Outlier Dual Enrollment Business Courses Prepare Students for the Business World
Between advancing technology and surging entrepreneurship, the way the world does business is changing faster than ever before. Equip your students to get down to business (or launch their own!) with college business courses worth high school and college credit.
Browse the Business Course Catalog
Intro to Business
The art of creating value
Intro to Financial Accounting
Find the story in numbers
Professional Communication
Comms skills for the real world
Intro to Macroeconomics
How money moves our world
Intro to Microeconomics
Why small choices have big impact
Transform your high school business classroom into a college lecture hall
Real College Credit
Put your students on a college track with accredited business courses worth actual college credit from the University of Pittsburgh, a top 50 global school. (U.S. News and World Report, 2022 Rankings)
Quality + Support
Your students deserve the best: Top-rated instructors. Cinematic lectures. Mastery-based learning. Unlimited tutoring in math and writing courses. All designed to maximize their success.
Ultimate Flexibility
It’s never been easier to set up your students and teachers for success with turn-key online business courses that flex to fit your school schedule.
Essential business concepts and techniques needed for college credit (and then some!)
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Intro to Business
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Intro to Financial Accounting
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Professional Communication
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Intro to Macroeconomics
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Intro to Microeconomics
Intro to Business
Key Concepts Covered-
Business, Marketing, and Finances
- Supply and demand
- The profit function
- Economic systems and market structures
- Marketing segmentation, targeting, and positioning
- The 4 Ps of marketing
- The marketing funnel
- Financing a business
- Growing your money
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Management and Accounting
- The role of management
- Organizational structures
- Motivation, rewards, and incentives
- Control and evaluation
- The accounting equation
- Debits, credits, and double-entry bookkeeping
- Financial statements
- Ratio analysis
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Operations and Logistics
- How operations and logistics work
- Production
- Localization
- Facility design
- Resource planning
- Routing and scheduling
- Quality management
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Information Technology, Ethics, and Macroeconomics
- Types of information systems
- Knowledge management
- Data security and privacy
- Automation, AI, and machine learning
- Ethics
- Shareholders and stakeholders
- Monetary and fiscal policy
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Personal Planning and Entrepreneurship
- Resume development and career planning
- Personal finance
- Business ownership
- Entrepreneurship
- Contemporary issues in business
Intro to Financial Accounting
Key Concepts Covered-
Introduction to Accounting and Financial Statements
- Importance and users of accounting
- Accounting activities and career paths
- Financial statements and their relationships
- Analyzing and recording transactions
- Journal entries
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Adjustments and Completion of the Accounting Cycle
- Adjusting entries and the adjustment process
- Recording and posting common types of adjusting entries
- Ledger balances and preparing an adjusted trial balance
- Preparing financial statements using the adjusted trial balance
- Closing entries and post-closing trial balance
- The current ratio and working capital balance
- The comprehensive accounting cycle
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Merchandising Transactions, Fraud, and Internal Controls
- Merchandising vs. service activities and transactions
- Perpetual vs. periodic inventory systems
- Freight-in methods
- Accounting fraud, internal controls, and management responsibilities
- Bank reconciliation and associated journal entries
- Financial statement fraud and SOX requirements
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Accounting for Receivables and Inventory
- Revenue Recognition Principle
- Uncollectable accounts
- Receivables management using financial ratios
- Notes receivable and accounts receivable
- Cost of goods sold and ending
- Inventory: Periodic Method
- Inventory valuation errors
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Long-Term Assets and Liabilities
- Tangible and intangible assets
- Capitalized costs versus expenses
- Depreciation methods
- Intangible assets and recording related transactions
- Analyzing, journalizing, and reporting current liabilities
- Contingent liabilities
- Journal entries for short-term notes payable
- Pricing and amortization of long-term liabilities (straight line method)
- Statement of cash flows: purpose, preparation (indirect method), assessing liquidity and solvency
Professional Communication
Key Concepts Covered-
Communication and Storytelling
- Why communication matters
- How to tell a story
- Principles of communication
- Story structure and function
- Attention, memory, and recall in storytelling
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The Job Search
- Public speaking in the real world
- Kicking off the job search
- Interview preparation, format, and etiquette
- Cultivating professionalism in writing
- Resumes and cover letters
- Identifying and overcoming anxieties
- Confident cross-cultural communication
- Communicating confidence in body language
- Coping with the unexpected
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Presentations
- Choosing a topic
- Research and citation
- Organization and structure
- Presentation delivery
- Transitions
- Presentation aids
- Slide design and formats
- Informative vs. persuasive presentations
- Audience analysis
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Interpersonal Communication
- Understanding your personal communication style
- Identity and intersectionality
