Finance for Board Members Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Board Members, Non-Executive Directors and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FM-160

Before you join: Participants should have experience serving on a board, committee, executive leadership team or governance function, or expect to take on such responsibilities soon.

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

Board members are expected to approve plans, challenge investment proposals, oversee financial risk and protect organisational value without taking over management’s operational role. That requires more than reading headline profit figures. Directors need to identify weak cash conversion, test assumptions behind forecasts, recognise accounting judgements that affect reported performance and ask precise questions before approving major commitments.

This course develops the financial judgement required for effective boardroom oversight. Participants interpret IFRS-based financial statements, management accounts and cash flow forecasts; diagnose performance through ratio, variance and return analysis; and assess budgets, capital expenditure, funding and acquisition proposals. They also examine financial risk governance, internal controls, audit committee responsibilities, covenant headroom and the financial implications of strategic decisions. Attention is given to the distinction between informed challenge, fiduciary oversight and executive management.

Teaching combines concise faculty briefings with board-paper case work, financial analysis tasks, group discussion and decision simulations. Cases reflect the issues faced by listed companies, banks, public entities, NGOs and multinational businesses: deteriorating liquidity, underperforming investments, acquisition valuations, budget pressure and control failures. Participants leave with a Board Financial Oversight Toolkit containing reusable question sets, analysis templates, approval criteria and an individual plan for improving financial challenge in their board or committee role.

The course is suited to board members, non-executive directors, trustees, senior executives reporting to boards and governance professionals who need greater confidence with financial information. It is especially relevant for participants who are commercially experienced but have not had formal finance training, as well as finance specialists seeking a clearer view of the questions directors should ask.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret IFRS financial statements and identify board-level performance implications
  • Analyse profitability, liquidity, efficiency and solvency using financial ratio methods
  • Challenge budgets and rolling forecasts using scenario analysis and sensitivity testing
  • Assess 13-week cash forecasts, liquidity headroom and covenant compliance
  • Evaluate capital investment proposals using NPV, IRR and discounted payback
  • Review valuation, funding and acquisition proposals using disciplined board criteria
  • Test financial risk governance using risk appetite, controls and audit evidence
  • Prepare board-level financial challenge questions and decision-paper requirements

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence challenging forecasts, budgets and investment recommendations
  • Clearer interpretation of cash flow, debt and covenant reporting
  • Stronger contribution to audit, risk and finance committee discussions
  • Practical criteria for judging valuation and acquisition proposals
  • A structured approach to identifying financial red flags in board papers

For your organisation

  • Better board scrutiny of material investments, funding and acquisition decisions
  • Earlier escalation of liquidity pressure, covenant risk and forecast deterioration
  • More consistent financial challenge across board and committee meetings
  • Improved quality of financial evidence supporting board approvals
  • Stronger oversight of controls, external audit findings and management remediation

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define their financial oversight responsibilities and frame appropriate challenge questions for management.

  • Board fiduciary duties, financial stewardship and informed challenge boundaries
  • Reading board packs: materiality, trends, exceptions and decision implications
  • Management accounts linked to strategic priorities, budgets and approved risk appetite
  • Finance committee mandates, delegated authorities and escalation thresholds
  • Questioning management without crossing from oversight into executive direction
  • Board information requirements: timeliness, comparability, reliability and forward-looking indicators

Participants can interpret the primary financial statements and identify accounting matters requiring board attention.

  • IFRS financial statements: purpose, linkage and board-level interpretation
  • Income statement drivers: revenue recognition, margins, overheads and finance costs
  • Balance sheet structure: operating assets, financing, provisions and equity
  • Cash flow statement reconciled through operating, investing and financing movements
  • Accounting estimates, judgements and disclosures that affect reported performance
  • Related-party transactions and contingent liabilities requiring board attention

Participants can diagnose financial performance using ratios, trends, benchmarks and variance analysis.

  • Ratio analysis using profitability, liquidity, efficiency and solvency measures
  • ROIC, ROE and DuPont analysis for return-driver diagnosis
  • Working capital cycle measured through DSO, DIO and DPO
  • EBITDA limitations, normalisations and cash conversion warnings for boards
  • Benchmarking performance against peers, plan, prior periods and covenants
  • Variance analysis separating price, volume, mix, timing and one-offs

Participants can challenge planning assumptions and assess the financial consequences of alternative scenarios.

  • Driver-based budgets connecting operational assumptions to financial outcomes
  • Rolling forecasts distinguish committed actions, emerging risks and management judgement
  • Scenario analysis models base, downside and upside decision cases
  • Sensitivity testing identifies assumptions with greatest earnings and cash effects
  • Budget challenge questions expose optimism bias, capacity constraints and dependencies
  • Board approval criteria distinguish targets, forecasts, commitments and contingency actions

Participants can assess cash resilience, liquidity headroom and management actions to improve cash generation.

  • 13-week rolling cash forecast built from receipts, payroll and supplier data
  • Free cash flow reconciled from EBIT, tax, capital expenditure and working capital
  • Liquidity headroom assessed against facilities, covenant tests and downside scenarios
  • Cash conversion actions evaluated through collection, inventory and payment terms
  • Capital expenditure proposals tested for cash timing and funding consequences
  • Early-warning indicators trigger treasury escalation before liquidity becomes constrained

Participants can evaluate whether major investments create value and meet board approval standards.

