Want to land (and master) more strategic and commercial roles?
Learn how to upskill beyond your technical accounting & audit background.
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At some point, most Accountants develop a longing to move into something more strategic and commercial
It’s a natural evolution to want to get out of the audit & regulation weeds and gain exposure to broader business operations, strategy, and commercial decision-making.
Yet it’s a struggle to get your foot in the door and develop the confidence to deliver value from day one
- Recruiters sending you vanilla accounting roles you’re not interested in but don’t want to pigeon-hole yourself?
- Can’t shift away from being perceived as a “reviewer”, rather than an “executor”?
- No idea how to demonstrate commercial mindset, coming from a technical accounting background?
- Need to ensure your accounting skill set is future-proofed in an AI world?
- Perhaps you lack the confidence & intel needed to translate your accounting experience to a commercial setting and deliver value from day one?
But, there’s only one real way to get there…
You need to immerse yourself in strategic & commercial best practice
Most people wrongly focus on their existing technical accounting experience
But it’s really hard to prove commercial mindset / acumen coming from a technical background
- Talking too much about accounting regulations on your CV / Resume places too much focus on your technical accounting skills
- Recruiters know it’s impossible for existing accountants to gain the full extent of the required commercial skills in their current role
- “Work shadowing” others is insufficient as proof of your skill development
- Lengthy certifications (e.g. CFA) still don’t give you the skills required to deliver in a commercial role, and in fact enhance the technical side of your experience – the exact opposite of what you want
- It’s often too slow a process to learn on your current job or complete extended qualifications, meaning you leave it too long to move into your new career and pigeon-hole yourself
Instead, you need to build hard commercial skills to prove you can translate your accounting background into a commercial context*
*and future-proof your skill set for an AI-world!
- Don’t sit around waiting for manager approval and promised commercial & strategic opportunities that may never come.
- Position yourself ahead of peers who are overly focused on the technical aspects of their CV / Resume or wasting time on technical qualifications (e.g. CFA)
- Take the fear away from financial modelling and other case studies put in front of you by developing a comprehensive understanding of the thinking behind them
- Show you took the initiative to future-proof your skill set (even if your employer won’t) with generative-AI forecast to significantly reshape the industry
- Learn the best practice commercial execution and complete skill set required to add value in the role from day one (and even outshine those there already!)
It’s why we designed this online course just for you
We started TheSwiftExit due to the total lack of trustworthy, tried-and-tested advice and insider-insights to help accountants at any stage of their career.
Our most requested feature (after Exit Options | A guide to the landscape) was for a concrete way for accountants & auditors to upskill that would enable a shift into more commercial & strategic roles
Now we’re giving you the asset you need!
The first and only course built specifically for accountants & auditors seeking to transition into commercial or strategic roles
Our Commercial Finance & Strategy – Principles and Execution online course was created from the culmination of our own front-line commercial & strategy experience, learnings from thousands of coaching sesssions we’ve given ex-accountants & auditors, alongside recruiter and expert insights
You’ll learn everything you need to break free from core accounting tasks like auditing, financial reporting, and compliance and gain exposure to broader business operations, strategy development, commercial decision-making, and more…
This course is NOT simply theory.
You’ll delve into the best-practice principles AND executional excellence required to help you nail the role and add real value from day one
See below for more detail, incl. course modules
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“One of the most impressive finance team members in our startup portfolio”
– VC investor talking about one of our students
A white-glove walk-through of commercial finance & strategy, straight from the experts
High quality expert content and insider insights to put you ahead of the pack and fast-track your career beyond accounting & audit
45+ hours of top-tier expert content
In-depth case studies & financial models
Anytime, anywhere online access
Lifetime access to course materials
Course certificate upon completion
Become a Commercial Finance & Strategy pro
45+ hours of content incl. videos, financial models, in-depth case studies, written guides, quizzes and more
Showcase your “commercial mindset / awareness”
Certification + detailed case studies help prove your prowess and pivot your career quickly away from technical accounting & audit
Deliver real value in your new strategic / commercial role from day one
Gain the skills, confidence & execution insider-insights you need to “hit the ground running”
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Everything you need to transition towards commercial finance & strategy roles, and “hit the ground running” on day one
- Gain exposure to broader business operations, strategy development, commercial decision-making and best-practice finance execution
- We’ll arm you with a toolkit full of actionable advice, tactics, case studies, financial models and frameworks to immediately put into practice and help you contribute strategically
- Effectively translate your technical accounting skills into a commercial context
- Sharpen your commercial thinking with in-depth case studies, learning from the top commercial minds, start-ups and corporations
- Master your interviews: Get recruiters (and your colleagues!) impressed by your commercial acumen and actually excited to put you forward for interesting roles
This course is perfect for
01
For individuals interested in applying to commercial finance & strategy roles e.g. Transaction Services (TAS), M&A / Corporate Development, Financial Due Diligence (FDD), Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Project Accountant, Commercial Analyst, Commercial Manager, Financial Analyst, Business Analyst, Finance Business Partner, etc.
