Course outline
Finance for Non-Financial Leaders is an intensive short course offering ideas, insights, and lessons from practice to enhance executive and organisational capabilities in the area of financial communication and business partnership.
It equips participants to develop their leadership with an enhanced financial understanding for greater strategic impact, and improved financial communication abilities with both internal and external stakeholders.
Designed around the themes of Financial Management, Communication, Strategy and Leadership we examine technical aspects of finance as well as the ways in which organisations can optimise their communication strategies in a range of circumstances and situations.
Indicative programme outline*
| Part 1 |
Organisations and their financial footprints
We start with the basics of recording financial transactions into their compilation in the form of financial statements, principally the income statement and the balance sheet.We also go beyond understanding the basic structure of financial statements by identifying the financial profiles of different organisations.
After this section you will be able to:
- identify the key components of an income statement
- identify the key components of a balance sheet
- understand what the fundamental financial profile of an organisation would be in terms of its financial statement signature
|
|---|
| Part 2 |
Deconstructing financial performance
We move on to a more detailed analysis of financial statements including financial ratios and how financial statements are put together (assets, liabilities, expenses, revenue, equity, debt).
We put this into practice by analysing company performance in detail, using financial and other information to make major strategic decisions and explore the challenges of communicating financial performance to external groups.
|
|---|
| Part 3 |
Decision making
Decision making processes are, more often than not, chaotic, messy and generate outcomes different to what was originally intended. They often involve many people, change of leaders and participants, and ready-made solutions which were not designed for the problem at hand but look like solutions when managers are under pressure to respond quickly to an emergency or to the achievement of an impossible target. Decisions will doubtless be incomplete and imperfect, full of biases and strategic misrepresentations due to various forms of organisational politics.
A critical aspect of leadership is therefore the ability to make wise decisions whilst navigating ambiguity and uncertainty. We will explore the design of two sets of practices that inform decisions in organisations, projects and programmes:
- Reporting, information and data visualisation systems - We are surrounded by information systems that are supposed to work as oracles (ie they are supposed to provide answers to, for instance, investment decisions). This week will show that this is the least useful of the various roles that calculative practices (eg accounting, business visualisations, enterprise resource planning (ERP)s, etc) can play. They can instead offer a space to prompt debate and interaction between normally siloed functions, teams, organisations, government departments, etc. This can be achieved by rethinking the rationale underlying the design and use of data visualisation of various kinds.
- Governance systems - Currently, governance is often seen as a rubber stamp exercise and as a compliance mechanism. It can instead be redesigned as an instrument of scrutiny and interrogation of unknown-unknowns that profits from (rather than eliminates) the various tensions and multiplicity of stakeholders’ interests which inevitably surround decisions. This will enhance the possibility of looking at problems from various perspectives and generate innovative solutions to recurrent or unprecedented problems.
|
|---|
*Please note the exact timetable may be subject to change.
Attending a virtual course with King’s Business School
This course is delivered online and live in our virtual classroom and so participants must be available to attend all sessions at the published times to participate. You will be supported to participate, interact and network with other professionals as you would during our on-campus courses.
Please note that all times are local to London, UK. Participants based outside of the UK must ensure they can join the virtual classroom at the published course times.
What equipment do I need?
To participate you simply need a stable internet connection and a computer or laptop with a camera and microphone.
You will be sent full joining instructions for your course prior to the first session and our programme team will be available to assist with questions.
Book a consultation
Who is this course for?
This course is for professionals in mid to senior level positions in either public or private organisations where your role involves responsibility for organisational and/or financial performance.
The course is designed and targeted at both:
- Those who do not have a financial background but whose careers would benefit from more effective understanding of the financial drivers of organisational success
- Those who do have a finance background but want to leverage their financial expertise for greater organisational and personal career success
Entry requirements
- Relevant professional experience, evidenced through application form.
- 2:1 degree or equivalent desirable.
Course fees
- The full fee for this course is £2,500.
- An Early Bird saving of 15 per cent will apply to all applications made on or before 28 February 2022 for the 27 April 2022 programme. This saving cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers.
- We are delighted to offer savings for alumni, groups and organisational partners. Contact us to discuss your needs.
Book a consultation
Innovative Programme Design
The curriculum of the course is both rigorous and interactive and includes case studies, simulations and real-world projects. Our Finance for Non-Financial Leaders programme offers:
- In depth simulations - Accelerate your learning through a series of role-play exercises designed to stimulate the immediate implementation of new ideas and skills in the area financial communication.
- Ideas & theory - Develop knowledge and ideas from the latest academic thinking, research and teaching at King’s Business School.
- Real-world insight - Learn from the experiences of practitioners who have unique insights developed through the management of finance and organisational strategy.
- Networking - Learn alongside managers and leaders from a broad range of roles, sectors, professions and world regions to bring you new perspectives and ideas.
- Join an executive community - On completion of the programme you will receive a certificate from King’s College London and will remain part of our executive education alumni community, offering you opportunities for continuing development, discounts on future courses and access to our thought leadership and events.
Programme impact
On completion of the course you will have:
-
Enhanced decision making at the operational and strategic levels via a greater understanding of the financial implications of management decisions.
-
Greater confidence when engaging in financial discussions.
-
Increased ability to deconstruct costs, revenue and the drivers of profitability.
-
A fuller appreciation of budgeting and project appraisal processes.
Book a consultation
Learn from the experts
At King’s Business School, our work fits into themes focused around the biggest problems facing organisations today and our Finance for Non-Financial Leaders programme brings together Faculty members with a wealth of experience at the intersection of finance, strategy and leadership.
King’s College London is also renowned for working closely with leading practitioners across a range of professions and sectors. For this programme we have drawn on these networks to bring first-hand experience and expertise from the worlds of financial communication.
Over the course of the programme, Crawford will be joined by guest speakers from industry to share their insights and discuss their own practice & leadership experiences.
Crawford Spence is Professor of Accounting
and Co-Director of the FinWork Futures
Research Centre. He is an experienced
researcher and educator across an array of
business disciplines with specific expertise in
financial service professions. Prior to joining
King’s, he was Associate Dean at Warwick
Business School with responsibility for
the School’s academic programmes at its
London Shard campus.
Book a consultation