Finance skills for non financial managers

Course summary

Our Finance skills for non-financial managers training is a finance course that uses plain English to demystify financial accounts, providing you with a clear understanding of business finance.

This course teaches finance for non-finance managers and covers a range of tools and concepts to help you understand your organisation's finances and give you the confidence to make financial judgements.

You will leave with a thorough grounding in finance and how it works; enabling you to understand the financial implications of your business decisions. This is finance training at its best - clear, informative, practical and fun!

Course dates and location

We can deliver this course virtually for your organisation, on a date and time that suits you. If you have four or more people who would like to attend this course then group training could be the most cost-effective option. Contact one of our Training Coordinators on 020 7490 3030 or email for more information and a quote.

If you would like to attend this course then register your interest with us. Currently, this course is run on request meaning that a date will be scheduled once we have at least three people interested in attending this course. 

  • There are no dates available at the moment.
  • Course outline

    Finance for Non Financial Managers Course in London

    You will learn:

    Financial accounts

    • profit and loss accounts and how to understand them
    • reading an income and expenditure account and analysing the finance flows within your organisation
    • cash and accruals accounting showing how each is used
    • terminology associated with income and expenditure accounting
    • communicating effectively with finance professionals
    • analysing trends in financial flows and formulating appropriate questions
    • reading a balance sheet and analysing the financial position of the organisation
    • how an asset register is used
    • analysing your accounts
    • constructing a cash flow statement from narrative information
    • the different rules for charity accounting under the Charity SORP and the presentation of company and housing association accounts

    Management accounts

    • the budgeting process
    • how budgeting relates to strategic objectives and good governance
    • constructing a budget
    • estimating costs and income accurately for budget purposes
    • using management accounts to understand the past and forecast the future
    • cost centres - understanding how they are used in your organisation
    • nominal, purchase and sales ledgers
    • using benchmarking in constructing a budget
    • distinguishing between fixed and variable costs
    • using the concepts of break-even pricing
    • a template to forecast the effects of changing costs, sales volume and price
    • evaluating opportunity costs
    • a year of free support

  • Who is this course for?

    This course is for managers, board members and budget holders across all sectors who need to know about organisational finance to help improve the profitability and performance of their business. Finance for non-financial managers is suitable for people who have little or no knowledge of finance.

    The Centre works with people from all sectors including the public sector, voluntary sector, corporate sector and private sector.

  • What will this course help me do: learning outcomes?

    You will be able to interpret your organisation's financial documents and how your budget fits in. You will be able to analyse your accounts, enabling you to make informed business decisions.

    Our Finance for non-financial managers training will give you an understanding of basic financial tools as well as some useful spreadsheets to take away. You will come away more confident and able to communicate on equal terms with financial professionals including your treasurer, finance officer or accountant.

  • Other courses to consider

    The Centre offers a wealth of opportunities for managers both new and experienced. Some courses you might consider would be Moving into management and Project management.  

  • Course fee
    • £1091 plus VAT not-for-profit price (applies to charities and all other not-for-profit organisations, including public sector and housing)
    • £1224 plus VAT standard price (applies to all other organisations)