Finance for Non-Financial Managers

How do you teach a notoriously dry subject like finance to non-financial managers? Put away the handouts and cancel the presentations. People learn by doing. And when you want your people to understand and apply difficult financial concepts, the best tactic is to get them to actually put those concepts to use. At LDL we use business simulations to engage delegates and deepen the learning.

Can you read a balance sheet? Or what a profit and loss is telling you? Or recognise the difference between cash and profit? How about interpreting key financial ratios? Or optimising the working capital cycle?

The highly interactive LDL ‘Finance for Non-Financial Managers’ programme brings financial statements to life through a physical simulation of a fictional company. Participants form the incoming management team of the company, leading it from mediocrity to excellence via a series of simulated exercises across three financial years. Through the simulation participants learn first-hand how to monitor cash flow, better utilise resources and improve productivity.

The tried and tested simulation has been used by companies of all sizes around the world to increase the business acumen of their people, as well as to generate applicable business improvement insights across finance, sales, operations and management.

“This turns the ‘black art’ of finance into an easily understood subject. I particularly liked the pace of the course, the size of the group and the exercises that tested the learning. Very helpful to show how much we’d learned by the last exercise – assessing it all in one day!” – CF, Director, Allocate Software

Whether you want your managers to improve their understanding of cash flow and balance sheets, your salespeople to become more confident using financial language, or simply to encourage more of your people to see profit improvement as part of their role, the LDL Finance for Non-Financial Managers programme offers a route to increasing the financial understanding of your team.

Finance for Non-Financial Managers

Money is the language of business. But how do you teach a notoriously dry subject like finance to non-financial managers? Put away the handouts and cancel the presentations. People learn by doing. And when you want your people to understand and apply difficult financial concepts, the best tactic is to get them to actually put those concepts to use. At LDL we use business simulations to engage delegates and deepen the learning on our financial skills courses.

Objectives

At the end of the course participants will:

Understand the essentials of business finance including the key reports.
Have a commercial awareness of the impact of prices, volumes and costs.
Understand the role managers can play in profit improvement.
Establish ideas for profit improvement opportunities within their respective areas.

Delegates Will Learn

Basic business finance language and the logic of business – “how it works”.
The big picture of a business.
Financial reports: Profit & Loss Accounts, Balance Sheets, Cash Flow.
Key ratios and how they can be used to analyse performance.
The role managers can play in profit improvement.
See how small changes in operations – including enhancing the information flow, improving purchase efficiency and engaging people – can make a major difference to bottom line results.
The need for inter-departmental co-operation.
Understand the issue of working capital and how the use of assets affects profitability.
Understand how their business generates profits today and what it will need to do to grow profitably in the future.
Gain a better idea of the issues that arise when scaling a company for growth.
Have understood the meaning of value and business drivers as well as how to leverage their effects.

Details

This is an in-company programme.

Reviews

“Nobody really looks forward to finance training. This, however, was exceptional by any standard or type of training. The game element made it very engaging and added a strong feeling of having an overview of how and why money moves, and how to account for it.” – MS, Senior Consultant, JLL

“Excellent. Covered a huge amount in a short space of time. Presenter has the energy of a small country!” – RS, Managing Director, Staffcare

“The presenter was excellent, informative and made a potentially dry subject fun. All was very useful and pitched perfectly.” – DA, Director, Euroimmun

“Excellent. A very good insight into the world of business financial management.” – KC, Group L&D Manager, NHBC

“Very well pitched, moved at the right pace and applicable to all regardless of industry/position” – GM, BAE Systems

“Very informative, clear to the point. Gives me the power to dig deeper and question financial statements” – CR, Ops Director, Kadence Systems

“Entertaining and engaging speaker who explained things really well. Good practical sessions and not too dry considering it was finance!” – SL, Senior Faculty Administrator, Anglia Ruskin

“Excellent. Well delivered, wealth of information, simple yet effective case studies.” – AR, Project Manager, PSE

“The presentation was excellent and made it easier to follow the principles. The topics were logically arranged and relevant. Examples made things practical.” – LM, Mundipharma Research

“Informative debate on leadership styles and techniques. Great tutor/workshop facilitation by Matthew. Would recommend to others.” – AT, Commercial Manager, ARC

“Thoroughly enjoyed the interactive environment, questions were encouraged, and in just one day, my objectives were met. I left feeling much more confident and ready to tackle my next set of financials!” – PB, Strategic Account Director, MAE I GSMA

“Very clear explanation and great worked examples via gamification which made it very memorable.” – MB, Business Analyst, JLL

“Excellent. Enthusiastic presentation with lots of appropriate exercises. Duration just right for course/audience.” – DD, Well Engineer, Talisman Energy

“Covered everything I was hoping to. Excellently presented, right pace. Accruals, prepayments and deferred income were immediate priorities for me, also working capital which was new.” – LQ, Director, Carbon Smart

“It has given me the impetus to understand my company’s accounts and how I can use them to help the efficiency and growth of the company.” – DR, CEO, Better Regulation

“Excellent. Very well planned and laid out. Everything was very clear and learning was easy. Sue presented everything in a laid back yet professional way.”– PD, Global Fieldwork Services Director, Kadence International

“Presenter was energetic and enthusiastic about a subject which can be quite dry. Worked patiently through examples, lots of exercises. At the end I found I could read and interpret the financial reports – job done!” – GP, Team Leader, Talisman Energy

For further information please complete our enquiry form or call one of our team of learning advisors on +44 (0)20 7381 6233

In-company workshop. One day, bespoke.
+44 (0)20 7381 6233

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