... you can do it, but it is going to be so much harder!!

It has often been said that the language of business is finance. What is most interesting about finance is that it is not all about money. Don't get us wrong, money is important, but in the finance world understanding when a transaction involves cash and when it is a book transaction (i.e. no cash changes hands) is the first real hurdle that most people struggle to get over in their quest to understand finance.

No matter what area you work in (or even if you don't) not being able to grasp the basics of finance puts you at a disadvantage.

Of course, we know companies have finance at the core of their reason for existing, but finance is important to many other types of organisation as well, for example:

• A charity could not provide a service or do development work without managing their finances properly
• The government could not build roads and hospitals or run education or policing without having the finance to pay for materials and wages
• Even individuals need to be able to show that they are able to manage their finances if they want to take out a mortgage or a loan to buy a car

All in all, financial literacy will always put you in a better position than financial illiteracy.