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Finance for Non-Finance Professionals

Practical financial literacy for engineers, technical specialists and team leaders: reading the three core statements, understanding margin, cash and cost behaviour, working with budgets and variances, and building a business case that survives scrutiny.

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54m
Total time
4
Competency levels
12
Lessons

What you'll learn

  • Explain what the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement each answer, and which one to look at for a given question
  • Distinguish profit from cash, and explain how a profitable operation can still run out of money
  • Classify spend as operating or capital expenditure, and describe how fixed, variable, direct and indirect costs behave as activity changes
  • Investigate a budget variance, label it favourable or adverse, and explain it honestly with its full-year impact
  • Apply payback, net present value and internal rate of return as concepts, and test the sensitivities that decide the answer
  • Build a business case on total cost of ownership over the asset life and route it through the correct approval limit

Curriculum

Progress through each competency level in order.

1

Awareness

  • Why Technical People Need Financial Literacy
    Knowledge
    3m
  • The Three Core Statements in Plain Language
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Awareness Check: Statements and Why They Matter
    Assessment
    7m
2

Knowledge

  • From Revenue to Margin — and Why Profit Is Not Cash
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Opex, Capex and How Costs Behave
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Knowledge Check: Margin, Cash and Cost Behaviour
    Assessment
    8m
3

Skill

  • Budgets, Forecasts, Variances and Approval Limits
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Practice: Cost Picture and Variance Story for Your Own Area
    Assignment
    3m
  • Skill Check: Budgets, Variances and Authority
    Assessment
    8m
4

Mastery

  • Investment Appraisal: Time Value, Payback, NPV, IRR and Total Cost of Ownership
    Knowledge
    3m
  • Capstone: Build and Defend a Business Case
    Assignment
    3m
  • Mastery Assessment: Judgement on Investment Decisions
    Assessment
    7m

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