- Building cultural awareness
- Interpersonal communication
- Communication in the workplace
- Active listening and barriers to listening
- Recognizing and improving nonverbal communication
- Movement, gestures, and voice as a public speaker
- Nonverbal communication at work
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Group Communication
- Group roles and dynamics
- Teamwork, problem-solving, and decision-making
- Persuasion 101
- Types of persuasive speeches
- Structuring a persuasive presentation
- Making and supporting arguments
- Giving and receiving feedback
Intro to Macroeconomics
Key Concepts Covered-
Introduction to Macroeconomics
- A first look at the economy
- Theory of demand
- Theory of supply
- Measuring the economy
- Modeling the macro economy
- Economic growth
- Business cycles
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The Government, Money, and Economic Perspectives
- The Keynesian perspective
- The expenditure multiplier
- Government budgets
- Fiscal policy
- The Neoclassical perspective
- Automatic price adjustment expectations
- Money vs. credit
- Money markets and the financial system
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The Central Bank and Monetary Policy
- Evolution of money management
- How the Central Bank conducts monetary policy
- Normal crisis and financial crisis
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Government Debt and International Finance
- Government borrowing, budget deficits, and public debt
- The Phillips curve
- Problems with discretionary fiscal policy and monetary policy
- How the foreign exchange market works
- Rates of return Interplanetary economics
Intro to Microeconomics
Key Concepts Covered-
Introduction to Microeconomics
- Foundational economic tools
- Supply, demand, and equilibrium
- Consumer surplus and producer surplus
- Price floors and price ceilings
- Elasticity
- Utility maximization
- Behavioral economics
- Production and costs
- Profit maximization
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Perfect Competition
- Market structures, perfect competition, and long-run supply
- Profit maximization in perfect competition
- Long-run adjustments
- Efficiency in perfectly competitive markets
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Game Theory, Monopoly, and Oligopoly
- Dominant strategies and Nash Equilibrium
- Games with many players
- Games with a sequence of moves
- Mixed strategies
- Market power and barriers to entry
- Profit maximization under monopoly
- Regulation and antitrust: limiting monopolistic competition
- Oligopoly, duopoly, and cartels
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Market Failure and Labor Markets
- Introduction to market failure
- External effects
- Solutions to market failure
- Public goods and common pool resources
- Asymmetric information, moral hazard, and adverse selection
- The competitive model of the labor market
- Monopsony
- Unions and minimum wages
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Poverty, Inequality, and Global Economics
- Absolute and relative poverty
- Income and wealth
- Education and health inequality in the USA
- Discrimination
- Global inequality
- Globalization and international trade
- Absolute and comparative advantage
- Labor: outsourcing, offshoring, and global migration
School Stories
“I was blown away with how successful our kids were with Outlier.” Jack Wallace, Principal of St. Augustine Prep High School
Read Case StudyBusiness Courses Frequently Asked Questions
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Are business courses completely online?Yes, Outlier business courses are 100% online and asynchronous. Your students can learn with any teacher, during any class period—anywhere in the universe with Wi-Fi and a laptop or desktop computer.
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What support is available for students and/or teachers?
Your students have access to robust support and unlimited tutoring in all math and writing courses (this includes Intro to Financial Accounting). Your teachers get complete visibility into student progress in our Partner Dashboard, including:
- Progress monitoring based on the course syllabus and schedule
- Grade pacing and forecasting based on students’ performance
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What is the minimum/maximum enrollment?Outlier business courses have unlimited enrollment. So you can mix and match courses to suit your school’s unique needs.
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What technology does my school need to take Outlier courses?Each student must have access to technology that meets the technical requirements noted in this Help Center article.
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Are there any student eligibility requirements?Students must be at least 13 years old. Students who enroll in an Outlier course should be ready for the academic rigor of college-level coursework and carefully consider their existing responsibilities and dedication.
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What is the time commitment for Outlier business courses?
Outlier courses are as academically rigorous as they are engaging. Students can expect to spend about 45 minutes a day (about 5 hours per week), including time at school and at home. We recommend students:
- Have at least one class period in their school schedule dedicated to their Outlier course
- Take only 1 Outlier course at a time
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Are there any course prerequisites?Outlier business courses are introductory level. So they do not require any prerequisites for enrollment.
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How are Outlier courses structured?Outlier courses are divided into a series of chapters and sections. Each section contains cinematic video lectures and active learning (interactive digital textbook) that help students learn the course content. Some courses also include sample problems or flashcard sets that reinforce their understanding of course concepts and prepare them for exams. Students demonstrate their knowledge on graded assessments like weekly writing assignments, quizzes, midterm exams, and final exams.