02
For existing accountants & auditors looking to bridge the gap between their in-practice experience and more hands-on operational execution (e.g. within a start-up, corporate or VC/PE firm)
03
For domain / technical experts stepping up into their first business role or ownership of a P&L wanting to better understand commercial & finance execution of decision-making
04
For new joiners to commercial / strategy teams wanting to make an impact from day one
“Honestly, this course did wonders for my confidence. Not only did I actually enjoy my commercial finance interview and case study presentation, but I regularly refer back to the course content now that I’m in the role.”
– ex-Audit, Big 4 – Sydney, Australia
What you get – and what the Commercial Finance & Strategy – Principles & Execution course will do for you…
Gain a genuine understanding of what commercial finance & strategy is and how it interacts across the business
Master the process of strategic planning and goal setting
Understand the drivers of real business value and profitability
Take the fear away from financial modelling and case studies by delving into key KPIs (incl NPV, IRR, payback, gross profit margin, EBITDA, performance ratios) and the commercial thinking behind them
Know how to interpret the external landscape (customers, competitors, market and industry dynamics, climate, etc)
Balance internal capabilities and readiness with opportunity (e.g. through business partnering, capital resource allocation, product / portfolio prioritisation, data analysis, operational drivers / KPIs etc.)
Assess organic commercial opportunities (e.g. revenue growth, product, pricing & cost efficiency drivers)
Assess inorganic commercial opportunities (e.g. M&A, partnerships)
Develop extensive budgets and forecasts through cross-functional collaboration
Create and deliver highly effective investment cases and gaining buy-in for strategic initiatives
Level up your systems / process improvement knowhow, including transformational change
Develop an eye for managing risk in commercial & strategic decision-making (incl. project management tools, and key legal and contracting terms to know from a finance and commercial perspective)
Learn how to create and deliver powerful business investment cases, conveying financial insights effectively to gain buy-in for strategic initiatives
Effortlessly sync stakeholders across the business for high impact, including collaboration, influencing and communication frameworks & tips you need in your back pocket
Get to grips with how senior leaders identify AI-proof talent – become a tech-savvy, strategic thinker and creative problem solver!
and more…!
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Our detailed module overview – here’s what you’ll learn
High quality expert content curated specifically for expanding your career beyond accounting & audit
- 1Module 1 | Introduction – What is Commercial Finance & Strategy?
- Overview of commercial finance & how it interacts across the business
- Understanding how different functions contribute to overall organizational goals and value creation
- How commercial finance & strategy is evolving in a generative-AI world
- 2Module 2 | The commercial mindset & core principles
- Levelling up your strategic & commercial thinking (the core skillset required/tools/frameworks)
- Analyzing financial statements from a business perspective, focusing on profitability, cash flow, and financial ratios
- Understanding the drivers of business value and profitability
- 3Module 3 | Execution – Shaping the strategy & identifying commercial opportunities
- Understanding the five-phase process of strategic planning and goal setting
- Analysing the external business landscape incl. customer segmentation, competitive positioning, market trends, economic climate, etc.
