Supply Chain Finance for Finance Managers Training Course

Course overview

Finance managers are increasingly asked to release working capital without weakening supplier relationships, raising stock-out risk, or transferring hidden cost into the supply base. Decisions on payment terms, early-payment discounts, inventory ownership, purchase-order financing and supplier funding programmes affect cash conversion cycle, EBITDA, liquidity forecasts and supply continuity. This course equips finance leaders to assess those trade-offs using financial evidence rather than relying on procurement assumptions or headline savings.

Participants examine the full financial flow from purchase order to payment, including procure-to-pay controls, days payable outstanding (DPO), days inventory outstanding (DIO), days sales outstanding (DSO), cash conversion cycle analysis, and total landed cost. They learn to model supplier-payment scenarios in Excel, compare dynamic discounting with supply chain finance facilities, evaluate reverse factoring structures, calculate annualised returns on early-payment discounts, and identify balance-sheet, accounting and counterparty risks. The course also addresses how finance should govern working-capital initiatives with procurement, treasury, operations and strategic suppliers.

Instruction combines worked calculations, supplier-finance case studies, Excel modelling workshops and facilitated decisions based on realistic procurement data. Participants build a supply chain finance assessment pack containing a cash conversion cycle dashboard, payment-term scenario model, supplier segmentation matrix, risk checklist and implementation roadmap. This gives attendees a practical set of documents they can adapt for a live category, supplier portfolio or working-capital initiative on return to work.

The course is designed for finance managers who partner with procurement or operations, as well as professionals responsible for payables, treasury, commercial finance and working-capital performance. It is suitable for organisations establishing a supplier-finance programme, renegotiating payment terms, or seeking more disciplined control of cash tied up across the supply chain.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Calculate cash conversion cycle measures using DPO, DIO, DSO and operating-cash-flow data
• Build an Excel payment-term scenario model that quantifies cash, margin and supplier impacts
• Evaluate dynamic discounting offers using annualised return and cost-of-capital calculations
• Compare reverse factoring, purchase-order finance and inventory-finance structures for a supplier portfolio
• Segment suppliers by strategic criticality, financial resilience and financing suitability
• Assess accounting, liquidity, concentration and reputational risks in supply chain finance arrangements
• Design procure-to-pay controls that protect invoice accuracy, approval discipline and payment-term compliance
• Produce a supply chain finance assessment pack and phased implementation roadmap

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Finance Managers — who must improve working-capital performance while protecting supply continuity
• Commercial Finance Managers — who evaluate the cash and margin consequences of procurement decisions
• Treasury Managers — who manage liquidity, bank facilities and supplier-finance funding structures
• Accounts Payable Managers — who control payment execution, discount capture and invoice-process compliance
• Procurement Managers — who negotiate payment terms and need to understand supplier cash-flow effects
• Supply Chain and Operations Managers — who need to link inventory, supplier risk and cash commitments

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable reading a profit and loss statement, balance sheet and cash-flow statement, and should understand basic working-capital terms such as receivables, payables, inventory and operating cash flow. Familiarity with purchase orders, invoices, supplier payment terms or procurement spend data is helpful. Attendees will use Microsoft Excel for formulas, tables and simple scenario analysis, so confidence entering data and using basic spreadsheet calculations is expected. Prior experience with supply chain finance facilities, SAP systems, treasury products, Power BI or formal accounting qualifications is not required. Complete beginners should expect financial calculations and procurement terminology to be introduced before they are applied.

Training methodology

The five-day programme is delivered through instructor-led financial walkthroughs, worked Excel calculations and supply-chain cases based on realistic purchase-order, invoice, inventory and supplier data. Participants assess competing payment-term proposals, calculate discount economics, map cash impacts and debate financing choices from the perspectives of finance, procurement and suppliers. Small-group workshops test governance decisions, including supplier eligibility and risk escalation. Each participant progressively builds an assessment pack during the week, then uses the final session to prepare an application plan for a current business issue.

Course outline

Day 1: Working Capital and the Financial Supply Chain

• Physical, information and financial flows from purchase order to settlement
• Working-capital drivers in procurement and supply chain operations
• Calculation of DPO, DIO, DSO and cash conversion cycle
• Links between payment terms, inventory policy and operating cash flow
• Total landed cost versus cash-cost decision making
• Procure-to-pay process controls and payment-data quality
• Finance, procurement, treasury and operations decision rights

Workshop: Participants calculate a baseline cash conversion cycle and identify the three largest working-capital levers in a case-company dataset.

Day 2: Payment Terms, Discounts and Supplier Economics

• Payment-term benchmarking by category, supplier size and strategic criticality
• Annualised return calculations for early-payment discounts
• Dynamic discounting mechanics and discount-rate curves
• Cost-of-capital comparisons for buyer and supplier
• Supplier cash-flow impact of extended payment terms
• Negotiation guardrails for payment-term changes
• Excel sensitivity analysis for volume, discount and timing assumptions

Workshop: Participants build an Excel model comparing standard terms, early-payment discounts and extended-term scenarios for a supplier portfolio.

Day 3: Supply Chain Finance Structures and Funding Choices

• Reverse factoring structure, parties, cash flows and fee allocation
• Approved-payables finance eligibility and onboarding requirements
• Purchase-order finance and pre-shipment funding
• Inventory finance, consignment stock and vendor-managed inventory
• Letters of credit, documentary collections and trade-finance fundamentals
• Bank, fintech and buyer-led programme operating models
• Selecting financing structures by supplier and transaction profile

Workshop: In groups, participants select and justify financing structures for four suppliers with different credit, geography and supply-criticality profiles.

Day 4: Risk, Accounting and Governance

• Supplier financial-health indicators and early-warning signals
• Counterparty, concentration, fraud and operational-risk assessment
• Accounting presentation considerations for payables-finance arrangements
• Liquidity forecasting and contingent-cash-flow exposure
• ICC Incoterms 2020 implications for title, risk and inventory ownership
• Supplier due diligence, sanctions screening and ethical sourcing controls
• Programme governance, policy thresholds and management reporting

Workshop: Participants complete a risk and control assessment for a proposed approved-payables finance programme and prepare escalation recommendations.

Day 5: Implementation, Measurement and Executive Decision Making

• Building a supplier-finance business case and investment narrative
• Supplier segmentation for programme rollout sequencing
• KPI design for DPO, discount capture, adoption and supplier resilience
• Data requirements from ERP, accounts payable and procurement systems
• SAP S/4HANA and SAP Ariba data fields for payment and supplier analysis
• Power BI dashboard design for working-capital reporting
• Implementation roadmap, stakeholder plan and benefit-realisation reviews

Workshop: Participants assemble and present a supply chain finance assessment pack with dashboard measures, recommended controls and a 90-day implementation roadmap.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, SAP S/4HANA, ICC Incoterms 2020

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions