Financial Analysis and Decision Making Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Financial Analysts, Finance Managers 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-144

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable reading a basic income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, and should understand common accounting terms such as revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and depreciation.

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

Financial decisions fail when managers rely on headline profit, isolated ratios or forecasts that do not reconcile to cash and funding needs. Finance professionals must identify the economic drivers behind reported results, test the quality of earnings, distinguish temporary movements from structural issues, and translate analysis into defensible recommendations. This matters in budget approvals, credit reviews, capital expenditure proposals, turnaround plans, acquisition assessments and performance reviews.

This course develops a disciplined approach to analysing financial statements and using the findings in operational and strategic decisions. Participants interpret income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements; assess profitability, liquidity, efficiency and solvency; build driver-based forecasts; evaluate working capital; and appraise investment proposals using discounted cash flow methods. They also examine financing choices, cost of capital, valuation approaches and sensitivity analysis. Attention is given to accounting policies, non-recurring items, earnings quality and the assumptions that can distort a decision.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with worked financial cases, spreadsheet-based analysis, small-group decision discussions and simulations involving investment, funding and performance choices. Cases reflect issues commonly faced by banks, public agencies, manufacturers, service businesses and project-based organisations. Participants leave with a structured financial-analysis pack: ratio dashboard, cash flow forecast, investment appraisal model, valuation worksheet and decision recommendation template.

The course suits finance staff and non-finance managers who contribute to financial planning, investment decisions, business cases, performance management or credit assessment. It is particularly useful for professionals who can read financial reports but need a more rigorous method for turning numbers into action.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret financial statements to identify performance drivers, accounting risks and cash implications
  • Calculate and explain profitability, liquidity, efficiency and solvency ratios
  • Construct driver-based forecasts for revenue, costs, working capital and cash flow
  • Assess earnings quality using accounting-policy, non-recurring-item and cash-conversion tests
  • Evaluate capital investments using NPV, IRR, payback and sensitivity analysis
  • Estimate funding needs and compare debt, equity and internal-financing options
  • Value a business using discounted cash flow and market-multiple methods
  • Prepare evidence-based financial recommendations for management decisions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce clearer financial recommendations supported by traceable assumptions and calculations
  • Challenge reported profits by testing cash conversion, adjustments and accounting choices
  • Build credible investment cases using NPV, IRR and sensitivity analysis
  • Identify early warning signals in liquidity, debt capacity and working capital
  • Contribute more confidently to budget, funding and performance-review discussions

For your organisation

  • Improve capital allocation through consistent investment-appraisal criteria
  • Detect cash pressure and funding gaps before they become urgent
  • Strengthen budget forecasts with operational drivers and reconciled financial statements
  • Reduce weak business cases built on unsupported revenue or cost assumptions
  • Improve management decisions through clearer analysis of risk, return and cash effects

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can interpret the links between financial statements and identify accounting issues affecting analysis.

  • Income statement structure, gross margin, operating profit and net income
  • Balance sheet composition, capital employed and net debt interpretation
  • Cash flow statement links between profit, working capital and financing
  • Accrual accounting compared with cash accounting and timing differences
  • Accounting policies affecting revenue, inventory, depreciation and provisions
  • Non-recurring items, management adjustments and underlying earnings assessment

Participants can calculate, interpret and communicate ratio-based assessments of financial performance and position.

  • Profitability ratios: gross margin, EBIT margin, ROCE and ROE
  • Liquidity measures: current ratio, quick ratio and operating cash coverage
  • Efficiency analysis using inventory days, receivable days and payable days
  • Solvency ratios: debt-to-equity, interest cover and debt service capacity
  • DuPont analysis separating margin, asset turnover and financial leverage
  • Benchmarking ratios against historical trends, peers and management targets

Participants can diagnose cash generation and identify practical working-capital improvement opportunities.

  • Operating cash flow reconciled from EBITDA, taxes and working capital
  • Cash conversion cycle calculated from receivables, inventory and payables
  • Receivables ageing analysis identifying collection risk and disputed balances
  • Inventory classification using ABC analysis, turnover and obsolescence indicators
  • Supplier payment terms assessed against liquidity, cost and relationship risks
  • Free cash flow calculated for valuation, debt reduction and distributions

Participants can build integrated forecasts from operational assumptions and test their financial consequences.

  • Driver-based revenue forecast using volume, price, mix and retention
  • Cost forecasts separating fixed, variable, step-fixed and discretionary expenditure
  • Forecast balance sheet derived from sales, margins and working-capital assumptions
  • 13-week rolling cash forecast built from receipts, payroll and supplier data
  • Three-statement forecast reconciled through retained earnings, debt and cash
  • Scenario analysis comparing base case, downside case and upside case

Participants can assess operating choices using cost behaviour, contribution and relevant-cost analysis.

  • Cost behaviour classified as fixed, variable, mixed and step-fixed
  • Contribution margin applied to pricing, product mix and capacity decisions
  • Break-even analysis using contribution, fixed costs and sales volume
  • Relevant-cost analysis for outsourcing, special orders and discontinuation decisions
  • Activity-based costing compared with volume-based overhead allocation methods
  • Variance analysis separating price, volume, efficiency and spending effects

Participants can evaluate capital expenditure proposals using cash-flow-based investment criteria.

