Finance for the Non-Financial Manager

This highly interactive training workshop is designed to give non-financial managers a solid grounding in the principles of finance and how it relates to them. It is based on a team-based board game we have designed from scratch where teams compete with each other in a marketplace.

Their success (or otherwise) is recorded, and financial statements are prepared. Consequently, delegates can easily see and draw a link between their actions and the financial statements. A thorough understanding of financial terms, reports and how money moves through a business is crucial for managers. Yet, the terms and concepts are often misunderstood or not understood at all.

This Finance for the Non-Financial Manager training course is centred around an interactive board game where teams compete to win business and then generate financial reports and ratios, respectively. There is no 'Black Box' software approach here, and delegates can immediately see the impact of sales, cost-control etc., and their ramifications are immediately evident in the team's financial statement in each cycle.

Consequently, the link between strategic decisions they make and the financial statements of the fictional companies are immediately obvious, and a clear link is drawn between the dry, almost academic financial reports they see and real-life actions and consequences.

Every action has ramifications that appear immediately on the board and on the financial statement the teams will prepare. Therefore, financial management is brought to life for the delegates and made 'real'.

Day One: Business Basics

• Overview

• Finance Basics

• Profit & Loss Accounts

• Balance Sheets

• Working Capital

• Introduction to the Simulation

• Planning

• Simulation Month 1

• Simulation Month 2 

Day Two: Looking Forward

• Pricing Strategy

• Fixed & Variable Costs

• Break-even Analysis

• The Market 1

• Cash Flow Forecasting

• Publish P&L Accounts

• Simulation Month 3

• Sales Forecasting

• Simulation Month 4

• Working Capital

Day Three: Strategies For Value Creation I

• Financial Ratios

  • Gearing

  • Acid Test

  • Return on Sales (ROS)

  • Return on Net Assets (RONA)

  • Gross Profit

  • Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA)

Day Four: Strategies For Value Creation II

• Strategies for Success

• Cost Leadership & Differentiation

• Segmentation Strategies

  • Customer Personas

  • Proposition-Building

• Simulation Month 5 (Cost Leader or Differentiation?)

Day Five: How Can I Affect Value

• Return On Net Assets (RONA)

• How do I affect RONA?

• Action Plans

  • What will I do starting tomorrow?

  • Where do I make a difference?

• Project Appraisal Techniques

• Discounted Cash Flow

• NPV and IRR in Project Appraisal