Financial Accounting for Business Professionals Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Unit Managers, Operations Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-A-086

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable working with basic business reports, percentages and simple spreadsheet calculations.

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

Business managers often approve prices, contracts, investments and budgets using financial reports without seeing how routine transactions, estimates and closing entries shape the numbers. This gap can lead to weak challenge of reported performance, misunderstood cash positions and late identification of control failures. The course gives business professionals a disciplined way to read, question and contribute to accounting information used in operational and management decisions.

Participants learn how transactions move through the accounting cycle into the statement of financial position, profit or loss statement, cash flow statement and supporting notes. The course covers IFRS principles, revenue recognition, receivables, inventory, fixed assets, provisions, leases, period-end adjustments and financial statement analysis. Participants practise interpreting profitability, liquidity, working-capital and cash-flow measures, while identifying the accounting judgements and controls behind reported figures.

Instructor-led briefings are combined with worked calculations, financial statement cases, group reviews of accounting scenarios and reporting simulations. Cases reflect situations such as contract revenue, inventory valuation, asset investment, overdue receivables and month-end close issues. Participants leave with a practical financial statement review pack containing analysis templates, journal checklists, ratio models and an application plan for improving the quality of financial information they use or provide.

The course is suited to managers, analysts and operational professionals who work with budgets, reports, commercial decisions or finance teams. It is also valuable for newly appointed finance staff seeking a sound working knowledge of financial accounting before moving into specialist reporting, control or analysis responsibilities.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret IFRS-based financial statements and explain the drivers behind reported results
  • Apply double-entry principles to record routine transactions and period-end adjustments
  • Assess revenue recognition using the IFRS 15 five-step model
  • Calculate and explain inventory, depreciation, receivables and provision adjustments
  • Prepare key reconciliations and identify errors before financial reporting finalisation
  • Analyse profitability, liquidity, working-capital and cash-flow ratios
  • Evaluate accounting judgements, estimates and disclosures affecting management decisions
  • Use a structured financial statement review pack to challenge reported performance

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Read financial statements with greater confidence and precision
  • Challenge unusual movements in revenue, costs, assets and liabilities
  • Explain accounting impacts of operational and commercial decisions
  • Produce clearer financial commentary for managers and stakeholders
  • Prepare for broader finance, budgeting or business-partnering responsibilities

For your organisation

  • Improves manager understanding of reported financial performance and cash movements
  • Reduces avoidable errors in coding, accruals, cut-off and supporting documentation
  • Strengthens challenge of revenue, inventory and receivables reporting assumptions
  • Supports faster resolution of reconciliation issues during month-end close
  • Improves communication between operational teams, finance staff and senior management

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how transactions are recorded and flow into financial statements.

  • Double-entry bookkeeping using debits, credits, journals and general ledger accounts
  • Accounting equation analysis for assets, liabilities and owners' equity
  • Distinguishing accrual accounting from cash-basis reporting and cash movements
  • Source-document trails from transaction initiation through posting and review
  • Chart-of-accounts design linking operating transactions to financial statement line items
  • Trial balance preparation and error identification before period-end adjustments

Participants can apply core IFRS recognition and measurement principles to business transactions.

  • IFRS Conceptual Framework definitions of assets, liabilities, income and expenses
  • Recognition criteria, measurement bases and materiality judgments under IFRS
  • Selecting accounting policies and applying consistency, comparability and disclosure principles
  • Going-concern assessments and subsequent-events treatment before financial statement authorisation
  • Professional judgement documentation for estimates, assumptions and significant accounting policies
  • Distinguishing accounting estimates, policy changes and prior-period error corrections

Participants can assess revenue timing, receivable balances and expected credit loss adjustments.

  • IFRS 15 five-step model for revenue recognition from customer contracts
  • Identifying performance obligations and allocating transaction prices using relative stand-alone values
  • Recording contract assets, contract liabilities, refunds and variable consideration
  • Accounts receivable ageing, credit notes and expected credit loss allowances
  • Cut-off testing for sales, dispatches, returns and unbilled revenue
  • Revenue disclosures that explain timing, judgments and contract balances

Participants can determine inventory values and explain their effect on profit and margins.

  • IAS 2 cost formulas: FIFO, weighted average and specific identification
  • Inventory cost build-up including purchase costs, conversion and overhead allocation
  • Net realisable value write-downs and reversals under IAS 2
  • Perpetual and periodic inventory records reconciled to physical counts
  • Gross margin analysis using inventory movements, sales and cost data
  • Obsolescence provisions supported by ageing, demand and disposal evidence

Participants can classify, depreciate and assess impairment of long-term business assets.

  • IAS 16 recognition, componentisation and cost measurement for property, plant and equipment
  • Straight-line and reducing-balance depreciation calculations with useful-life reassessments
  • IAS 38 distinctions between research, development and other intangible expenditure
  • Impairment indicators and IAS 36 cash-generating unit testing
  • Asset disposals, derecognition and gain-or-loss presentation
  • Capital-versus-expense decisions documented through expenditure classification criteria

Participants can identify and measure common liabilities and related reporting obligations.

