Evaluate your organisation's financial performance

Course summary

This course is designed to provide participants of not for profit organisations with the skills and knowledge they require to evaluate the financial performance of their organisation and to develop strategies to address any weaknesses.


Course outline

The course is designed to help participants learn sound techniques for interpreting and evaluating the financial performance of their organisation. Cashflow, profitability, liquidity, gearing, ratios - all these will be reviewed and their bearing on the financial health of the organisation explained. You will cover:

• how to review financial statements
  • income and expenditure account, balance sheet, cash flow
  • how are they produced, why are they needed and how they inter-relate and who are they really for?
• the components of the balance sheet and the income and expenditure account
• how to read the cash flow statement
• a case study on interpreting financial statements and understanding their interrelationship
• how ratios can be used effectively to help you understand profitability, liquidity and gearing
• how to develop strategies to address weaknesses identified through financial analysis techniques
• a case study to test your ability to use the ratios

Who is this course for?

This course is particularly useful to any non finance expert in a not for profit organisation, whether they are budget holders at staff level or members of the board. It will help you better understand the financial strengths and weaknesses of your organisation and communicate with your finance department, treasurer and auditor.


What will this course help me do: learning outcomes?

The course will help you to read and interpret all your financial statements and relate information in one to the information in another to give you a complete picture of your organisation's financial performance. It will introduce you to the use of ratios and will give you tried and tested techniques for addressing financial weaknesses.