  • Weighted average cost of capital applied to investment hurdle rates
  • Net present value and IRR compared for mutually exclusive projects
  • Payback period limitations and discounted payback in capital screening
  • Business cases challenged for benefits, costs, phasing and ownership
  • Post-investment reviews compare realised value against approved investment cases
  • Capital allocation balanced between maintenance, growth, dividends and debt reduction

Participants can assess valuation evidence, funding choices and financial risks in transaction proposals.

  • Enterprise value bridges equity value, debt, cash and non-operating assets
  • Discounted cash flow valuation tested through terminal value assumptions
  • Trading multiples interpreted using comparability, growth, margins and accounting policies
  • Debt covenant headroom monitored through debt-to-EBITDA, interest cover and cashflow ratios
  • Funding options assessed across equity, term debt, revolving facilities and grants
  • Acquisition proposals examined for synergies, integration costs and valuation discipline

Participants can oversee financial risk, internal controls and assurance activity through effective governance questions.

  • Enterprise risk registers connect strategic risks, controls, owners and indicators
  • Three Lines Model clarifies management, risk oversight and internal audit roles
  • Risk appetite statements translated into limits, triggers and board reporting
  • Internal control deficiencies assessed for financial reporting and fraud exposure
  • Audit committee questions address independence, scope, findings and remediation
  • Whistleblowing reports and investigations governed through documented escalation protocols

Participants can connect strategic choices to value drivers, financial trade-offs and long-term performance.

  • Value drivers mapped across revenue growth, margins, assets and capital cost
  • Balanced Scorecard links financial outcomes with customer, process and people measures
  • Pricing decisions tested for contribution margin, elasticity and capacity effects
  • Make-or-buy analysis separates relevant costs, quality risks and strategic control
  • Restructuring proposals assessed for provisions, impairments, cash costs and delivery risks
  • ESG metrics connected to capital access, costs, risk and performance

Participants can set financial information requirements and apply a disciplined approach to board decisions.

  • Board papers structured around decisions, options, financial evidence and recommendations
  • Decision rights distinguished using reserved matters, delegations and approval gates
  • Question frameworks test assumptions, evidence, alternatives, downside and accountability
  • Red flags in forecasts, valuations, covenants and accounting estimates
  • Meeting agendas allocate time according to materiality, urgency and decision readiness
  • Individual application plans specify board questions, reporting improvements and follow-up actions

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

What you take back to work

  1. Board financial oversight checklist
  2. Financial statement review template
  3. Forecast challenge question bank
  4. 13-week cash forecast review model
  5. Capital investment approval criteria
  6. Board financial application plan

Who should attend

  • Board Members — need to approve financial decisions and provide informed challenge
  • Non-Executive Directors — require confidence interpreting reports without managing operations
  • Board Committee Members — oversee audit, risk, investment or finance committee decisions
  • Chief Executives — present credible financial cases and respond to director scrutiny
  • Senior Executives — develop proposals that meet board approval requirements
  • Company Secretaries — strengthen board papers, meeting agendas and governance processes

Skills and tools covered

Financial statement interpretationCash flow oversightInvestment appraisalBoard financial challengeRisk governanceValuation analysis

Tools and standards

IFRS, DuPont analysis, Weighted Average Cost of Capital, Three Lines Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short faculty briefings to establish financial concepts, followed by guided analysis of financial statements, management accounts, forecasts and board papers. Participants work through realistic cases involving cash pressure, capital investment, valuation, audit findings and strategic restructuring. Small-group exercises focus on interpreting evidence, framing challenge questions and reaching approval decisions. Facilitated simulations show how financial issues are debated in board and committee settings. Participants conclude by preparing an application plan for their own board, committee or executive reporting responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience serving on a board, committee, executive leadership team or governance function, or expect to take on such responsibilities soon. They should be comfortable reading basic business reports and working with percentages, budgets and simple financial tables. Prior knowledge of accounting terminology, IFRS, valuation or corporate finance is helpful but not required. This is not an accounting qualification course, and participants do not need to prepare statutory accounts, build complex spreadsheet models or hold a finance role.

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 comfort with basic business reports, budgets and percentages, but do not need an accounting qualification. The course explains core accounting and finance concepts before applying them to board decisions.

Bring a calculator if preferred, although complex calculations are not the focus. Participants may also bring a redacted board paper, budget or financial report to consider during application planning.

It is designed for directors, trustees, non-executive directors, committee members and senior executives who work with boards. It also suits company secretaries and governance professionals supporting financial decision processes.

Financial analysis courses usually focus on detailed modelling, accounting preparation or analyst techniques. This course focuses on the questions board members should ask, the evidence they should require and the decisions they must oversee.

Participants receive templates for reviewing financial statements, forecasts, cash reports and investment cases. They also prepare an individual application plan linked to their own board, committee or executive reporting responsibilities.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days move from financial statements and performance analysis to cash, investment decisions, risk governance and board-paper challenge.

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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