About This Course
The Financially Savvy Leader course is designed for non‑finance professionals who need to make decisions that affect revenue, cost and profitability. It focuses on “business finance” – not accounting exams.
You will learn how to read basic financial statements, understand key metrics, ask better questions and build simple business cases. By the end, you’ll feel more confident discussing numbers with finance, leadership and your own team.
Syllabus Overview
Module 1
Financial Fundamentals for Leaders
- Why Finance Matters for Non‑Finance Leaders – decisions, trade‑offs, accountability
- The Three Core Statements – P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow (concepts & links)
- Key Concepts – revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, profit, assets, liabilities, equity
- Cash vs Profit – timing, working capital, basic cash‑flow thinking
- Reading a Simple P&L – spotting trends, asking questions
- Exercise: Interpret a simplified P&L and list 3–5 observations / questions
Module 2
KPIs, Budgets & Financial Decisions
- Financial KPIs – growth, margins, productivity, unit economics (concepts)
- Budgets & Forecasts – how they’re built, what leaders should review
- Cost Thinking – fixed vs variable, direct vs indirect, simple cost allocation ideas
- Investment Decisions – payback, ROI, NPV (conceptual, non‑formula heavy)
- Project / Initiative Economics – benefits, costs, risks and assumptions
- Exercise: Build a simple “mini business case” for an initiative in your area
Module 3
Partnering with Finance & Telling the Story
- Working with Finance – roles, expectations, how to prepare for discussions
- Variance Explanations – “what happened” vs “what we planned”
- Scenario & Sensitivity Thinking – simple “what if” views for leaders
- Risk & Controls – what leaders should watch for (conceptual)
- Financial Storytelling – turning tables into simple charts, bullets and asks
- Exercise: Prepare a one‑page financial “story” for your team / project / product
*Examples are adapted based on learners’ contexts (IT & digital, banking operations, manufacturing, services, shared services, startups, etc.).
Practice
Templates, Cases & Finance Playbook
- Statement “cheat sheets”, KPI scorecards and mini business case templates
- Case study: prioritising initiatives under budget constraints
- Creating your personal “Financially Savvy Leader Playbook”
