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Description

Finance for Managers: Reading Accounts, Building a Budget and Steering Performance

Give non-financial managers the reference points to defend a budget and track performance

  • 2 days — 14 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Foundation
  • Up to 6 participants

An operational manager takes decisions every week on spending, headcount and priorities without always having the financial vocabulary to discuss them. Budget trade-offs are then settled in a language imposed on them, and quarter-end variances are presented without their being able to explain them.

Two days designed for managers with no accounting background: reading an income statement and a balance sheet, understanding how margin is formed, building and defending a budget, then analysing variances. Concepts are introduced from the manager's own decisions rather than from an accounting framework.

Learning objectives

  • Read an income statement and a balance sheet and draw useful conclusions from them
  • Explain how margin and profit are formed within your own scope
  • Distinguish fixed costs from variable costs in your own expenditure
  • Build an annual budget and defend it before senior management
  • Analyse a variance between budget and actuals and identify its cause
  • Assess the financial impact of an operational decision before taking it

What makes this programme different

Financial concepts are introduced from the concrete decisions a manager makes
Each participant builds and then defends a budget before a simulated committee
A dashboard is built using only the indicators the manager genuinely controls

Programme

1Reading financial statements without being an accountant

A few documents are enough to begin

  • The logic of the income statement
  • Reading the balance sheet and the notion of balance
  • The difference between profit and cash
  • Financial vocabulary that is useful in meetings
  • The link between departmental activity and company accounts

2Costs, margins and profitability

Knowing what a decision costs

  • Direct costs and indirect costs
  • Fixed costs and variable costs
  • Calculating contribution margin
  • Break-even point of an activity
  • Impact of a change in volume or price

3Building and defending the budget

From requirement to figure

  • Stages and timetable of the budget process
  • Building activity assumptions
  • Operating budget and capital expenditure budget
  • Making the case for resources
  • Negotiating trade-offs with senior management

4Variance tracking and dashboards

Steering through the year

  • Reading a monthly reporting pack
  • Analysing variances between budget and actuals
  • Identifying root causes and building an action plan
  • Selecting relevant operational indicators
  • Building and circulating the dashboard

Who is it for

Operational managers, department heads, team leaders and executives with no financial training.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.