Financial Analysis for Non-Finance Leaders
Learn the language of business
If you are looking for a comprehensive grounding in the fundamentals of finance and/or aiming to enhance your financial literacy to make smarter business decisions, we can help you put the numbers to work. Strengthen your essential financial reporting skills, including managerial and financial accounting, and learn to interpret the numbers to drive your organization forward. Through hands-on learning and practical exercises, you will develop confidence in financial discussions and decision-making processes. This immersive course is ideal for those seeking to integrate financial expertise into their leadership toolkit.
Key Program Takeaways
- Master Financial Statements: Gain the ability to read and evaluate financial performance.
- Bridge Communication Gaps: Enhance interactions with your accounting departments using strategic financial insights.
- Learn from the Best: Study under Professor Bill Mayew, an award-winning Professor of Accounting at Fuqua.
- Advance Your Career: Earn elective credits toward the prestigious Duke Certificate of Leadership & Management.
“Financial Analysis was perfect for our sales executives. Not only did they come away with an understanding of their business decision’s financial impact, but they learned about the challenges our customers face, and how to articulate our value proposition to address them. The financial knowledge and training they received has transformed their relationships with many of our clients.”—Richard Kolodny, President, Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare
Accounting faculty member, Bill Mayew, who instructs this program, offers his perspective on the importance of understanding financial terms and reports for those not in a finance position:
Who Should Attend?
The Financial Analysis for Non-Finance Leaders program is ideal for professionals in leadership roles who need to enhance their financial acumen. The program is tailored for managers, directors, and executives across industries who lack a formal finance background but are required to make informed financial decisions. It is especially beneficial for business leaders involved in strategic planning, budgeting, or resource allocation. Participants will gain essential financial insights, enabling them to better understand financial reports, analyze financial performance, and contribute effectively to their organization's financial strategy and success.
More About the Program
Over the course of a 3-day immersive and interactive learning experience, participants will engage in hands-on activities, group discussions, and real-world case studies. Expert instructors providing personalized guidance and immediate feedback will ensure each participant gains a deeper understanding of financial concepts. Additionally, networking opportunities with peers from diverse industries enhance the learning experience, enabling participants to share insights and build valuable professional connections. Program participants will return to their organizations with practical skills they can implement immediately.
Discussion topics are designed to provide an overview in financial management by introducing you to real-world financial reports and discussing the interpretation of financial information. Combined with basic practices and assessments of an organization’s financial stability, you’ll gain insight on how to leverage financial information to evaluate performance.
Discussion Topics
Financial Statements
- Learn to read the 3 most common financial statements for product and service industries.
- Analyze a company's financial health, including efficiency and profitability drivers, using DuPont decompositions.
- Use key financial ratios to analyze customer credit risk.
Costs of Goods & Cost of Services Sold
- Examine inventory costing and contribution analysis for specific products/services.
Budgeting & Forecasting
- Develop division level income statements including direct, variable and "soft" costs and utilize for project selection.
- Compare an actual P&L to budget variances; incorporate budget variance feedback into investment decisions, employee incentives and control systems to maximize division profitability.
Program Objectives
At the conclusion of the program you’ll be able to:
- Read and understand financial statements to evaluate financial performance.
- Design control systems and incentives that align objectives with profitability.
- Build budgets that monitor and evaluate business performance.
- Determine the cost and profit of business decisions.
- Identify relevant costs, including overhead, when adjusting a mix of products and services.
- Forecast division finances with a comprehensive treatment of costs and expenses beyond inventory.
- Understand key deviations from forecasts and assess the impact of potential changes to business processes.
Sample In-Person Schedule
Arrival
Check-In Available
3:00pm
Financial Statements
5:00 - 7:00pm
Dinner
7:00 - 8:00pm
Day 1
Breakfast
7:00 - 9:00am
Financial Statements (cont.)
9:00am - 12:30pm
Lunch
12:30 - 1:30pm
Financial Statements Analysis: Profitability & Efficiency
1:30 - 5:00pm
Optional Campus Tour
5:15 - 6:30pm
Dinner
6:00 - 8:00pm
Day 2
Breakfast
7:00 - 9:00am
Financial Statements Analysis: Profitability & Efficiency (cont.)
9:00am - 10:45am
Financial Statements Analysis: Credit Quality
10:45am - 12:30pm
Lunch
12:30 - 1:30pm
Financial Statements Analysis: Credit Quality (cont.)
1:30 - 3:15pm
Contribution Analysis: Cost of Supplying Goods & Services
3:15 - 5:00pm
Dinner
6:00 - 8:00pm
Day 3
Breakfast
7:00 - 9:00am
Budgeting, Forecasting, Variance Analysis, Profit Maximization & Incentives
9:00 - 11:45am
Program Close
11:45am - 12:00pm
Lunch
12:00 - 1:00pm
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Program Location and Accommodations
Executive Education
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Faculty
Bill Mayew
Bill Mayew is a Professor of Accounting at Fuqua. He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Texas at Austin. He previously worked in accounting and financial reporting assurance at Ernst & Young. Professor Mayew studies the managerial communication of firm performance, including voluntary and mandatory financial disclosures in financial reports, and has received multiple awards for teaching excellence.
Mohan Venkatachalam
Mohan Venkatachalam is the R.J. Reynolds Professor of Business Administration at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Professor Venkatachalam received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1996 and is a Chartered Accountant from India. He has worked as an Accountant and Internal Auditor in India and the Middle East.
Prior to joining Duke, Professor Venkatachalam was a faculty member at Stanford University, and has taught several courses including Financial Accounting, Financial Analysis and Executive Compensation. He has published research papers on a wide range of topics in valuation, nonfinancial performance measures, accounting disclosures, derivatives and corporate governance. His most recent work involves the role of verbal and nonverbal managerial communication in financial markets. He was an Editor of the Accounting Review and serves on the Editorial Boards of The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies and Contemporary Accounting Research.
How to Register
For more information about how to register, please see our detailed instructions.
Frequently Asked Questions
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