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Description

Corporate Financial Analysis: Reading the Accounts, Diagnosing and Deciding

Form a reasoned judgement on a company's financial health from its financial statements

  • 3 days — 21 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Intermediate
  • Up to 6 participants

Reading a balance sheet is not enough to say whether a company will hold. Acceptable profitability can mask deteriorating cash, and rapid growth can consume more resources than it generates. The banker, the supplier or the managing director expects a diagnosis, not a list of ratios.

Three days to build a complete financial diagnosis and defend it. The programme follows the real sequence of analysis: restating the accounts, understanding how profit is formed, assessing balance sheet structure and working capital requirement, building the cash flow statement, then writing up and presenting the conclusion. All work is based on real sets of financial statements.

Learning objectives

  • Restate annual financial statements for analysis purposes
  • Analyse how profit is formed through intermediate performance indicators
  • Assess financial equilibrium and the working capital requirement
  • Build and interpret a cash flow statement
  • Detect signals of fragility before they become visible
  • Write a substantiated diagnosis and present it to a decision-maker

What makes this programme different

The analysis is carried out from start to finish on the accounts of two companies with opposite profiles
Every indicator is linked to the decision it is meant to inform
The conclusion of the diagnosis is presented orally and then challenged by the group

Programme

1Preparing the Analysis

Making the accounts comparable

  • Gathering the documents needed for the diagnosis
  • Restating the items that distort comparison
  • Positioning the company within its sector and business model
  • Selecting the lines of analysis suited to the question asked

2Activity and the Formation of Profit

Understanding where the margin comes from

  • Analysing the trend in revenue and margin
  • Building intermediate performance indicators
  • Measuring the weight of structural costs
  • Assessing the cash generated from operations

3Financial Equilibrium

Checking whether the structure holds

  • Building the functional balance sheet
  • Determining working capital and the working capital requirement
  • Analysing inventory levels and payment terms
  • Assessing the level and structure of debt

4Cash Flows

Following the cash rather than the profit

  • Distinguishing operating
  • investing and financing flows
  • Building a cash flow statement from the annual accounts
  • Explaining the gap between profit and the change in cash
  • Assessing the sustainability of the investments committed

5Diagnosis and Presentation

Concluding and defending your analysis

  • Prioritising the findings from the analysis
  • Detecting early warning signals of difficulty
  • Formulating practical recommendations
  • Presenting the diagnosis to an executive or a financing partner

Who is it for

Management controllers · accountants · bank relationship managers · buyers and executives required to assess the financial position of a company.

Prerequisites

The ability to read a balance sheet and an income statement is required for this intermediate-level programme.

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.