Financial Skills for Business Development Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Business Development Managers, Commercial 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-122

Before you join: This intermediate course assumes participants have practical experience with sales, business development, account management, commercial operations or project 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

Business development teams can win contracts that appear attractive in revenue terms but weaken gross margin, consume cash or fail to meet investment thresholds. Commercial managers need to convert customer requirements into credible prices, payment terms, delivery assumptions and financial forecasts that finance teams can test. They must also challenge volume, cost, timing and risk assumptions before proposals become contractual commitments.

This five-day Financial Skills for Business Development Training Course builds the financial judgement needed to assess opportunities, structure commercially sound deals and present evidence-based recommendations. Participants interpret management accounts, calculate margins and unit economics, build revenue and cash forecasts, assess working capital effects, and evaluate investments using discounted cash flow, net present value and internal rate of return. The course also addresses pricing waterfalls, bid assumptions, payment terms, revenue recognition and financial risk controls.

Instructor-led sessions combine focused briefings with financial cases, group analysis, forecast-building activities, deal-structuring simulations and application planning. Participants work with realistic commercial decisions such as pricing a service contract, reviewing a bid with extended payment terms and defending an investment proposal. They leave with a finance-backed opportunity assessment pack, reusable templates and a practical plan for applying the methods to live accounts or proposals. Delivery is available in classroom locations across 50+ cities or live online, with a certificate of completion issued after the course.

The course is suited to business development, sales, commercial, account management and operational leaders who need stronger financial control over revenue-generating decisions.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements for commercial decisions
  • Calculate profitability, liquidity, return and working capital ratios from management accounts
  • Evaluate pricing decisions using price waterfalls, contribution analysis and break-even calculations
  • Build driver-based revenue, cost and cash flow forecasts from pipeline assumptions
  • Assess deal economics, payment terms and contractual risks before commercial approval
  • Prepare investment cases using discounted cash flow, NPV, IRR and sensitivity analysis
  • Apply IFRS 15 revenue recognition principles to customer contract scenarios
  • Present finance-backed recommendations using clear assumptions, scenarios and decision criteria

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Challenge unprofitable deals using quantified margin, cash and risk evidence
  • Prepare stronger pricing recommendations with defensible commercial assumptions
  • Speak more confidently with finance teams about forecasts, investment and working capital
  • Recognise contract terms that create collection, revenue recognition or margin exposure
  • Produce investment proposals that meet internal approval requirements

For your organisation

  • Improves bid quality by testing commercial assumptions before approval
  • Reduces margin erosion caused by unmanaged discounts, rebates and scope changes
  • Strengthens revenue and cash forecasting through consistent pipeline assumptions
  • Identifies working capital exposure arising from customer payment terms
  • Provides clearer financial evidence for investment and resource allocation decisions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how revenue, profit, cash and capital affect business development decisions.

  • Business development decisions linked to revenue, margin, cash and capital
  • Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement relationships
  • Accrual accounting versus cash timing in customer contracts
  • Working capital drivers: receivables, inventory, payables and deferred revenue
  • Finance vocabulary for discussing profitability, liquidity, returns and risk
  • Reading management accounts to identify commercial constraints and opportunities

Participants can analyse reported financial performance using ratios, trends and comparable measures.

  • Horizontal and vertical analysis reveal movements behind reported financial results
  • Calculate gross margin, operating margin, EBITDA margin and net margin
  • Liquidity ratios assess short-term obligations, collection exposure and funding pressure
  • Return on capital employed links operating profit to invested capital
  • Trend analysis distinguishes recurring performance from one-off accounting effects
  • Peer benchmarks require consistent definitions, reporting periods and accounting policies

Participants can evaluate pricing and customer economics using structured margin analysis.

  • Segment customer economics by volume, service intensity and payment behaviour
  • Value-based pricing connects willingness to pay with quantified customer outcomes
  • Price waterfalls reconcile list price, discounts, rebates and realised revenue
  • Contribution analysis tests whether incremental deals cover variable delivery costs
  • Build break-even volumes using fixed costs, unit contribution and capacity
  • Approval thresholds protect margin when exceptions depart from pricing policy

Participants can identify relevant costs and test the profitability of offerings and bids.

  • Map direct, indirect, fixed and variable costs to offerings
  • Activity-based costing assigns shared service costs using causal cost drivers
  • Unit economics combines acquisition, fulfilment, support and retention costs
  • Separate sunk costs from relevant costs in bid decisions
  • Capacity constraints expose opportunity costs behind resource allocation choices
  • Scenario tables show margin sensitivity to volume, price and mix

Participants can produce evidence-based commercial forecasts and explain material variances.

  • Translate pipeline stages into probability-weighted revenue and cash forecasts
  • Bottom-up forecasts connect account plans, volumes, prices and delivery dates
  • Driver-based models isolate assumptions behind revenue, costs and headcount
  • Rolling forecasts replace static budgets with updated operational evidence
  • Variance analysis separates price, volume, mix, timing and productivity effects
  • Forecast governance defines ownership, evidence standards and revision triggers

Participants can assess how commercial terms affect cash flow and working capital requirements.

