Description
Our most requested feature (after “Exit Options | A guide to the landscape”) was for a concrete way to upskill that would enable a shift into more commercial & strategic roles. Now we’re giving you the asset you need!
By completing this course, you’ll:
- 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…!
Our detailed module overview – here’s what you’ll learn
High quality expert content curated specifically for expanding your career beyond accounting & audit
Module 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
Module 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
Module 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
Module 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
Module 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
Module 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
Module 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
