# Free short courses on farm finance

Free, plain-English online courses from Farm CFO by Clunes Rural for Australian farmers and new entrants. Each course has 4 or 5 lessons of about five minutes, with a worked example on an invented farm and three quick questions. No sign-up; progress is kept in the learner's browser. An optional certificate of completion is offered. The courses are general information, not advice, and not nationally accredited training.

- [Reading your farm accounts](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/reading-farm-accounts.md): Read your profit and loss and balance sheet with confidence, see why depreciation isn't cash, and work out EBIT, EBITDA and equity. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Your first farm cashflow](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/first-farm-cashflow.md): Build a simple July to June farm cashflow, put sales and GST in the right months, and find the month your overdraft is at its lowest. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Farm finance words in a week](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/farm-finance-words.md): Learn the farm money words you'll hear from the bank and the accountant, in five short lessons with plain examples. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Cost of production](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/cost-of-production.md): Work out what it costs you to produce a kilogram of pork, beef or lamb, compare it with the price, and find the costs worth cutting. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [How the bank looks at your farm](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/how-the-bank-looks-at-your-farm.md): See your farm the way a credit team does: the annual review, the main ratios, covenants, what goes in a review pack and when to call. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [RIC loans step by step](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/ric-loans-step-by-step.md): Understand who the Regional Investment Corporation is, which loan fits, the basic tests, the documents and how an application runs. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Buying land or machinery](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/buying-land-or-machinery.md): Work out whether to buy or lease land, whether an extra block pays, whether to own or contract machinery, and what the bank will want. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Getting into farming: the money side](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/getting-into-farming.md): Work out what it costs to start farming, ways in without buying land, a first budget, and how to keep enough cash in the early years. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Gross margins and choosing enterprises](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/gross-margins-and-enterprises.md): Work out a gross margin per head, per DSE and per hectare, use the NSW DPIRD budgets, and compare pigs, cattle and sheep with care. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Adding a new enterprise](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/adding-a-new-enterprise.md): Work out whether a new pig, cattle or sheep enterprise will pay, what it needs approved, how much cash it takes and how to show the bank. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Preparing for a dry year](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/preparing-for-a-dry-year.md): Work out your feed, water and cash position, set trigger dates, and line up the bank and support before a dry season bites. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)
- [Succession: the money conversation](https://farmcfo.com.au/learn/succession-money-conversation.md): Get ready for the family money talk about succession: what to gather, what to ask and how to check the farm can support everyone. (5 lessons, about 25 minutes)