Investment Appraisal Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Corporate Finance Managers, Financial Planning and Analysis 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-FM-086

Before you join: Participants should understand core financial statements, basic accounting terminology and the time value of money.

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

Investment decisions often involve incomplete forecasts, competing projects, uncertain demand and significant capital commitments. Finance professionals need to distinguish accounting profit from decision-relevant cash flow, set defensible discount rates and show whether a proposal creates value. Weak appraisal can result in capital tied up in low-return assets, underestimated downside exposure, or investment cases that cannot withstand committee scrutiny.

This course develops the methods used to assess capital expenditure, acquisitions, replacement assets, infrastructure proposals and strategic growth projects. Participants build discounted cash-flow models, calculate NPV, IRR, MIRR and profitability index measures, estimate WACC and project-specific discount rates, and model tax, inflation, working capital and terminal values. They also assess uncertainty through sensitivity analysis, scenarios, break-even analysis, decision trees and Monte Carlo simulation. Advanced topics include capital rationing, equivalent annual annuity, lease-versus-buy decisions, real options and project finance considerations.

Instruction combines short technical briefings with worked financial cases, spreadsheet-based group analysis, investment committee simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect decisions such as replacing production equipment, funding digital systems, developing infrastructure assets and evaluating cross-border expansion. Participants leave with a reusable investment appraisal workbook structure, an investment memorandum template, a risk-analysis framework and an individual plan for improving appraisal work on current projects.

The course suits finance staff and managers who prepare, review or approve significant investment proposals. It is particularly relevant where capital allocation decisions require clear assumptions, transparent calculations and evidence-based recommendations.

What you will be able to do

  • Build discounted cash-flow models from relevant project cash flows and timing assumptions
  • Calculate NPV, IRR, MIRR, profitability index and discounted payback measures
  • Estimate WACC and project-specific discount rates using CAPM and market evidence
  • Evaluate tax, inflation, working capital and terminal-value effects within investment models
  • Model project uncertainty using sensitivity analysis, scenarios, decision trees and Monte Carlo simulation
  • Select projects under capital constraints using portfolio ranking and equivalent annual annuity methods
  • Prepare investment memoranda with recommendations, risk evidence and approval conditions
  • Conduct post-investment reviews that compare approved assumptions with realised results

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce investment cases that explain value creation and downside exposure clearly
  • Challenge unsuitable discount rates, cash-flow assumptions and headline IRR claims
  • Make defensible recommendations when projects compete for limited capital funding
  • Present financial analysis confidently to investment committees and senior managers
  • Apply post-investment review methods to improve future forecasting accuracy

For your organisation

  • Improve capital allocation through consistent NPV-based appraisal methods
  • Reduce approval risk caused by omitted cash flows, taxes or working-capital requirements
  • Create more transparent assumptions and audit trails for material investment decisions
  • Identify downside risks before capital is committed to projects
  • Strengthen post-investment accountability for benefits, returns and corrective action

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify decision-relevant project cash flows and structure an auditable investment appraisal model.

  • Decision gates, business cases and approval authorities within capital expenditure governance
  • Relevant incremental cash flows distinguished from accounting profit and sunk costs
  • Opportunity costs, cannibalisation and working capital changes captured in forecasts
  • Project timelines mapped through construction, commissioning, operation and terminal stages
  • Cash-flow sign conventions and timing assumptions documented for model auditability
  • Separate financing flows from operating project cash flows

Participants can forecast after-tax project cash flows using consistent inflation, tax and terminal-value assumptions.

  • Nominal and real cash flows matched with consistent discount rates
  • Inflation forecasts separated between revenues, costs, wages and asset prices
  • Taxable profit schedules reconciled to project cash flow timing
  • Capital allowances, loss relief and tax shields modelled correctly
  • Depreciation excluded from cash flows except through tax effects
  • Terminal values include disposal proceeds, decommissioning costs and working-capital release

Participants can calculate and interpret core investment appraisal measures for competing project proposals.

  • Discounted cash-flow models structured with inputs, calculations, outputs and controls
  • Net present value calculated using period-specific discount factors
  • Internal rate of return tested against reinvestment-rate assumptions
  • Modified internal rate of return compared with NPV rankings
  • Profitability index applied when capital budgets impose funding constraints
  • Payback and discounted payback used as supplementary liquidity measures
  • Mutually exclusive projects ranked using incremental cash-flow analysis

Participants can estimate discount rates that reflect financing structure, business risk and project characteristics.

  • Weighted average cost of capital derived from market-value financing weights
  • CAPM cost of equity estimated from beta, risk-free rate and premium
  • Cost of debt adjusted for tax relief and issue costs
  • Project-specific discount rates matched to business risk and currency
  • Pure-play comparables used to unlever and relever equity betas
  • APV separates operating value from financing side effects
  • Country risk premiums and sovereign spreads assessed for cross-border investments

Participants can quantify key project uncertainties and communicate their effect on investment value.

  • Sensitivity analysis isolates value drivers through one-variable assumption changes
  • Scenario analysis combines coherent demand, price, cost and timing cases
  • Break-even analysis identifies critical sales volumes, prices and investment costs
  • Two-way data tables expose interacting assumptions and NPV ranges
  • Monte Carlo simulation models probability distributions for uncertain cash-flow drivers
  • Decision trees value staged commitments and contingent future outcomes
  • Risk registers link assumptions, owners, mitigations and appraisal impacts

Participants can assess managerial flexibility and staged choices within uncertain investment proposals.

