Accounting & Finance Foundations for Lenders
Learn to read a business.
The learning path that takes a new bank hire from zero accounting background to reading statements, property operating reports, and tax returns fluently, taught through one running story: your first weeks as an analyst at First Meridian Bank, working the files of a profitable manufacturer that nearly misses payroll and a local commercial real estate investor and his income properties.
Full Learning Path · per learner
Cover it with a membership →Path includes
- 5 core courses
- 2 complete case studies
- Hands-on exercises throughout
- Learning checks after every module
- Quizzes after every course
What is Accounting & Finance Foundations for Lenders?
Accounting & Finance Foundations for Lenders is a self-paced online learning path that teaches new bank hires to read business financial statements, property operating statements, and tax returns with zero prior accounting background. 5 courses and 24 modules, each 10-15 minutes, taught through two running cases: Riverbend Metalworks, a manufacturer, and Cedar Row Properties, a commercial real estate investor. It is the first of the two learning paths for new banking professionals, with open enrollment and a test-out available.
One story, not a textbook
Every concept is taught inside a narrative world. You play a new analyst at First Meridian Bank, working two running files: Riverbend Metalworks, an owner-operated manufacturer, and Cedar Row Properties, a local commercial real estate investor. Vocabulary is defined at the exact moment the story needs it, and a living glossary accumulates every term into a searchable desk reference you keep after completion.
Not Sure If Accounting & Finance Foundations for Lenders Is Right for You?
Answer 10 questions in about 8 minutes. Get a score, a learning plan, and the courses that close your gaps.
Learn the Foundations Early, Compound the Returns for a Career
The research case for front-loading the fundamentals: what structured onboarding does to time-to-productivity, retention, and risk, why test-reinforced curriculum makes training stick, and how the two foundational learning paths fit together.
What Learners Say About Accounting & Finance Foundations for Lenders
The class was very interactive. The flow of the training was just right, perfect for learning.
It was more in depth than I expected. I was able to follow along well
Specs and Scope
- Courses
- 5
- Modules
- 24, 10-15 minutes each
- Runtime
- About 4.4 hours
- Prerequisites
- None
Core Courses
Accounting Fundamentals for Lenders
The day-one vocabulary of accounting, finance, and banking, taught through Riverbend Metalworks' first crisis: a record year on paper and an empty bank account. Covers accrual versus cash measurement, depreciation, the fiscal year, GAAP, the three statements at a naming level, and the accounting equation. Closes by solving the Riverbend case, showing that receivables and inventory consumed the cash the profit implied.
The Three Financial Statements
The income statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement, read line by line. Covers gross profit, operating expenses and the path to net income. It covers the snapshot-versus-movie distinction and the current versus long-term split on both sides of the balance sheet. It also covers the operating, investing, and financing sections of the cash flow statement and why loan proceeds are never revenue. Closes by tracing a credit sale, an equipment purchase, and a loan draw through all three statements.
Commercial Real Estate Financial Analysis
Reading the financial documents of an income property, using Cedar Row Properties. Covers the property as an operating entity earning revenue from tenants, the property operating statement and the rent roll. It covers occupancy versus vacancy and the difference between gross and net leases, and net operating income as income less operating expenses before debt service and capital items. It also covers how income drives value, with the cap-rate relationship introduced as an idea and its computation deferred to the CRE underwriting path.
Analyzing Business Tax Returns
The documents a lender actually receives, and how much each one can be trusted. Covers the assurance hierarchy from audited through reviewed, compiled, internally prepared, and the tax return, and why most small-business files are tax-basis rather than GAAP. It covers business structures from sole proprietorship to C corporation and where owner compensation appears in each, and locating revenue, owner compensation, depreciation, and distributions on the 1120, 1120-S, 1065, Schedule C, and K-1. It also covers where the owner's money is tracked through distributions, owner loans, and rent paid to an owner's entity, and the guarantor's personal financial statement and 1040 at an orienting level.
Cash Flow Analysis for Lenders
What cash flow is, why lenders rely on it, and how it moves through a business. Covers cash in and out as distinct from reported profit, and the fact that loan payments are made with cash. It covers the cash-to-cash cycle traced through Riverbend buying steel, assembling, shipping, and collecting, and who funds the gap, and why a large purchase order forces a build-up of raw materials, work in process, and receivables, contrasted with a seasonal need that repays itself. It also covers what days sales outstanding, days inventory outstanding, days payable outstanding, coverage, margin, liquidity, leverage, and covenants each measure, and global cash flow as a concept combining business and guarantor.
What this learning path prepares you for
Foundations means fluency: reading statements, knowing the words, understanding why businesses borrow. The analytical craft is reserved for the underwriting learning paths, so you learn it once, properly, on top of solid ground.
- Ratio computation and analysis
- Cash flow construction (traditional and UCA)
- DSCR calculation and projections
- Guarantor and global cash flow analysis
- Covenant design
- Appraisals, cap rates, and NOI underwriting
- The credit memo
The cases you work
Each case is a complete borrower file you work through the path, module by module.
Riverbend Metalworks
Reported profit and available cash moving in opposite directions, receivables and inventory as the consumers of cash, inventory as raw materials, work in process, and finished goods, the accounting equation read as a financing story.
Cedar Row Properties
A property as an operating entity earning revenue from tenants, the property operating statement, the rent roll and the durability of income, occupancy and vacancy.
Optimized Learning Modules
Every module shares the same structure so learners build a rhythm and retain more.
Narrated Video
An expert walkthrough of the concept in plain English.
Detailed Cases & Exercises
Hands-on with the files your team uses.
Quizzes & Learning Checks
A learning check after every module and a quiz after every course.
Frequently Asked Questions
Last updated August 6, 2026.