  • Incremental cash flows distinguished from accounting profit and sunk costs
  • Net present value calculated using project-specific cash flow assumptions
  • Internal rate of return interpreted alongside reinvestment and scale limitations
  • Payback period and discounted payback used for liquidity screening
  • Sensitivity analysis testing price, volume, cost and timing assumptions
  • Decision trees assessing staged investments, uncertainty and managerial flexibility

Participants can assess funding requirements, financing alternatives and risk-adjusted discount rates.

  • Funding requirement estimated from forecast cash deficits and covenant headroom
  • Debt financing assessed through interest cost, maturity and repayment profile
  • Equity financing compared with dilution, return expectations and control implications
  • Weighted average cost of capital constructed from debt and equity inputs
  • Capital asset pricing model used to estimate cost of equity
  • Financial covenants monitored using leverage, cover and liquidity thresholds

Participants can estimate enterprise and equity value using cash-flow and market-based approaches.

  • Enterprise value distinguished from equity value, net debt and minorities
  • Discounted cash flow valuation using forecast free cash flows
  • Terminal value estimated through perpetuity growth and exit multiples
  • Comparable company analysis using EV/EBITDA, EV/Sales and P/E multiples
  • Precedent transaction analysis adjusted for control premiums and transaction conditions
  • Valuation range presented with assumptions, sensitivities and methodological limitations

Participants can turn financial analysis into focused management reporting and performance actions.

  • Key performance indicators linked to value drivers and accountability
  • Budget-versus-actual reports separating timing effects from permanent variances
  • Rolling forecasts replacing static assumptions with current operating evidence
  • Management dashboard designed for profitability, cash, capital and risk
  • Root-cause analysis connecting financial variances to operational decisions
  • Materiality thresholds used to prioritise management attention and corrective action

Participants can present a financially sound recommendation with assumptions, risks and implementation actions.

  • Decision memorandum structured around issue, evidence, options and recommendation
  • Financial assumptions documented with sources, owners and review dates
  • Risk register linking key uncertainties to financial exposure and mitigations
  • Recommendation options compared using return, cash, risk and strategic fit
  • Executive presentation charts showing trends, drivers, sensitivities and implications
  • Personal application plan selecting a current financial decision for analysis

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

What you take back to work

  1. Financial statement analysis checklist
  2. Ratio and DuPont analysis dashboard
  3. 13-week rolling cash forecast template
  4. Driver-based three-statement forecast model
  5. NPV and IRR investment appraisal worksheet
  6. Financial decision recommendation template

Who should attend

  • Financial Analysts — strengthen analysis supporting budgets, investments and management reporting
  • Finance Managers — improve financial diagnosis and decision papers for senior leaders
  • Business Unit Managers — connect operating choices to profit, cash and capital outcomes
  • Credit and Risk Analysts — assess borrower performance, liquidity and repayment capacity
  • Project Managers — evaluate project economics, funding requirements and investment cases
  • Accountants — translate reported figures into forward-looking commercial insight

Skills and tools covered

Financial statement analysisRatio interpretationCash flow forecastingInvestment appraisalBusiness valuationDecision recommendation

Tools and standards

DuPont analysis, Net present value, Internal rate of return, IFRS

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor introduces each method through short briefings and worked examples before participants analyse financial statements, forecasts and decision scenarios. Group case work examines profitability, cash constraints, capital expenditure and valuation questions using realistic data. Spreadsheet-based calculations build confidence with ratios, discounted cash flow and sensitivity analysis. Simulations require participants to weigh competing financial choices and defend a recommendation. Individual application planning helps participants identify a current report, proposal or operating issue where they can apply the methods after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable reading a basic income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, and should understand common accounting terms such as revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and depreciation. Experience preparing budgets, management reports, business cases or financial analyses is useful but not essential. Participants should be able to use spreadsheet formulas at a basic level, including arithmetic and cell references. Prior study of corporate finance, valuation, financial modelling or advanced accounting is not required. The course explains the calculations used before applying them to decisions.

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 should understand the basic purpose of the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement. Advanced accounting, corporate finance and valuation knowledge are not required.

Bring a laptop with spreadsheet software if possible, as calculations and models are discussed throughout the course. Participants may also bring a non-confidential budget, business case or financial issue they want to examine.

It suits finance professionals, accountants, analysts, business managers, project managers and credit or risk staff. It is designed for people who use financial information to support decisions rather than solely prepare statutory accounts.

Accounting courses focus primarily on recording transactions and preparing financial statements. Financial modelling courses focus on spreadsheet construction; this course concentrates on interpreting financial information and using it to make operating, investment, funding and valuation decisions.

Participants can use the templates to review performance reports, strengthen budget forecasts, assess investment proposals and identify cash risks. The final application plan identifies a current work decision where the methods can be used.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided among instructor briefings, financial case analysis, spreadsheet work, group discussions, 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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