Advanced Financial Accounting Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Financial Reporting Managers, Group Accountants and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-084

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience preparing, reviewing or auditing financial statements and a sound working knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping, accruals, financial statement components and core IFRS or local GAAP principles.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Advanced financial accounting requires more than applying standard journal entries. Finance teams must resolve judgement-heavy issues involving revenue arrangements, financial instruments, business combinations, impairment, deferred tax and complex disclosures. Errors in these areas can distort earnings, misstate liabilities, delay audit sign-off and create difficult questions from boards, lenders, regulators and investors. Senior accounting staff need a disciplined way to interpret IFRS requirements, document conclusions and explain the financial reporting effect of significant transactions.

This five-day course develops the technical and analytical skills needed to address complex IFRS reporting matters. Participants examine recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure requirements under key standards, including IFRS 9, IFRS 10, IFRS 15, IFRS 16, IAS 12 and IAS 36. They work through accounting for group structures, acquisitions, non-controlling interests, impairment indicators, leases, provisions, foreign currency items, cash flow statements and earnings per share. The course also covers accounting-policy judgements, materiality decisions, audit evidence and financial statement analysis.

Instruction combines focused technical briefings with worked accounting cases, group analysis, calculations, reporting simulations and facilitated discussion. Cases reflect transactions commonly encountered in banks, listed companies, multinational groups, public bodies and large project-based businesses. Participants produce documented accounting conclusions, calculation models, disclosure checklists and a personal application plan for issues relevant to their reporting cycle. They receive a certificate of completion after attending the course.

The course is designed for experienced accountants and finance professionals who prepare, review, audit or rely on IFRS financial statements. It is particularly useful for professionals moving into financial reporting manager, group accountant, controllership or technical accounting roles.

What you will be able to do

  • Evaluate complex IFRS recognition and measurement judgements using documented accounting-position papers
  • Account for contract revenue using the IFRS 15 five-step model
  • Measure expected credit losses and classify financial instruments under IFRS 9
  • Prepare consolidation adjustments for subsidiaries, acquisitions and non-controlling interests
  • Perform cash-generating-unit impairment testing under IAS 36
  • Calculate deferred tax balances and reconcile effective tax rates under IAS 12
  • Review financial statement disclosures using materiality, presentation and audit-evidence criteria
  • Interpret advanced financial reporting results through ratio, cash flow and earnings analysis

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence resolving technical accounting issues before audit review
  • Stronger evidence for accounting judgements and policy recommendations
  • Improved capability to prepare consolidation and acquisition accounting entries
  • Practical methods for testing impairment, deferred tax and expected credit losses
  • Clearer communication of financial reporting impacts to senior stakeholders

For your organisation

  • Better-supported accounting judgements and fewer late-stage audit adjustments
  • More consistent IFRS treatment across subsidiaries, contracts and reporting teams
  • Improved accuracy of consolidation, impairment and deferred tax calculations
  • Stronger financial statement disclosures for lenders, boards and external auditors
  • Earlier identification of reporting risks arising from complex transactions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can document defensible accounting judgements, policy selections and reporting conclusions under IFRS.

  • IFRS Conceptual Framework applied to recognition, measurement and presentation judgements
  • Materiality assessments documented using quantitative thresholds and qualitative reporting factors
  • Accounting policy selection distinguished from estimates and prior-period error corrections
  • IAS 1 presentation choices assessed for comparability and faithful representation
  • Subsequent-event evidence evaluated under IAS 10 adjusting and non-adjusting criteria
  • Judgement memoranda structured with facts, alternatives, conclusions and disclosure implications

Participants can apply the IFRS 15 five-step model to complex customer contracts.

  • IFRS 15 five-step model applied to multi-element customer contracts
  • Performance obligations identified from distinct goods, services and customer options
  • Transaction prices estimated using variable consideration and significant financing components
  • Standalone selling prices allocated using observable prices and residual approaches
  • Revenue timing assessed through control transfer and over-time recognition criteria
  • Contract assets, contract liabilities and disclosure requirements reconciled to ledgers

Participants can classify, measure and disclose financial instruments under IFRS 9.

  • Business-model assessment determines amortised cost, FVOCI or FVTPL classification
  • SPPI testing distinguishes basic lending features from embedded non-basic returns
  • Effective interest method calculates amortised cost and interest revenue
  • Expected credit loss models incorporate probability, exposure and loss severity
  • Stage allocation reflects significant increases in credit risk indicators
  • Hedge accounting documentation links risk management objectives with qualifying relationships
  • IFRS 7 disclosures explain credit risk, liquidity risk and market risk

Participants can prepare consolidation adjustments for acquisitions and controlled entities.

  • IFRS 3 acquisition method identifies acquirer, acquisition date and consideration
  • Identifiable assets and liabilities measured at acquisition-date fair values
  • Goodwill calculated after consideration, net assets and non-controlling interests
  • Pre-acquisition and post-acquisition reserves separated within consolidation workings
  • Intragroup balances, sales and unrealised profits eliminated through consolidation journals
  • Non-controlling interests presented using proportionate net assets or fair value
  • Control assessments apply IFRS 10 power, returns and linkage criteria

Participants can account for investments with significant influence, joint control and changing ownership.

  • IAS 28 equity method tracks investor share of profit
  • Joint arrangements classified as joint operations or joint ventures
  • Upstream and downstream transactions adjusted for unrealised investor profits
  • Losses exceeding investment interests assessed against long-term funding exposures
  • Step acquisitions remeasure previously held interests at fair value
  • Loss of control accounting recognises disposal gains and retained investments

Participants can assess asset measurement, impairment indicators and cash-generating-unit recoverability.

