Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers
An Executive Education programme designed to help you understand the basics of finance and accounting, and how they impact your organisation’s performance.
Upcoming programmes
Format:
Dates:
Duration:
Fees:
Live Online
3-5 Dec and 8-10 Dec 2025
6 x 0.5 days
£3,200 + VAT
Face-to-face
17-20 Mar 2026
4 days
£5,800 + VAT
Face-to-face
8-11 Jun 2026
4 days
£5,800 + VAT
Upcoming programmes
Format:
Live Online
Dates:
3-5 Dec and 8-10 Dec 2025
Duration:
6 x 0.5 days
Fees:
£3,200 + VAT
Format:
Face-to-face
Dates:
17-20 Mar 2026
Duration:
4 days
Fees:
£5,800 + VAT
Format:
Face-to-face
Dates:
8-11 Jun 2026
Duration:
4 days
Fees:
£5,800 + VAT
Overview
How are investment decisions made? What is value? What are the key financial metrics of my organisation? Financial success and stability often hinge on a good understanding of the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. Successful career progression is often dependent on understanding the basics of finance and accounting.
Manage and discuss budgets and performance evaluation systems. Navigate financial reports. Explore performance indicators. Our Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers 4-day programme equips you to diagnose and communicate financial problems more effectively. In learning the basics of accounting, financial terminology, and financial analysis, you will understand how to identify relevant financial information and apply the analytical skills needed to make better, more informed business decisions
Benefits and career impact
Discover how key financial concepts and strategies are integrated into your organisation’s performance.
- Understand key financial information, including annual reports.
- Communicate more effectively using finance and accounting terms.
- Explore alternative business valuation principles and how to impact the value drivers of your organisation.
- Learn to interpret profitability, solvency and liquidity.
- Understand the economics of corporate investment decisions and the metrics used to assess performance and decision making.
- Build a managerial toolbox for performance measurement.
- Design and implement effective incentive structures aligned with organisational goals to drive performance and motivation
- Gain a digital certificate of attendance from Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education.
- Managers can confidently communicate financial performance information across the organisation.
- Managers understand the organisations financial strategy and financial operating model.
- Managers understand how investment decisions are made.
- Improve organisational performance through optimised budgeting, KPI management, and performance management.
- Improve management control over an organisation.
Finance and accounting can feel a bit like learning a foreign language, but if you don’t know your assets from your reserves, why your working capital isn’t, or what goodwill means on a balance sheet, you’re not alone.
Don’t despair if you’ve never had the opportunity to learn the lingo, and you feel like you have been left in the dark. Finance & Accounting for Non-Financial Managers sheds light on finance and accounting for managers with very little or no prior knowledge.
Gain new skills, fast-track your career progression, make money talk, and make better business decisions.
The Cambridge experience = 3 days + 20 participants + maximum interaction time with faculty.
Become fluent in the language of finance and accounting.
What are you waiting for?
Watch the video to learn more about the programme
The Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers programme is great for anyone looking for a refresh on the basics of finance and accounting or for a solid introduction to the subjects. Jenny Chu, the professor, illustrates the programme with plenty of examples from real companies and news articles, making it easy to grasp and remember the key concepts.
Programme content
Learn to interpret your organisation’s profitability, solvency and liquidity, and expand your ability to see the bigger picture through lectures, worked examples and dynamic class discussions. Please note, for the face-to-face programme there are 2 additional modules as listed below.
Module 1: Fundamentals of accounting and finance
- Cover the basics of financial reporting.
- Demystify terms such as assets, liquidity, accounts receivable, inventory and depreciation.
- Explore the key elements of the accounting equation.
- Link financial reporting metrics to strategic analysis.
Module 2: Understanding the income statement (P&L) and financial ratios
- Analyse the Income Statement (P&L).
- Understand the meaning of gross and operating profits, revenues and expenses.
- Describe key financial performance metrics and ratios.
