MicroCredential Description
Mastering the Budget is a targeted MicroCredential for property and facilities professionals looking to strengthen their budgeting and financial planning skills. Through five focused ShortCourses covering income and expense budgets, cost control, capital planning, and cash accounting, you’ll gain practical tools to manage building finances with confidence. Complete all five to earn the Mastering the Budget MicroCredential and demonstrate expertise in property management budgeting.
What Will I Learn?
When you complete this program, you'll learn
- How to develop accurate income and expense budgets aligned with property goals
- Techniques for controlling operating costs and improving financial efficiency
- Strategies for prioritizing capital investments and building multi-year capital plans
- Fundamentals of cash accounting and financial reporting in property management
- Best practices for analyzing rent rolls, lease data, and budget variances
- Tools to support informed financial decision-making for long-term asset performance
Required ShortCourses for Mastering the Budget MicroCredential
To achieve your MicroCredential, you must complete all five ShortCourses. Click any of the ShortCourses below to register, email [email protected] or call 1.800.235.2664 for more information.
Looking to take all five Mastering the Budget courses? Enroll in the bundle to save!
Developing an Income Budget
An income budget is a key tool for forecasting revenue and supporting strategic planning in property management. This ShortCourse teaches you how to develop a complete income budget, starting with rent roll analysis and gathering essential lease and property data.
You'll learn how to budget base rent, calculate additional income, refine escalatable cost pools, and review final projections for accuracy. Perfect for property and asset managers, this course strengthens your understanding of income sources and equips you to make informed financial decisions.
Controlling Costs
Managing building expenses requires strategic insight into which costs to reduce or increase to protect property value and meet ownership goals. This ShortCourse equips building professionals with a solid understanding of what drives operating costs, how those costs change over time, and how to identify and eliminate unnecessary spending.
You’ll explore essential cost control concepts and budgeting tools, including cost classifications, budgeting objectives, and how cost accounting impacts overall financial planning. You will gain the skills needed to manage building operations more efficiently and support long-term asset performance.
Expense Budgeting
The expense budget is a daily decision-making tool for property and facilities managers, guiding everything from maintenance planning to financial forecasting. This ShortCourse offers a practical understanding of how to build and use an effective expense budget to support operational success.
You’ll learn to analyze historical data, adjust for occupancy variables, evaluate leasing cost drivers, and support high-dollar expense estimates with confidence. You will strengthen your ability to create accurate, strategic budgets that inform smarter management decisions.
Capital Budgeting
A capital budget is the cornerstone of long-term asset management, helping property professionals identify, evaluate, and prioritize major investments such as improvements and replacements. By outlining funding strategies and sequencing projects, it ensures every dollar spent enhances property value and aligns with ownership goals.
In this ShortCourse, you’ll master capital budgeting for property management. You will learn how to assess project viability, measure financial returns with industry-standard metrics, and build a multi-year capital plan tailored to your asset’s needs. You will master the skills needed to make confident, data-driven investment decisions that safeguard and grow property value over time.
Preparing the Cash Basis Income Statement
Bookkeeping, the tracking of cash collected and spent, is the foundation of all accounting processes. For property and facilities managers, understanding cash accounting is essential for accurate reporting and informed financial decision-making.
This ShortCourse covers the fundamentals of cash accounting, including how to prepare a cash basis income statement and general ledger, conduct field reviews to align financials with operational goals, and explain budget variances with confidence. You will gain tools to strengthen your financial reporting and support smarter property management.