A dollar sign with a pipetteMany scientists and engineers I’ve worked with have expressed frustration at not being able to have the kind of influence they want over the strategic directions of the companies in which they work. Oftentimes they feel their perspectives are being dismissed, particularly in discussions with colleagues in other functions.

But in the wise words of a mentor of mine, ‘if you want business people to listen to you, you have to be able to speak in a language they will understand.’ That language is, by and large, the language of finance. If you can frame the opportunities you see in language that your non-scientific colleagues can easily understand, your ideas are much more likely to gain traction. So my hope is that when armed with a little better financial intelligence, scientists and engineers can start to bridge the gap between the technical aspects of our business and the business end of the business.

  1. Why am I writing about finance?
  2. How to learn the financial basics about a new (to you) business
  3. Every scientist’s dream: Understanding financial statements
  4. A first look at income statements: revenue, costs and profits
  5. What scientists need to understand about revenue and its recognition
  6. Income Statement Fun: What is included in the Cost of Sales and why you should care
  7. How expenses and depreciation can affect the profitability of your scientific work
  8. Profitability: the proverbial and literal bottom line
  9. Using the Balance Sheet to Understand a Company’s Financial Health
  10. Assets: tangible, intangible, and goodwill
  11. Decoding Financial Health with Liabilities & Equity from the Balance Sheet
  12. Navigating a company’s financial condition with the cash flow statement
  13. The Anatomy of a Cash Flow Statement: Operating, Investing, and Financing
  14. Budgeting 101: Using our newly acquired financial intelligence to make sense of the budgeting process
  15. Making Sense of the Numbers Through Financial Ratios
  16. Your Company’s Quarterly Earnings Call: How to Make Sense of It All
  17. The “Big Five” Numbers — What Investors Care About and Why
  18. Net Present Value: Making the Financial Case for Advancing Scientific Projects You Care About