- Understanding internal organisation readiness & the art of balancing what customers want vs what you can deliver commercially
- Overview of organic approaches to growth (e.g. product, pricing & promotion strategies in context of margin %, new product launches, cost analysis, systems & process optimisation)
- Overview of inorganic approaches to growth (e.g. M&A, buy vs. build, partnerships)
- Case Study | Revenue growth scenario modelling for a consumer / FMCG product
- 4Module 4 | Execution – Shipping the strategy & finance-specific execution
- Allocating resources / capital, and using data to & prioritise the company’s investment portfolio
- Budgeting best practices, including top-down & bottom-up forecasting
- Financial modelling fundamentals (e.g. structure, collaboration, understanding KPIs such as EBITDA, cost-benefit analysis, NPV, IRR, Payback, and more)
- How to create and present an investment case
- Managing performance: Setting & monitoring KPIs
- Managing risk & uncertainty in investment decisions, including risk frameworks, project management tools (e.g. Gantt charts)
- The key legal / contract terms you need to know as a finance person
- Transformational change & continuous process improvement using data analytics
- Case Study | Cost / improvement scenario modelling for a SaaS product & service business
- 5Module 5 | Execution – Syncing the strategy (across the business / cross-functional teams)
- Learn how to bridge and build relationships across departments, through effective business partnering
- Influencing & evangelizing the strategic vision – gaining stakeholder buy-in for your initiatives with ease
- Supercharge your written & verbal communication with this key framework for delivering better presentations
- Bringing the numbers to life with storytelling & data visualisation
- 6Module 6 | Case Study – Transformational change (business case)
- Simulate the full life-cycle of shaping and executing on commercial finance & strategy
- Explore commercial & strategic rationale of a transformational change company-wide AI project
- Prepare financial projections, including inorganic (M&A) vs organic decision-making (i.e. buy vs. build)
- Preparing a final presentation to visualise your analysis & influence stakeholders
- 7Module 7 | Final Assessment and Certification
- Final assessment / multiple-choice quiz to help you reflect on and assess your learnings
- Required if you’d like to receive Certification of Completion
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“This is the first time our business has been run like this, due to the finance input. It’s great! It’s hard to assemble a quality finance team, but we’ve got that now, so I am seeing good things ahead”
– Startup CEO on recommending our course to his finance team
Once you’ve completed the course, here’s what you’ll be able to write on your CV / Resume:
Completed “Commercial Finance & Strategy – Principles and Execution” professional training. Gained in-depth exposure to 45+ hours of industry expert insights, videos, global case studies, frameworks, and commercial finance execution best practice (incl. budgeting, financial modelling, business case building, transformational change, communication & influencing stakeholders, and more).
Created financial projections and business case for £100M new company-wide transformational change AI project (in your industry), also including M&A buy vs. build evaluation. Presented in simulated pitch presentation and scored 90%
Completed case study based on revenue growth scenario modelling for a consumer / FMCG product. Evaluated various product & customer segmentation strategies, projected revenue, cash flow and payback, and made positive investment recommendation based on desired company KPIs.
Completed case study of profit improvement scenario modelling for a SaaS product & service business. Evaluated direct and indirect cost allocation, dynamic pricing, optimum product portfolio mix, to improve EBITDA by 20%.
Awarded Commercial Finance & Strategy – Principles and Execution Certification, passing final assessment with score above 90% from expert assessors
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Gain official recognition of your training, including 45+ CPD hours with our Certification
After completing the course materials, you’ll be eligible to take our Final Assessment and Certification quiz. Once completed, you’ll receive a personalised Certification of Achievement with your full name, course name, and the date of completion.
You can add your certificate to your CV / Resume or use it to showcase your prowess within interviews.
Having an accredited certificate of your commercial finance & strategy skills is often a huge asset for your CV / Resume, and offers a great talking point in interviews.
Certification is included in your course fee.
“This is the best financial model I have seen in years. They obviously know what they’re doing”
– Recruiter on the case study submission of one of our students
Our principles and teaching philosophy
Based in reality
Built by industry experts with extensive real-world commercial & strategy experience, including Artificial Intelligence (AI). Know that what you’re learning is at the forefront of best-practice and draws from the highest-performing companies and teams.
Execution-focused
This course is designed specifically to deliver practically-relevant insights and real-world applicability for you to immediately implement in your work
Cut to the chase
We don’t want you to waste time chasing irrelevant extended qualifications or “off-piste” roles to get where you want to go. Gain 10+years of hard-earned on-the-job commercial expert knowledge in this one course. Efficiency, delivered.
Globally-relevant
We’ll expose you to case studies, best practices and the top commercial minds from across many international markets
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Questions about this course? Please browse through our FAQs below
Not quite ready to commit to a course yet? You can still kickstart your exit from accounting & auditing with our helpful guides
1) Explore the Exit Options guide
Our 90+ page guide maps out the landscape of accounting exit options to help you avoid pigeon-holing yourself, & understand the most efficient ways of getting where you want to go
2) Spice up your CV / Resume
A 50+ page guide full of Accounting-specific examples & insights to help you showcase your experience properly & win over recruiters for more strategic & commercial roles
3) Join our community
Get free hints and tips on how to make the leap into more strategic & commercial roles, keep up-to-date with news & get your questions answered with our Co-Founders
