Finance for Leaders Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Unit Leaders, Functional Heads 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-111

Before you join: Participants should have management, project, operational, commercial or functional leadership experience and regular exposure to budgets, management reports or business decisions.

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

Leaders make decisions every day that affect cash, profit, asset use, risk and long-term value. Yet many operational, commercial and functional leaders receive financial reports without a clear way to test the assumptions behind them or translate their decisions into financial consequences. This course addresses that gap. Participants learn to read the numbers used by finance teams, challenge proposals constructively and make choices using value, cash flow and risk criteria rather than intuition alone.

The course covers the financial statements, management accounts, working capital, budgeting, forecasting, investment appraisal, business cases, performance measures and financial risk controls. Participants examine how revenue recognition, cost classification, depreciation, provisions and financing choices affect reported results. They use ratio analysis, contribution analysis, break-even analysis, 13-week cash forecasting, discounted cash flow and sensitivity analysis to assess operational and strategic decisions. The course also addresses how leaders communicate financial priorities, accountabilities and trade-offs to boards, finance teams and non-financial colleagues.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with guided analysis of realistic cases from banking, public services, manufacturing, infrastructure and consumer businesses. Group work applies financial tools to pricing decisions, cost-reduction proposals, capital projects and deteriorating cash positions. Participants receive structured feedback on their reasoning and complete an application plan for a current business issue. They leave with a reusable finance decision pack containing templates, checklists and models for use in budget reviews, investment proposals and performance meetings.

The course is designed for experienced managers who influence budgets, operations, customers, projects or investment decisions and need greater confidence working with finance.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements for management decisions
  • Analyse profitability, liquidity, efficiency and capital structure using financial ratios
  • Build a 13-week rolling cash forecast from operating cash drivers
  • Evaluate pricing, volume and cost decisions using contribution and break-even analysis
  • Prepare budgets and rolling forecasts linked to operational assumptions and accountabilities
  • Appraise capital investments using NPV, IRR, payback and sensitivity analysis
  • Construct a decision-ready business case with financial, strategic and risk assumptions
  • Communicate financial performance and corrective actions to senior stakeholders

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence questioning financial assumptions in management meetings
  • Stronger credibility when presenting budget requests and investment proposals
  • Ability to distinguish accounting profit from cash generation
  • Practical methods for identifying the financial drivers behind operational problems
  • A structured approach for discussing risk, return and value with finance teams

For your organisation

  • Better quality investment proposals with explicit cash flow and risk assumptions
  • Earlier intervention on margin erosion, cost overruns and cash shortfalls
  • More accountable budgets connected to operational drivers and named owners
  • Improved collaboration between finance, operational and commercial functions
  • Clearer prioritisation of initiatives using value, affordability and strategic fit

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can connect leadership decisions to profit, cash, risk and enterprise value.

  • Finance's role in allocating scarce capital and enforcing decision discipline
  • Value creation drivers: growth, margin, asset efficiency and cost of capital
  • Economic profit compared with accounting profit and cash generation
  • Stakeholder expectations from boards, lenders, owners and public funders
  • Agency problems, incentives and governance in delegated financial decisions
  • Materiality thresholds for escalating financial issues and approving commitments

Participants can interpret the three primary financial statements and their connections.

  • Income statement structure: revenue, gross margin, operating profit and net profit
  • Balance sheet relationships among assets, liabilities, equity and retained earnings
  • Cash flow statement reconciled through operating, investing and financing activities
  • Accrual accounting distinguished from cash accounting through timing examples
  • Revenue recognition, matching and prudence principles affecting reported performance
  • Trace a transaction through income statement, balance sheet and cash flow

Participants can diagnose financial performance using ratio and trend analysis.

  • Horizontal and vertical analysis identify trends, mix changes and anomalies
  • Liquidity ratios: current ratio, quick ratio and operating cash coverage
  • Profitability ratios measure gross margin, operating margin, ROA and ROE
  • DuPont analysis separates return on equity into operating performance drivers
  • Efficiency ratios assess receivables, inventory, payables and asset turnover
  • Benchmark ratios against prior periods, plans, peers and covenant limits

Participants can assess the profit consequences of pricing, volume and cost choices.

  • Fixed, variable, direct and indirect costs classified for decision purposes
  • Contribution margin calculated by product, customer, channel and contract
  • Break-even analysis tests required volume under alternative price assumptions
  • Relevant costing excludes sunk costs from short-term decision analysis
  • Activity-based costing assigns overhead using causal cost drivers
  • Price-volume-mix analysis explains variance against plan and prior period

Participants can manage operating cash drivers and forecast near-term liquidity.

  • Cash conversion cycle links receivables, inventory, payables and operating cash
  • 13-week rolling cash forecast built from receipts, payroll and supplier data
  • Collection policies reduce overdue receivables without damaging strategic customers
  • Inventory segmentation balances service levels, obsolescence risk and cash release
  • Supplier payment terms assessed against discounts, relationships and liquidity
  • Working capital dashboards track days sales outstanding, stock days and payables

Participants can create financially credible plans and act on performance variances.

