in your cohort.

For those with limited formal business education, or those in their early to mid-career, this is a certificate program that will help “get you there.”

People who earn this online business certificate will:

Understand the functional areas of a business: management, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and analytics.
Map/model those areas and see how they fit together or identify gaps.
Create, critique, revise, and implement a personal development plan.
Work closely with Kelley faculty and like-minded participants to create accountability for implementing the learnings. This includes a follow-up session 90 days after the last class.

Business Essentials Online Certificate: Key Takeaways

Is this online business certificate right for you?

This certificate program is for people who realize that advancing their careers will require a new approach, a new game plan. Business Essentials will help do that by exposing you to the essentials of management, finance, accounting, operations, analytics, and marketing. You will work with Kelley faculty in each of these areas, along with like-minded individuals in your cohort.

For those with limited formal business education, or those in their early to mid-career, this is a certificate program that will help “get you there.”

People who earn this online business certificate will:

Understand the functional areas of a business: management, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and analytics.
Map/model those areas and see how they fit together or identify gaps.
Create, critique, revise, and implement a personal development plan.
Work closely with Kelley faculty and like-minded participants to create accountability for implementing the learnings. This includes a follow-up session 90 days after the last class.

Integrated Business Curriculum

The Kelley School of Business is nationally recognized for its innovative online programs. This 12-week program is delivered by full-time faculty members from the No. 1–ranked Kelley Online MBA Program (U.S. News & World Report, 2020).

This certificate will require three to four hours of work per week, half of which will consist of a live synchronous session. The program is designed to have maximum career impact and does not end with the last day of class. The class convenes online 90 days after the last session to review the results of your hard work and celebrate the outcomes of this transformative business immersion.

The curriculum is divided into four three-week courses. Each course begins the first full week of the month and runs for three consecutive weeks. Register for all four courses at once to earn your certificate or take individual courses as your schedule allows.

Course 1: Setting Direction for Your Business

Business Acumen. Get an overview of the essential functional areas of business and begin work on your personal development plan.

Business Strategy. What makes some firms more successful than others? How do firms create competitive advantage? How can strategy contribute to the creation and capture of economic value? How are strategies managed? These are some of the questions that we will address in this module as we study how firms compete and the common elements that drive successful corporate and competitive-level strategies.

Course 2: The Financial Foundations of Business: Accounting & Finance

Accounting. We provide non-accounting personnel with a core understanding of the accounting language. You will gain the skills necessary to effectively communicate with business professionals regarding the financial activities of a business entity, and to derive meaningful information from an entity’s financial statements and disclosures.

Finance. We cover basic finance concepts including TVM (time value of money), the trade-off between risk and return, financial valuation techniques, cash flows, capital allocation/budgeting, and the role that financial markets play in enabling business. Some knowledge of Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software is required.

Course 3: Understanding the Customer: Marketing

This course involves the development of a marketing plan. Topics include:

understanding customers
consumer decision-making processes
segmentation and targeting
brand and positioning strategy

Course 4: Performance and Insight: Operations Management & Business Analytics

Operations Management. Businesses are built around processes, and processes must be able to adapt and change for a business to remain competitive. We’ll cover the basics of process analysis and process improvement.

Business Analytics. You will learn the value of data. Specifically, you will learn to prepare and analyze data, converting raw data into meaningful information. Through hands-on experience with spreadsheet modeling in Microsoft Excel, you will learn to identify business problems and model potential solutions to provide the insights necessary to make informed and effective business decisions.

“If anyone’s looking to sharpen their understanding of modern-day business, I highly recommend! Thanks to our Kelley professors Carl Briggs, Joe Fitter, Shannon Threlkeld and Russell Clark for their great content.”

Sam Stalion, Higher-Ed marketing and communications

“As the faculty lead for this program, I believe it is an excellent opportunity to develop higher-level business skills to support your professional development goals. That is the very reason that we designed this program and put the faculty team together. We want you to be the very best business professional you can be. We stand ready to support you on that journey.”

Carl Briggs, Clinical professor of operations and decision technologies, Kelley School of Business

“As the faculty lead for this program, I believe it is an excellent opportunity to develop higher-level business skills to support your professional development goals. That is the very reason that we designed this program and put the faculty team together. We want you to be the very best business professional you can be. We stand ready to support you on that journey.”

Carl Briggs, Clinical professor of operations and decision technologies, Kelley School of Business

“If anyone’s looking to sharpen their understanding of modern-day business, I highly recommend! Thanks to our Kelley professors Carl Briggs, Joe Fitter, Shannon Threlkeld and Russell Clark for their great content.”

Sam Stalion, Higher-Ed marketing and communications