  • Real options recognise flexibility to defer, expand, contract or abandon
  • Option-to-wait value assessed before irreversible capital commitments
  • Decision-tree probabilities updated using new information at stage gates
  • Expected monetary value calculated for alternative project pathways
  • Certainty equivalents distinguish risk adjustment from time-value discounting
  • Risk-adjusted discount rates applied without double-counting uncertainty
  • Managerial flexibility documented within investment recommendations and approval conditions

Participants can select and rank projects when capital, timing or operational capacity is constrained.

  • Capital rationing selects project portfolios under hard budget limits
  • Linear programming allocates scarce funding across divisible investments
  • Equivalent annual annuity compares unequal-life asset replacement alternatives
  • Replacement decisions separate relevant operating savings from historic book values
  • Lease-versus-buy analysis compares after-tax cash flows and financing effects
  • Timing optimisation evaluates deferment costs against capacity and market constraints
  • Strategic fit and non-financial criteria recorded beside financial rankings

Participants can incorporate financing, currency, contractual and lifecycle factors into project appraisals.

  • Project finance cash flows distinguished from sponsor-level investment returns
  • Debt service coverage ratio tested under downside operating scenarios
  • Financing covenants incorporated into distribution and refinancing assumptions
  • Currency exposures translated using consistent exchange-rate and inflation assumptions
  • Hedging costs reflected where contractual currency risk mitigation exists
  • Public-private partnership appraisals distinguish affordability, value and risk transfer
  • Environmental liabilities and decommissioning provisions included in lifecycle cash flows

Participants can prepare controlled financial models and investment papers suitable for formal approval.

  • Investment memoranda state recommendation, value drivers, risks and decision requested
  • Excel model architecture separates assumptions, calculations, outputs and checks
  • Formula checks reconcile sources, signs, timelines and balance conditions
  • Version control records model changes, reviewers and approval status
  • Approval papers distinguish base case, downside case and mitigations
  • Investment committees challenge optimism bias, contingencies and implementation readiness
  • Audit trails retain source data, assumptions and decision evidence

Participants can establish post-investment review processes and target practical improvements to appraisal quality.

  • Post-investment reviews compare approved assumptions with realised cash flows
  • Benefits realisation plans assign measures, owners, dates and tolerances
  • Variance analysis separates volume, price, cost and timing effects
  • Stage-gate reviews trigger continuation, redesign, suspension or termination decisions
  • Lessons learned identify recurring estimation errors and control improvements
  • Portfolio dashboards report committed capital, forecast returns and delivery status
  • Personal application plans prioritise appraisal improvements for current investment pipelines

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

What you take back to work

  1. Discounted cash-flow model template
  2. Investment appraisal assumptions checklist
  3. WACC and discount-rate calculation model
  4. Sensitivity and scenario analysis framework
  5. Investment memorandum template
  6. Post-investment review plan

Who should attend

  • Corporate Finance Managers — prepare and challenge major capital investment proposals
  • Financial Planning and Analysis Managers — evaluate business cases and capital allocation choices
  • Finance Business Partners — translate operational proposals into decision-ready financial evidence
  • Investment Analysts — build valuation models and present investment recommendations
  • Project Finance Managers — assess funding structures, covenants and project-level returns
  • Capital Project Managers — understand financial approval criteria and value-delivery commitments

Skills and tools covered

Discounted cash flowCost of capitalInvestment risk analysisCapital rationingFinancial modellingInvestment governance

Tools and standards

Microsoft Excel, Capital Asset Pricing Model, Weighted Average Cost of Capital, Monte Carlo simulation

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish each appraisal method, followed by worked calculations and spreadsheet-based case analysis. Participants analyse realistic proposals, test assumptions, compare project alternatives and prepare evidence for investment committee decisions. Group exercises focus on resolving issues such as conflicting NPV and IRR results, uncertain demand forecasts and constrained capital budgets. Simulated review discussions build skill in questioning assumptions and defending recommendations. Individual application planning connects the methods to participants' current investment pipeline.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand core financial statements, basic accounting terminology and the time value of money. Experience preparing budgets, forecasts, business cases or financial models is useful. Participants should be comfortable working with percentages, discounting concepts and spreadsheet formulas. Prior use of NPV or IRR is helpful but not essential, as the course builds these methods from first principles before progressing to advanced applications. A finance qualification, prior valuation course or specialist statistical knowledge is not required.

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 understand basic financial statements, percentages and the time value of money. Prior experience with business cases or spreadsheet models is helpful, but you do not need a finance qualification or prior valuation training.

Bring a laptop with spreadsheet software if attending in person, as financial modelling examples use spreadsheet calculations. You may also bring a non-confidential current business case or capital proposal for use during application planning.

It is designed for finance professionals, analysts, finance business partners, project finance staff and managers involved in capital proposals. It also suits operational leaders who need to understand the financial basis of investment approval decisions.

Financial modelling courses focus primarily on spreadsheet construction, while valuation courses often concentrate on valuing companies or securities. This course focuses on capital investment decisions, project cash flows, approval methods, uncertainty analysis and post-investment review.

You can use the methods for capital expenditure requests, asset replacement decisions, technology investments, expansion projects and infrastructure proposals. The templates support more consistent assumptions, clearer recommendations and stronger challenge during approval reviews.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between technical instruction, worked cases, spreadsheet analysis, group review discussions 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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