  • IAS 37 recognition thresholds for provisions, contingencies and onerous contracts
  • Present-value measurement of long-term provisions and unwinding of discounting
  • IFRS 16 lease liability and right-of-use asset accounting
  • Borrowing costs capitalised under IAS 23 qualifying-asset criteria
  • Classifying debt, trade payables and equity instruments on statement presentation
  • Deferred tax basics: temporary differences, tax bases and recognition exceptions

Participants can support an accurate period-end close through adjustments, reconciliations and controls.

  • Month-end close calendar assigning owners, cut-offs, reconciliations and review deadlines
  • Accruals and prepayments calculated from contracts, invoices and service periods
  • Bank, receivable, payable and intercompany reconciliations resolving timing differences
  • Depreciation, inventory and bad-debt adjustments posted through closing journals
  • Control accounts and suspense accounts investigated before reporting finalisation
  • Journal-entry support demonstrating preparer, reviewer, evidence and approval controls

Participants can explain the structure, connections and disclosures within a set of financial statements.

  • IAS 1 statement-of-financial-position classifications for current and non-current items
  • Profit-or-loss and other-comprehensive-income presentation with functional expense analysis
  • Statement-of-changes-in-equity links between profit, distributions and reserves
  • IAS 7 cash flow statement using indirect method reconciliation
  • Notes disclosures for accounting policies, estimates, commitments and related parties
  • Cross-casting and internal consistency checks across primary statements and notes

Participants can analyse financial performance, financial position and cash conversion using key ratios.

  • Common-size analysis separating structural changes from period-to-period movements
  • Liquidity ratios: current ratio, quick ratio and operating cash conversion
  • Profitability measures including gross margin, operating margin, ROA and ROE
  • Working-capital cycle analysis using days sales, inventory and payables outstanding
  • DuPont analysis connecting margin, asset turnover and financial gearing
  • Variance investigation linking operational drivers to reported financial results

Participants can identify reporting controls and communicate financial issues clearly to decision-makers.

  • Internal control components using the COSO framework and control objectives
  • Segregation-of-duties mapping across procure-to-pay, order-to-cash and payroll cycles
  • Management representations, audit evidence and external auditor communication protocols
  • Red-flag review of unusual journals, revenue patterns and balance-sheet movements
  • Board-ready financial commentary distinguishing facts, assumptions, risks and actions
  • Personal application plan for improving reporting inputs and review routines

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

What you take back to work

  1. Financial statement review checklist
  2. IFRS transaction classification guide
  3. Month-end close and reconciliation template
  4. Revenue recognition assessment worksheet
  5. Financial ratio analysis model
  6. Personal reporting improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Business Unit Managers — need to interpret results and challenge financial performance
  • Operations Managers — require better understanding of costs, inventory and working capital
  • Commercial Managers — assess contract revenue, margins and customer credit exposure
  • Project Managers — monitor project costs, asset spend and revenue timing
  • Budget Holders — use accounting reports to manage expenditure and forecast decisions
  • New Finance Professionals — build practical foundations before specialist accounting responsibilities

Skills and tools covered

Financial statement analysisIFRS applicationPeriod-end closeRevenue recognitionWorking-capital analysisAccounting controls

Tools and standards

IFRS Conceptual Framework, IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers, IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows, COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by worked accounting examples, financial statement case work, group discussions and calculation-based activities. Participants trace transactions from source documents through journals and adjustments into financial statements. Reporting simulations examine revenue decisions, inventory valuation, asset expenditure, overdue receivables and cash-flow interpretation. Facilitated reviews focus on the questions managers should ask of finance teams, auditors and report owners. Each participant develops an application plan linked to their reporting, budgeting or operational responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable working with basic business reports, percentages and simple spreadsheet calculations. Some exposure to budgets, invoices, management reports, procurement, sales or operational performance data is helpful. Participants do not need to be qualified accountants or have prior experience preparing statutory financial statements. The course explains accounting terminology and double-entry mechanics before progressing to IFRS-based reporting, period-end adjustments and analysis. It is not designed as advanced technical IFRS training for experienced financial reporting specialists or audit professionals.

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

You should be comfortable with basic business reports, percentages and spreadsheet calculations. No accounting qualification is required, as the course begins with accounting language and double-entry principles before moving to IFRS-based reporting.

Bring a calculator and, for classroom delivery, a laptop if you prefer using spreadsheets during analysis activities. You may also bring anonymised examples of reports or accounting questions from your workplace for discussion.

It suits managers, budget holders, commercial staff, project leaders, operational managers and newly appointed finance professionals. It is intended for people who use, question or contribute to financial information rather than experienced technical reporting specialists.

This course focuses on how transactions are recognised, measured and reported in financial statements under IFRS principles. Management accounting and budgeting courses focus more directly on planning, cost analysis, forecasts and internal decision support.

You will be able to review reports with clearer questions about revenue timing, inventory values, receivables, provisions, cash flow and unusual movements. The templates support stronger month-end inputs, report reviews and discussions with finance teams.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between instructor briefings, worked examples, case analysis, group activities, reporting simulations 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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