  • Construct a 13-week cash forecast from operational receipt and payment data
  • Days sales outstanding identifies collection risk within commercial payment terms
  • Payment schedules expose cash consequences of milestones, deposits and retention
  • Model receivables ageing to prioritise collections and expected credit losses
  • Supplier terms and inventory policies affect the cash conversion cycle
  • Working capital actions balance liquidity needs against customer and supplier relationships

Participants can evaluate investment proposals using cash flow valuation and sensitivity analysis.

  • Define investment cases with baseline, incremental cash flows and decision criteria
  • Discounted cash flow values projects using timing, risk and terminal assumptions
  • Net present value compares expected benefits against initial and follow-on investment
  • Internal rate of return tests implied returns against hurdle rates
  • Payback period highlights liquidity exposure but ignores later cash flows
  • Sensitivity analysis tests volume, price, cost and timing assumptions

Participants can structure opportunities that balance customer value, margin, cash and delivery risk.

  • Qualify opportunities using strategic fit, financial value and delivery capacity
  • Deal economics align scope, pricing, milestones and acceptance criteria
  • Payment terms allocate credit risk, funding needs and collection responsibility
  • Contract change controls protect margin against unpriced scope expansion
  • Create bid assumptions registers with owners, evidence and expiry dates
  • Commercial approval packs document exceptions, downside scenarios and mitigations

Participants can select measures and controls that support financially accountable commercial performance.

  • Select leading and lagging indicators for commercial financial performance
  • Balanced Scorecard links financial outcomes with customer, process and capability measures
  • Revenue recognition timing follows performance obligations and contract terms
  • IFRS 15 identifies transaction price, allocation and recognition triggers
  • Risk registers assign likelihood, impact, controls and accountable owners
  • Monthly performance reviews convert variances into corrective commercial actions

Participants can communicate financially grounded recommendations and define their workplace application priorities.

  • Frame recommendations around decision, financial evidence, risks and requested action
  • Executive summaries state assumptions, value drivers, sensitivities and approvals required
  • Waterfall charts explain price, cost and margin movements clearly
  • Reconcile commercial forecasts with finance plans using a common assumption set
  • Prepare negotiation positions using walk-away prices, concessions and trade-offs
  • Application plans specify priority decisions, stakeholders, evidence and review dates

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

What you take back to work

  1. Commercial opportunity assessment template
  2. Price waterfall and margin analysis model
  3. Driver-based revenue forecast template
  4. 13-week cash flow forecast model
  5. Investment appraisal and sensitivity analysis template
  6. Bid assumptions and approval checklist

Who should attend

  • Business Development Managers — assess opportunity value before committing pricing and resources
  • Commercial Managers — protect margin, cash position and approval discipline across deals
  • Key Account Managers — structure customer terms with clearer financial consequences
  • Sales Managers — improve forecast quality and pricing governance within sales teams
  • Bid and Proposal Managers — build financially credible cases for complex tenders
  • Operations Managers — test delivery capacity, cost drivers and contract profitability

Skills and tools covered

Commercial financial analysisPricing and margin managementCash flow forecastingInvestment appraisalDeal economicsFinancial business cases

Tools and standards

IFRS 15, Discounted cash flow (DCF), Net present value (NPV), 13-week rolling cash forecast

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish financial methods, followed by cases drawn from commercial proposals, account plans and contract decisions. Participants analyse management accounts, construct forecasts, test pricing and payment scenarios, and assess investment choices in small groups. Simulations focus on commercially realistic choices such as approving a bid, defending a price exception or revising a forecast. Facilitated reviews connect calculations to management decisions, while application planning identifies how each participant will use the methods in current opportunities.

Requirements and prerequisites

This intermediate course assumes participants have practical experience with sales, business development, account management, commercial operations or project decisions. Participants should be comfortable reading basic tables, percentages and business reports, and should understand terms such as revenue, cost and profit. Familiarity with their organisation's pricing process, customer contracts or budget cycle is useful. No prior accounting qualification, advanced spreadsheet modelling, calculus or responsibility for statutory financial reporting is required. Finance specialists seeking technical reporting or audit training should select a more specialised 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

Participants should understand basic business terms such as revenue, cost, profit and budget. No accounting qualification or advanced spreadsheet modelling experience is required.

Participants should bring a laptop if attending live online or if their course joining instructions request one for classroom work. A current proposal, account plan or commercial challenge is useful for the application planning element, subject to confidentiality requirements.

The course is designed for business development, commercial, sales, account management, bid and operational professionals. It is particularly useful for people who influence pricing, forecasts, customer terms or investment requests.

This course focuses on financial decisions made during opportunity development, pricing, contracting and account management. It uses financial statements and IFRS 15 where relevant, but does not train participants to prepare statutory accounts or conduct audits.

Participants can use the templates to assess live opportunities, test payment terms, build forecasts and prepare approval submissions. The final application plan identifies specific decisions, stakeholders and evidence needed after the course.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours, excluding breaks. Time is divided across financial briefings, case analysis, group exercises, simulations, feedback 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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