  • Driver-based budgets translate volume, staffing, capacity and price assumptions
  • Rolling forecasts update expected outcomes using current operational evidence
  • Flexible budgets separate volume effects from cost control performance
  • Budget ownership assigns decision rights, tolerances and escalation responsibilities
  • Variance analysis investigates price, volume, efficiency, timing and scope differences
  • Forecast bias and sandbagging addressed through assumptions review and challenge

Participants can evaluate investment proposals using cash flow, return and risk criteria.

  • Incremental cash flows distinguish project economics from accounting allocations
  • Net present value discounts expected cash flows at risk-adjusted rates
  • Internal rate of return compared with NPV for mutually exclusive projects
  • Payback period assesses liquidity exposure and recovery speed
  • Sensitivity analysis tests value drivers, downside cases and break-even assumptions
  • Real options recognise staged investment, deferral, expansion and abandonment choices

Participants can prepare decision-ready business cases for senior approval.

  • Strategic case defines the problem, options, benefits and decision required
  • Financial case presents investment, operating costs, cash flows and funding
  • Do-nothing baseline prevents benefits claims from overstating incremental value
  • Risk register assigns probability, impact, mitigations, owners and contingencies
  • Scenario analysis compares base, upside and downside decision cases
  • Capital rationing prioritises proposals using strategic fit, NPV and affordability

Participants can use performance measures and controls to improve financial accountability.

  • Balanced Scorecard links financial outcomes with customer, process and capability measures
  • Leading and lagging indicators distinguish causes from reported financial results
  • KPI design specifies formula, source, frequency, owner and action threshold
  • Internal controls address authorisation, segregation, reconciliation and audit trails
  • Fraud red flags include override, unusual journals, conflicts and duplicate payments
  • Covenants, solvency and liquidity triggers inform escalation and corrective action

Participants can communicate financial insights and establish actions for a live business issue.

  • Management narrative explains drivers, implications, decisions and requested actions
  • Waterfall charts communicate bridges between plan, forecast and actual performance
  • Finance business partnering frames challenge around evidence, options and trade-offs
  • Decision rights clarify who recommends, approves, funds and delivers initiatives
  • Board papers distinguish key messages, supporting analysis and unresolved risks
  • Ninety-day application plan assigns financial priorities, milestones and review points

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

What you take back to work

  1. Financial statement interpretation checklist
  2. 13-week rolling cash forecast template
  3. Driver-based budget and forecast model
  4. Investment appraisal model using NPV, IRR and sensitivity analysis
  5. Business case template with risk register
  6. Ninety-day financial action plan

Who should attend

  • Business Unit Leaders — accountable for profit, cost, service and investment choices
  • Functional Heads — need to connect departmental plans with financial performance
  • Operations Managers — manage capacity, productivity, inventory and working capital drivers
  • Commercial Managers — assess pricing, margin, customer profitability and contract terms
  • Programme and Project Directors — prepare investment cases and control financial benefits
  • Senior Public Sector Managers — allocate constrained budgets and defend spending decisions

Skills and tools covered

Financial statement analysisCash flow forecastingBudget managementInvestment appraisalBusiness case developmentPerformance reporting

Tools and standards

IFRS Standards, DuPont analysis, Balanced Scorecard, Net present value

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish financial concepts, followed by case analysis, calculations, group exercises and facilitated discussion. Participants interpret management accounts, diagnose cash and margin issues, assess competing capital proposals and prepare concise recommendations. Simulations show how pricing, volume, cost, working capital and financing decisions affect results. Individual application planning connects the methods to a live responsibility, such as a budget review, contract decision or investment proposal. Trainers adapt cases and discussion to the sector and financial maturity of each cohort.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have management, project, operational, commercial or functional leadership experience and regular exposure to budgets, management reports or business decisions. They should be comfortable working with percentages, basic arithmetic and spreadsheet-based figures. Prior accounting study is not required, and participants do not need to be qualified accountants, analysts or finance specialists. The course explains core accounting concepts before applying them to decisions. Participants gain most value by bringing a current budget, investment proposal, performance issue or financial decision they can examine during the course.

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

No formal accounting qualification or prior finance course is required. Participants should have management experience and be comfortable working with percentages, budgets or spreadsheet-based figures.

Bring a current business issue, such as a budget variance, pricing decision, investment request or cash concern. You may also bring non-confidential management reports or planning assumptions to inform your application plan.

It is intended for leaders who influence financial outcomes but are not full-time finance specialists. Business unit, operational, functional, commercial, project and public sector leaders will find the material directly relevant.

Accounting courses focus primarily on recording transactions, reporting rules and technical accounting treatments. This course uses financial information to support leadership decisions about performance, cash, budgets, investments and risk.

Participants leave with templates for cash forecasting, budgeting, investment appraisal and business cases. The final module converts a current financial responsibility into a ninety-day action plan with review points.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days cover ten connected modules, combining instructor input, applied calculations, case work, discussion and application planning.

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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