Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals Curriculum Outline
Principles of Accounting and Finance for Non-financial Professionals
Overview/DescriptionFinance and accounting are at the heart of every business. These functions deal with recording, summarizing, and analyzing financial information across all departments for decision making, directing, and controlling their resources and activities. Every activity or non-activity in an organization has financial implications and financial acumen is expected at every organizational level. Professionals and functional managers in every department and functional area should have a certain amount of comfort and familiarity with the basic accounting and financial concepts, processes and practices so that they can use it to better manage and control their activities and make decisions that support organizations larger goals. This course aims at familiarizing non-financial professionals with basic accounting and financial concepts. You are introduced to key finance and accounting terms and concepts such as the accounting equation, accrual-based accounting, financial risks and returns, and basic accounting principles. This course also takes you through the steps in the accounting process and helps you recognize how business transactions affect various financial statements and the bottom-line of your business.
Target AudienceNon-financial professionals who wish to gain understanding or refresh their knowledge of finance and accounting
PrerequisitesBasic knowledge of accounting and finance
Expected Duration (hours)1.0
Lesson Objectives Principles of Accounting and Finance for Non-financial Professionals
Recall the basic accounting equation Identify the key differences between cash- and accrual-based accounting Match phases of the accounting process with actions that are performed at each phase Match each basic accounting principle to its description Recognize how a business transaction affects a financial statement in given examples Identify four types of financial risks Course Number:
fin_02_a01_bs_enus Back to ListCash Flow Management Essentials for Non-financial Professionals
Overview/DescriptionCash flow management involves monitoring, analyzing, and adjusting your businesss cash flows to maintain a steady flow of cash available for your activities when needed. Sustaining working capital while managing the flow of cash is often a challenge with many businesses. Sale of goods and services results in cash coming in, while paying bills, taxes, dividends, and the repayment of loans result in cash going out. This course provides some insights into managing cash flow in your area of operation. You are guided through the classification of cash flow into operating, investing, and financing activities. You are then introduced to the idea of the Total Business Float with help of a case-based example and how to recognize the implications of working capital on cash flow. Finally, some strategies for sound cash flow management are also presented.
Target AudienceNon-financial professionals who wish to gain understanding or refresh their knowledge of finance and accounting
Expected Duration (hours)1.0
Lesson Objectives Cash Flow Management Essentials for Non-financial Professionals
Classify examples of cash flow as operating, investing, or financing activities Calculate the potential cash gain when reducing the Total Business Float, given the annual sales volume, in a case-based example Recognize the effect an increase or decrease in working capital has on cash flow Determine which cash management techniques will help achieve the cash management strategy for a given scenario Course Number:
fin_02_a02_bs_enus Back to ListThe Time Value of Money and Investment Decisions for Non-financial Professionals
Overview/DescriptionThe notion of Time Value of Money is at the foundation of many financial decisions and activities in an organization. Regardless of your functional or departmental role, you may be required to choose between investment options in assets, plants and equipments, new businesses, advertising campaigns, employee training, or technology, based on their future cash flow expectations. It is important for you to make sound financial decisions to allocate your organizations resources most effectively and ensure the best return possible on them. This course attempts to familiarize you with the concept of Time Value of Money and presents some effective methods to evaluate the desirability of decisions involving capital expenditures and investment. This course covers two of these methods – Payback Period and Net Present Value – in greater detail to help you choose between different investment options.
Target AudienceNon-financial professionals who wish to gain understanding or refresh their knowledge of finance and accounting
PrerequisitesLearners should have basic knowledge of elementary mathematics involving dealing with fractions and exponentials.
Expected Duration (hours)1.0
Lesson Objectives The Time Value of Money and Investment Decisions for Non-financial Professionals
Calculate the present and the future value of a single amount in given scenarios Recognize the key characteristics of three methods for capital budgeting Calculate the Payback Period of different investment options Determine the best investment among different options using the Net Present Value method Course Number:
fin_02_a03_bs_enus Back to ListThe Essentials of Budgeting for Non–financial Professionals
Overview/DescriptionProfessionals and functional managers in every department deal with budgets one way or another for providing targets and direction in their day-to-day decision making and control activities. The budget is a formal expression of the plans, goals, and objectives of an organization and familiarity with the essentials of the budget is expected at every level within that organization. This course aims to provide a basic understanding of budgets and their importance in allocating resources and guiding the activities in an organization. It helps you identify the characteristics of an effective budget and the key phases of the budgetary planning process. The course then provides a few examples of different types of budgets and the approaches to budgeting. Finally, the course takes you through variance analysis and how to use a variance report as part of the budgetary control process.
Target AudienceNon-financial professionals who wish to gain understanding or refresh their knowledge of finance and accounting
PrerequisitesBasic knowledge of accounting and finance functions in an organization
Expected Duration (hours)1.0
Lesson Objectives The Essentials of Budgeting for Non–financial Professionals
Identify the characteristics of an effective budget Sequence the key phases of the budgetary planning process Match budget elements with the type of budget in which they should be recorded Identify key characteristics, advantages, and limitations of two different approaches to budgeting Recognize variances that are worth investigating Course Number:
fin_02_a04_bs_enus Back to ListFinancial Statements for Non-financial Professionals
Overview/DescriptionFinancial statements, including the Income Statement, the Cash Flow Statement, and the Balance Sheet, work as a dashboard of the financial performance of an organization. Knowing how these financial statements are created, and how they reflect the performance of the organization, helps non-financial professionals better understand how their own functional areas can affect the companys bottom line. These financial reports are also used by professionals in all areas for evaluating proposals, suppliers, competitors, markets, and the general condition of the industry they operate in. This course aims to familiarize you with these three financial statements and how they reflect an organizations overall activities and performance. This course takes you through the various sections of these statements and explains how each is calculated. Finally, the course demonstrates how common business transactions affect an organizations financial condition with the help of an example.
