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Newly updated October 2026! Understanding the financial side of a massage therapy practice is an important part of building and maintaining a sustainable business. Business Finance is a 4 CE hour course designed to help massage therapists understand the financial concepts behind everyday business decisions, from tracking revenue and expenses to setting prices, managing cash flow, and evaluating the financial health of a practice.
This course takes a practical, massage-specific approach to business finance. You will explore the true costs of operating a massage practice, financial planning, pricing, break-even analysis, financial reserves, payment and cancellation policies, prepaid services, bookkeeping, taxes and financial records, business technology and financial security, and the use of financial information to make informed business decisions.
In This Course You Will Learn
The differences among revenue, expenses, profit, cash flow, assets, and liabilities
How to create realistic financial goals, plans, and projections
How to identify the true costs of operating a massage therapy practice
Factors to consider when establishing financially sustainable service prices
How contribution margin and break-even analysis can support business planning
How cash flow and financial reserves affect the stability of a practice
Financial considerations involving payments, cancellations, packages, memberships, and gift certificates
The importance of organized bookkeeping, banking, tax preparation, and financial records
How to use financial measurements and trends to evaluate practice performance
How technology, financial security, and business decisions can affect the financial health of a massage practice
Why Take This Course
A busy appointment schedule does not automatically mean that a massage therapy practice is financially healthy. Therapists may generate substantial revenue while still struggling with rising expenses, inconsistent cash flow, underpricing, missed appointments, unexpected costs, or business decisions that do not produce the expected financial results. Understanding the numbers behind the practice makes these issues easier to recognize and evaluate.
Business Finance provides practical financial knowledge that massage therapists can apply to real-world practice decisions. Rather than focusing on advanced accounting, the course emphasizes the financial information most relevant to operating a massage therapy business and shows how that information can be used to support profitability, prepare for future needs, evaluate opportunities, and maintain a workload that can reasonably be sustained over time.
Define basic financial concepts including revenue, expenses, profit, cash flow, assets, and liabilities.
Explain how financial goals, projections, and planning can support a massage therapy practice.
Identify fixed, variable, periodic, and less-obvious costs associated with operating a massage practice.
Describe factors that should be considered when establishing and reviewing massage therapy service prices.
Calculate contribution margin and use break-even analysis to evaluate appointment-volume requirements.
Explain how cash flow, financial reserves, cancellations, and prepaid services can affect financial stability.
Describe the role of bookkeeping, financial records, financial statements, and tax preparation in business management.
Identify financial measurements, technology practices, and decision-making tools that can help a massage therapist evaluate and manage a sustainable practice.
Text: Business Finance textbook by Corrine Rubida and Stephan Shipe, 94 pages
Course instruction guide
20-question multiple choice final exam
Course evaluation
Certificate of Achievement upon completion
Unlimited phone and email support for course-related questions
The Center for Massage Therapy Continuing Education, LLC is an Approved Provider through the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB); Approved Provider number 409296-00.
Our continuing education courses are also accepted by the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP), and most state boards.
For more information on individual state requirements and approvals, please visit our Approvals page and click on your state.
I like how the questions were asked. It was written in a way that would not mislead the person taking the exam. - Kimberly C.
Clear, definitive material. Easy of an at home study course. - K. Pascale, LMT
Exactly what I was looking for and needed. - Sharon Tate, LMT
Helped my understand the business side of my practice. - Chirssy Sharon, NCBTMB
Love the download format. Its easy to follow and provided the CE hours I needed. - Justin Gormaly
Which of the following should NOT be included in a financial policy?
a. Accepted payment methods and when payment is due
b. Cancellation and no-show fees
c. Hours of operation
What is the purpose of looking for financial trends over time?
a. To make every month of business activity financially identical
b. To eliminate the need to investigate changes in the practice
c. To help distinguish meaningful patterns from isolated fluctuations
d. To ensure that revenue increases every month
A __________ can provide an opportunity to consider whether the financial direction of the business continues to support the owner's goals.
a. Daily review
b. Monthly review
c. Quarterly or annual review
d. Two year review
Course Authors
About the Instructors
Stephen Shipe, Ph.D, CFA
Stephan Shipe is a finance professor at Wake Forest University. He has a Ph.D. in Finance from Florida State University, a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of North Florida and is a CFA Charter holder. In addition to teaching at Wake Forest University, he has taught in the business schools of Florida State University and the University of New Hampshire and has started and managed multiple businesses. Stephan has combined his experience teaching, his extensive business knowledge, and his industry experience to form a collection of business based continuing education courses available to massage therapists.
Corrine Rubida, BS, LMT
Corrine completed her massage therapy training at Gateway College of Massage Therapy in 1997 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare Administration in 2012. She has been practicing and teaching massage therapy since 1997 and currently holds a massage therapy license in South Dakota. She is also a member of the ABMP. In 2002, Corrine founded the Center for Massage Therapy CE to make professional massage continuing education courses available both online and by mail. Since then, she has developed more than 100 home-study massage continuing education courses and has taught live courses for AMTA and the Gateway College of Massage Therapy.