  • IAS 16 component accounting separates depreciable parts with different useful lives
  • Revaluation model entries distinguish revaluation surplus from impairment reversals
  • IAS 38 criteria distinguish research expenditure from capitalised development costs
  • Cash-generating units identified from independent cash inflows and monitored assets
  • Value-in-use calculations apply approved forecasts, discount rates and terminal values
  • Impairment losses allocated before testing individual assets for recoverability
  • Sensitivity disclosures explain headroom, key assumptions and reasonably possible changes

Participants can account for lease arrangements, uncertain obligations and foreign currency transactions.

  • IFRS 16 lease identification assesses specified assets and substantive substitution rights
  • Lease liabilities measured using payment streams, discount rates and reassessments
  • Right-of-use assets adjusted for incentives, restoration obligations and modifications
  • IAS 37 provisions distinguish present obligations from contingent liabilities
  • Provision estimates incorporate probability-weighted outcomes, discounting and risk adjustments
  • IAS 21 monetary items translated using closing rates and exchange differences
  • Foreign operations translated through closing rates and other comprehensive income

Participants can calculate and explain current and deferred tax effects in financial statements.

  • IAS 12 temporary differences derived from carrying amounts and tax bases
  • Deferred tax liabilities recognised for taxable differences and acquisition adjustments
  • Deferred tax assets assessed against probable future taxable profit evidence
  • Tax losses and credits measured using enacted or substantively enacted rates
  • Outside-basis differences evaluated for subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures
  • Effective tax rate reconciliations explain permanent differences and rate changes
  • Uncertain tax treatments assessed under IFRIC 23 recognition requirements

Participants can prepare and review advanced financial statement presentation and disclosure requirements.

  • IAS 7 cash flow classification reconciles operating, investing and financing movements
  • Indirect cash flow statements adjust profit for non-cash and working-capital changes
  • IAS 33 earnings per share reflects dilutive potential ordinary shares
  • IFRS 8 operating segments align disclosures with internal management reporting
  • Related-party disclosures identify control, key management personnel and transactions
  • Note disclosures link significant judgements with estimation uncertainty and sensitivity
  • Ratio analysis separates operating performance, liquidity, solvency and earnings quality

Participants can organise an audit-ready reporting process for complex accounting matters.

  • Financial close timetables sequence estimates, consolidations, reviews and disclosure sign-offs
  • Reconciliation controls connect subledgers, consolidation packs and published statements
  • Accounting-position papers capture issue facts, literature, analysis and conclusions
  • Audit evidence files retain contracts, calculations, approvals and source-data support
  • Disclosure checklists map IFRS requirements to draft financial statement notes
  • Review queries prioritised by materiality, judgement uncertainty and reporting deadline
  • Application plans assign reporting actions, owners, dependencies and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. IFRS accounting-position paper template
  2. IFRS 15 contract assessment worksheet
  3. IFRS 9 expected credit loss model
  4. Group consolidation adjustment workbook
  5. IAS 36 impairment testing checklist
  6. Financial close and disclosure review plan

Who should attend

  • Financial Reporting Managers — responsible for complex IFRS reporting decisions and disclosures
  • Group Accountants — preparing consolidation journals, acquisition accounting and group financial statements
  • Financial Controllers — reviewing estimates, reporting quality and audit-ready accounting evidence
  • Senior Accountants — progressing from transaction processing to technical accounting responsibilities
  • Internal Auditors — assessing accounting judgements, controls and financial reporting risks
  • Finance Business Partners — interpreting advanced accounting effects in management and investment decisions

Skills and tools covered

IFRS technical accountingGroup consolidationFinancial instrument measurementImpairment testingDeferred tax accountingFinancial statement analysis

Tools and standards

IFRS 9, IFRS 15, IFRS 10, IAS 36

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings to establish requirements, followed by worked calculations and realistic reporting cases. Participants analyse contract terms, acquisition data, financial instrument schedules and impairment assumptions in small groups. Facilitated discussions test alternative accounting treatments and the evidence needed to support conclusions. Financial reporting simulations focus on consolidation journals, disclosure decisions and audit queries. Each participant develops an application plan identifying priority accounting issues, reporting-cycle actions and stakeholders to involve after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience preparing, reviewing or auditing financial statements and a sound working knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping, accruals, financial statement components and core IFRS or local GAAP principles. Familiarity with income statements, statements of financial position and cash flow statements is assumed. Prior exposure to year-end reporting, audit requests or consolidation processes is helpful. The course does not require an accounting degree, professional-accountancy membership, advanced valuation expertise or prior experience with every IFRS standard covered.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need a sound working knowledge of financial statements, double-entry bookkeeping and core IFRS or local GAAP principles. This course builds from that foundation and focuses on complex reporting judgements rather than introductory accounting.

Bring a laptop or calculator if available, as several sessions include financial calculations and reporting schedules. You may also bring anonymised examples of accounting issues from your workplace for discussion with the instructor.

It is intended for experienced accountants, financial reporting staff, group accountants, controllers, internal auditors and finance professionals supporting IFRS reporting. It is not designed as a first course in bookkeeping or basic financial accounting.

Fundamentals courses explain the structure and principal requirements of IFRS. This course concentrates on complex transactions, calculations, judgement documentation, consolidation adjustments, disclosures and audit-ready evidence.

Participants can use the accounting-position paper, contract assessment worksheet, impairment checklist and close-review plan in their next reporting cycle. The application plan helps them identify which reporting issues require immediate review with their finance team or auditors.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between technical instruction, worked cases, group analysis, calculation practice, reporting simulations and facilitated discussion.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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