Target AudienceNon-financial professionals who wish to become familiar with or refresh their knowledge of the financial statements and their elements
Expected Duration (hours)1.0
Lesson Objectives Financial Statements for Non-financial Professionals
Calculate the gross profit, income from operations, and net income from given Income Statement data Calculate the value of different types of cash flows in a Cash Flow Statement Determine the value of Assets, Liabilities, and Shareholders Equities in a Balance Sheet Recognize how common business transactions affect an organizations financial statements in an example Course Number:
fin_02_a05_bs_enus Back to ListAnalyzing Financial Statements for Non-financial Professionals
Overview/DescriptionFinancial statements of an organization often conceal more than they reveal. Being able to analyze them and extract meaningful information is an essential skill that financial as well as non-financial professionals should have. Ratio analysis can be used to determine relationships between two elements of the same financial statement or between one element of one financial statement and another element of a different financial statement. This type of analysis can also be used to compare your company’s performance to a number or key indicators, including your competitors, industry averages and benchmarks. This course presents and discusses many methods for analyzing financial statements from a non-financial professionals perspective. It determines and interprets the key profitability, efficiency, liquidity, and solvency ratios using scenarios. It also explains horizontal and vertical analysis of the financial statements using real life examples.
Target AudienceIndividuals who want to gain understanding or refresh their knowledge of financial statements analysis techniques
Expected Duration (hours)1.0
Lesson Objectives Analyzing Financial Statements for Non-financial Professionals
Determine the value of a companys key profitability and efficiency ratios in a scenario Calculate liquidity and solvency ratios Classify examples as reflecting the use of horizontal or vertical analysis Course Number:
fin_02_a06_bs_enus Back to List
Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals
This self-paced online training course introduces individuals to the essential concepts of finance and accounting for
non-finance professionals. Finance and accounting is an important means of controlling business resources and used to
review and create essential information of accounting finance that is applied in corporate decision making by financial
and non-financial management alike. It is important to understand the principles involved with this process and
CBT Direct’s Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals training, will review these factors
and further delve into what it takes for a non-financial professional to assist their company with business
accounting and growth.
Although accounting finance may not be the primary focus of your employment, money is commonly the primary focus
of a company, and it is everybody’s job within that company to assist in that goal. Every manager within a company
needs to understand the basic planning process behind budgeting. This includes general usage and monitoring to ensure
that the budget is being adhered. They should also understand the concepts behind cash flow, credit collection and the
steps needed to create business accounting reports.
In this online training course, CBT Direct will overview the fundamentals of business finance and all of the essential
elements behind making the financial tracking portion of a company run smoothly. Our training will cover collections, cash
management and strategies, and creating statements to reflect current conditions and future productions. After completing
this course, the non-financial professional will have a better grasp of what goes on in financial accounting and be able
to better participate in its activities.
Benefits of CBT Direct’s Online Financial Accounting Training
CBT Direct boasts the most beneficial online training on the market. With CBT Direct’s online training, you have
the flexibility to study on your schedule, and with the speed and reliability of the internet, CBT Direct’s Finance
and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals training course is accessible anywhere you have an internet
connection. Convenience finally costs less with CBT Direct - the most affordable online training solution today.
The unique design of CBT Direct’s Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals course emphasizes
learner initiative, self-management and experiential learning. CBT Direct’s online course design begins with the
definition of user-focused performance objectives and then proceeds to the selection and implementation of instructional
strategies and learning activities appropriate for those objectives. This effective instruction model for CBT Direct’s
Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals training course ensures the greatest level of comprehension
and retention.
Who Benefits from CBT Direct’s Online Finance and Accounting Essentials
for non-Finance Professionals Training?
This course is intended for all levels of non-financial professionals that would like to gain a stronger knowledge
of business finance and business accounting.
What Professionals Will Learn from CBT Direct’s Online Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals Training
CBT Direct’s Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals training course will familiarize non-financial
professionals with basic accounting and financial concepts. This self-paced online course will introduce key finance and
accounting terms and concepts such as the accounting equation, accrual-based accounting, financial risks and returns, and
basic accounting principles. This course also takes you through the steps in the accounting process and helps you recognize
how business transactions affect various financial statements and the bottom-line of your business.
This online training course provides some insights into managing cash flow in your area of operation. You are
guided through the classification of cash flow into operating, investing, and financing activities. This course
examines the idea of the Total Business Float concept, as well as how to recognize the implications of working
capital on cash flow. Finally, you will explore strategies for sound cash flow management.
Click here to see a detailed curriculum outline.
This self-paced online course attempts to familiarize you with the concept of Time Value of Money and presents
some effective methods to evaluate the desirability of decisions involving capital expenditures and investment.
Students will examine two methods – Payback Period and Net Present Value – in detail to help you choose between
different investment options.
After completing this course, you should have a basic understanding of budgets and their importance in allocating
resources and guiding the activities in an organization. Professionals will identify the characteristics of an effective
budget and the key phases of the budgetary planning process. Finally, the course takes you through variance analysis and
using a variance report as part of the budgetary control process.
This course introduces three financial statements - Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet. You will
learn how they reflect an organization's overall activities and performance. This self-paced online course takes you through
the various sections of these statements and explains how each is calculated. Finally, the course demonstrates how common
business transactions affect an organization's financial condition with the help of an example.
This course presents and discusses many methods for analyzing financial statements from a non-financial professional's
perspective. It determines and interprets the key profitability, efficiency, liquidity, and solvency ratios using scenarios.
It also explains horizontal and vertical analysis of the financial statements using real life examples.
Finance and Accounting Essentials for non-Finance Professionals
