Finance for Non-Financial Managers

This two-day, face-to-face course equips non-financial managers with the practical financial knowledge and confidence needed to contribute more effectively to their organisation’s financial goals. Through interactive sessions and real-world examples, learners will explore key financial principles, terminology, and tools that are essential to understanding reports, managing budgets, and building credible business cases. With a strong emphasis on collaborative learning and application, the course fosters financial fluency and decision-making capability across functions.

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

• Identify the role of finance within organisational strategy and operations
• Recognise and explain common financial terms and concepts
• Interpret key financial statements including the profit and loss account and balance sheet
• Understand how external stakeholders assess financial performance using ratios
• Distinguish between cash and profit and explain their significance
• Apply core management accounting tools such as costing, cash flow, and budgeting
• Develop structured business cases and perform basic investment appraisal

Participants should bring a clear understanding of how they intend to apply financial knowledge in their role, along with relevant workplace documents (e.g., reports or budgets) for reference and discussion during the course.

Target audience

This course is designed for non-financial managers and professionals who want to:

• Communicate confidently with finance teams and senior leaders
• Manage budgets and interpret financial data
• Build stronger business cases and assess investments
• Make data-informed decisions across functions

Day 1
Welcome and reflections

• Setting expectations and capturing personal learning goals
• Introduction to the learning environment and facilitation style

Financial principles and terminology

• The language of finance: key concepts and definitions
• Understanding the finance function and its organisational role

Financial reports and statements

• Introduction to the profit and loss account and balance sheet
• Navigating core financial documents and their interrelationships

Financial ratios

• Interpreting financial health using ratios
• Understanding profitability, liquidity, efficiency, and solvency

Cash and cash flow

• The difference between cash and profit
• Techniques for managing and forecasting cash flow

Day 2
Welcome and key learning points review

• Recap of Day 1
• Connection of learning with personal and organisational challenges

Budgets

• Building and managing effective budgets
• The budgeting process and types of budgets

Costs

• Types of costs and cost behaviour
• Techniques for cost control and analysis

Business cases and investment appraisal

• Essential components of a compelling business case
• Methods for evaluating proposed investments (NPV, payback, ROI)
• Application through learner-generated scenarios

Personal learning summary and action planning

• Reflection on key takeaways
• Development of individual action plans for applying financial skills

Exams and assessments
There are no formal exams or assessments in this course. Informal knowledge checks, real-time feedback, and collaborative exercises are embedded throughout the workshop to reinforce learning outcomes and track understanding.

Hands-on learning
This course includes:

• Group activities and real-world problem-solving scenarios
• Facilitated discussions based on learners’ organisational experiences
• Toolkit exercises to support continued learning and workplace application
• Flipchart-based documentation of key insights for learner reference