- Drive managerial decisions by evaluating financial statements.
- Explore case studies from Tiffany and Starbucks to support your learning.
Module 3: Evaluation of financial performance
- Learn to evaluate your company’s performance effectively.
- Explore a range of different financial ratios to assess performance.
- Use a Costco case study to understand sustainable growth rate, benchmarking and the common-sized balance sheet.
- Link your business strategy and operating model to financial ratio analysis.
Module 4: Strategic performance management and control
- Leverage managerial tools to balance organisational tensions.
- Implement incentive structures that align with corporate strategy.
- Create structured budgets and performance targets that align financial goals with strategic priorities and drive accountability.
Module 5: Profit plan and performance management
(Face-to-face module only)
- Compare cost control and empowerment
- Define and compare managerial tools to implement corporate strategy.
- Compare the span of accountability and control.
- Explain organisational interdependence and transfer pricing methods.
Module 6: Capital budgeting
- Identify the foundations of capital budgeting and
financing. - Recognise how to make investment decisions.
- Assess how to finance investments.
Module 7: What is value?
- Discuss the foundations of business valuation.
- Describe value-based management.
- Identify the links between the value of a firm and corporate strategy.
Module 8: Practitioner insights (Face-to-face module only)
- Practitioner insights from a leading investment banker: hear his tricks of the trade on reading financial reports, valuation insights, and war stories on fund-raising and M&A.
- Link the theoretical finance and accounting frameworks with the realities on the ground.
How you learn
High-quality programmes, flexible formats. Two delivery styles allow you to choose whichever format best suits your needs.
Face-to-face
Enjoy 4 inspirational days in the historic and beautiful city of Cambridge, a world-renowned centre of cutting-edge knowledge creation. Engage with faculty and peers in person and take time away from home and office for the space to focus on your learning and networking objectives. Join ‘Cambridge Union’-style debates, hear from guest speakers and faculty, interact with carefully selected peers and experience group exercises, role-play and discussion both in and outside class
Live Online
Experience the best of the Cambridge face-to-face learning experience digitally in your home or office. Take part in breakout groups with real-time interaction between your peers and faculty. Engage in realistic simulations or use software-enabled “sprint” design development and benefit from guest speakers, live “Cambridge Union” style debates and insights from panels of experts and practitioners.
After this course, you will build a powerful toolbox of frameworks and techniques to select and implement strategies that drive organisational success.
Who attends
Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers is for:
- professionals or emerging managers looking to take on P&L responsibilities
- individuals looking to gain new skills and improve their understanding of the language of finance and accounting
- managers who want to refresh their financial acumen
Faculty and speakers
Learn from our world-class faculty who bring fresh insights from their leading-edge research into all of our Executive Education programmes. The Academic Programme Director (APD) for the Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers programme is Associate Professor Jenny Chu.
Deputy Director of the Centre for Financial Reporting and Accountability (CFRA)
PhD (University of California, Berkeley)
Head of the Accounting Subject Group
Co-Director, Centre for Financial Reporting and Accountability (CFRA)
PhD (Northwestern University)
Why Cambridge Judge Business School?
Related programmes
Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers belongs to our Finance-topic executive education programmes. Here are a selection of related programmes:
Marketing for Non-Marketing Managers
Marketing is critical to any organisation and it’s important that all aspiring leaders should have a good understanding of how marketing strategy is developed and operationalised.
The Cambridge and Financial Times Strategy Programme
Delve into the fundamentals of strategy, learn to identify and leverage strategic assets, and master the intricacies of strategic positioning and implementation.
Cambridge Judge Business School General Management Certificate of Achievement
Looking for a flexible learning package tailored to your individual needs? Whether you want to step-up, startup or switch careers, Cambridge Judge Business School offers a bespoke Certificate of Achievement, dedicated to general management.
Speak to a programme advisor
If you have any questions or would like to discuss how this programme could benefit you or your organisation, please get in touch with the programme advisor.
