Finance for Non-Financial Managers
Read the accounts, defend a budget, and understand what the CFO is worried about
Created by James Okonkwo
What you will learn
- Read a P&L, balance sheet and cash-flow statement, and see how they link
- Explain why a profitable business can still run out of money
- Build and defend a departmental budget
- Evaluate an investment with payback, NPV and a dose of realism
- Understand margin, contribution and break-even for your own area
- Ask the finance team useful questions
Course content
13 sections · 80 lectures · 11h 30m total length
- What this course covers, and what it does notPreview03:00
- How to get the most out of itPreview04:00
- Setting up and downloading the exercise files06:00
- What the accounts are forPreview13:00
- What the accounts are for in detail06:00
- A closer look at what the accounts are for05:00
- Worked example: what the accounts are for09:00
- Where what the accounts are for goes wrong07:00
- Exercise: what the accounts are for11:00
- What the accounts are for in practice10:00
Topics covered
Requirements
- No accounting background
- A calculator or spreadsheet
Description
Plenty of capable managers nod along in the finance section of a board meeting. This course fixes that from first principles: what each statement is for, how they connect, and which numbers actually constrain your decisions.
Your instructor
Finance director turned educator
James spent a decade explaining accounts to people who found them intimidating, and eventually realised that was the job he enjoyed most. He teaches finance without assuming you remember any of it from school.
Learner reviews
- 5 star73%
- 4 star22%
- 3 star3%
- 2 star1%
- 1 star1%
- RCRosa C.8 November 2025
I came in knowing a bit and still learned plenty. The middle third is the strongest part.
- IHIngrid H.4 September 2025
Excellent. The examples are realistic rather than the usual toy versions.
- VTViktor T.1 October 2025
The instructor answers questions properly rather than pointing you at the documentation.
- VVViktor V.28 January 2026
Concise and honest about what it does not cover, which I appreciated.
- CCCarla C.31 July 2025
Genuinely well structured. I have started three courses on this topic and this is the first one I finished.
- GNGrace N.5 December 2025
Excellent. The examples are realistic rather than the usual toy versions.
- MTMira T.2 February 2026
I have recommended this to two colleagues already. The structure makes it easy to dip back into.
- MVMira V.4 October 2025
Clear explanations without the usual filler. I watched most of it at 1.25x and still followed everything.
- HWHugo W.18 December 2025
Genuinely well structured. I have started three courses on this topic and this is the first one I finished.
Showing 9 of 3,892 reviews.
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