(bright upbeat music) (air whooshing) Let's go over why business acumen is important? We'll discuss how it can help you work with leadership, and be more actively involved in your company. The following lessons will also cover how to conduct and present research analysis, as well as how to maintain your focus when it comes to strategizing? How well do you know your businesses numbers? And how well can you define the bottom line results of your HR activities, initiatives and efforts? Being a true HR business partner, requires a solid understanding of how the company makes money, what its expenses are and how it succeeds in profitability? You should be able to read and understand your company's profit and loss or P and L statement. This means you should build a close interactive partnership with your finance department. Sometimes finance and HR can be on opposite sides when it comes to money. The finance department usually focuses on profitability, while HR is generally a cost center. The key is maintaining transparency and understanding. HR should be familiar with the P and L statement, and look for areas they can impact, learn the terms, teach each other and ask questions through a profitability lens. This understanding helps the HR business partner, plan broader initiatives or implement new programs. When you plan carefully for expenses, and can demonstrate the business case for the expense, you show you're aligned with the budget and the company's overall financial goals. Learning how to budget and plan for annual expenses, requires discipline and tracking. If you're working on your budget in the fall, you're likely planning for the entire following year. If you have a long-term strategy, you can better forecast those needed expenses. Do this by tracking your past expenses and estimating future needs. In some cases you may need to start planning today, for an initiative slated to begin a few years down the road. Partnering with your coworkers and finance also helps you have more accurate wage projections for budgets. An HR business partner should understand how to calculate a minimum wage rate change, address compression and then calculate how much it will cost their company. (air whooshing) Imagine that your CEO asks you how much it will cost to give every manager a six percent pay increase, instead of a three percent. If HR is on the same team as finance, you can partner to address the scenario, and other issues to increase your business acumen. Again, be sure to understand the acronyms and terms your business uses, by referring to the list of business terms included in your course materials. This list is not all inclusive, but it's a starting point. Review these terms and add to the list. Industries may have different financial measurements and terminology specific to their trade.