PrintDURATION: 3 days |
| TIME: 09:00 to 16:00 GMT |
This 3-day Strategic Finance for Non-Financial Managers course is designed for those who are planning to work in a management or executive role. Suitable for those who have had limited or no financial training. A highly regarded and popular course with excellent feedback from delegates.
This IPSO FACTO course is designed specifically for managers and professionals without a formal finance background who want to strengthen their financial acumen and contribute more effectively to strategic business decisions.
Whether you’re working in a profit-driven business or a not-for-profit organisation, understanding how finance drives performance is key. Through practical, real-world examples and expert-led training, you’ll gain the essential tools and insight to interpret financial information, plan strategically, and support your organisation’s financial health and growth.
Delivered by an experienced and engaging finance trainer, this course combines strategic financial planning with the fundamentals of budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management, and investment appraisal. You’ll learn how to understand and use financial data to influence outcomes, challenge assumptions, and communicate more effectively with finance professionals.
This course is ideal for managers, team leaders, project managers, administrators, and professionals in roles that increasingly require financial understanding — even if finance has never been part of your role before. If you’re stepping into a role with budget responsibility or want to better engage in financial discussions and planning, this course will provide you with the skills you need.
It’s particularly valuable if you work in:
Whether you’re preparing for promotion, stepping into a new role, or simply aiming to be more business-savvy, this course will equip you with the strategic financial knowledge to make smarter decisions and lead with impact.
This course is delivered live online using Microsoft Teams, allowing you to learn from home or work.
1. We begin by exploring the fundamentals of strategic finance, laying a solid foundation for understanding how financial thinking underpins business success. You’ll examine different types of organisations and legal structures, including the concept of limited liability, and what this means for both profit-making and not-for-profit entities. We’ll discuss the regulatory and financial frameworks that govern these organisations and shape their financial responsibilities.
2. Next, we delve into the world of business finance and capital, exploring where money comes from and how it’s managed. From traditional bank finance to more entrepreneurial funding such as angel investors and “Dragons’ Den”-style pitching, you’ll gain insight into how businesses raise capital and how they are valued. You’ll also get to know the key finance personnel within organisations, understand their roles, and learn how finance departments are structured to support business goals.
3. Understanding the systems behind finance is key, so we’ll introduce you to finance systems and source documentation, as well as the internal controls and audit processes that ensure financial integrity. We also examine the principles that underpin accounting – including fundamental standards, concepts, and conventions – and explain the critical distinction between cash and accruals accounting.
4. You’ll then get hands-on with financial statements, learning how to read and interpret the three essential reports: the Balance Sheet, Income Statement (also known as the Profit & Loss Account), and the Cash Flow Statement. We’ll cover how revenue is recognised, what separates operational and capital expenditure, and how tangible and intangible assets are managed through depreciation and amortisation.
5. Once you’re familiar with financial statements, we focus on assessing financial performance and control. You’ll learn to use key financial ratios to evaluate profitability, efficiency, and solvency, and understand what these numbers reveal about an organisation’s health. We’ll explore operational gearing, working capital, liquidity, and cash flow management. You’ll also touch on supply chain considerations and the importance of corporate governance in financial decision-making.
6. The course then moves into the heart of strategic financial planning. You’ll explore the principles of financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting – including how to identify constraints, avoid common pitfalls such as budgetary slack, and select the right budgeting method for your context. You’ll discover how financial plans align with strategic goals and support long-term sustainability.
7. Next, we introduce you to the cost structures that drive business decisions. Through practical exercises, you’ll learn how to categorise and analyse costs, understand cost behaviours, and use tools like contribution analysis and breakeven points to plan for profit. We’ll show you how margin analysis supports pricing decisions, and how benchmarking can help identify performance gaps and improvement opportunities.
8. Finally, we focus on strategic financial decision-making. Here, you’ll learn how to evaluate investments and make sound business decisions using core tools such as Payback Period, Net Present Value (NPV), and Return on Investment (ROI). We’ll explain the time value of money and discounted cash flow techniques in plain terms, helping you build confidence in evaluating the financial viability of projects and strategic initiatives.
