Executive Programme · Certificate
Certified
Financial Fluency
Two days that change what you see when someone puts a set of accounts in front of you.
Certified Financial Fluency draws on the questions that repeatedly arise in growing businesses, investment decisions and boardrooms: what the accounts are saying, what management should pay attention to, and what the business can safely do next.
FORMAT
Online, live
DURATION
2 days · 3 hours daily
ADMISSION
Quarterly cohort, limited
FEE
£1,250
I
THE PREMISE
Profit is an opinion.
Cash is a fact.
Most senior people can follow a financial conversation. Far fewer can interrupt one.
Financial fluency is the ability to hear a number, understand what produced it, see what else must have moved, and know what to ask next. It allows you to form your own view of what a business is earning, consuming, carrying and able to afford.
This programme is for people who are responsible for financial decisions but have never had a structured opportunity to learn how the accounts fit together. It begins with first principles and moves quickly into application. No accounting background is required.
II
WHAT CHANGES
By the end of the second day
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You read statements with greater independence
The income statement, balance sheet and cash-flow statement stop appearing as three separate documents. You understand how they connect and what a movement in one is likely to mean for the others.
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You understand why profit and cash can tell different stories
A growing business can report a profit while becoming increasingly short of cash. You learn where cash becomes tied up, why that happens, and what management can do about it.
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You recognise financial pressure earlier
Weak margins, slow collections, rising obligations and dependence on new funding often become visible before they become urgent. You learn how to identify the signs and consider the appropriate response.
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You leave with a dashboard for your business
During the programme, you select a small number of measures that are relevant to your own business and decisions. The result is a dashboard you can continue to use each month.
III
CURRICULUM
Two days, four movements
The programme runs live across two consecutive days, for three hours each day. The sessions are practical. You work through financial statements, discuss what they mean, and apply the lessons to a business for which you are responsible wherever possible.
Day One (Seeing the business clearly)
01 Phase one — The wake-up call
What accounts can tell you
We begin with businesses in which financial pressure was visible but not adequately understood or acted upon. We consider what information was available, how it was interpreted, and which questions might have led to better decisions.
02 Phase two — Master the fundamentals
Financial statements as one system
Profitability, liquidity and leverage are examined as connected features of a business rather than isolated ratios. You learn how the three principal financial statements relate to one another.
— Break, introductions and open questions
03 Reading a set of accounts
Working with a complete set of financial statements, you identify what the business is earning, where its cash is going, what it owes and where further attention is required.
04 Applying the day to your business
You prepare a one-page financial reading of your own business, or of a working case provided during the programme, to bring back on the second day.
Day Two (Operating)
05 Phase three — Mastery through application
Working capital and cash
You examine how sales, customer collections, inventory, supplier payments and other operating decisions affect the amount of cash available to the business.
06 Phase four — The executive edge
Building a useful dashboard
You decide which measures genuinely deserve regular attention in your business, how frequently they should be reviewed, and what questions should follow when they move.
— Break, discussion and open questions
07 The cash-flow decision
The final exercise places you inside a business facing genuine cash pressure. You assess the available options, develop a response and explain the reasoning behind your recommendation.
08 Final reflections and recognition
Certificates are conferred to participants who complete both days and the final exercise.
IV
WHO ATTENDS
For people whose decisions affect the numbers
Cohorts are kept small and deliberately mixed. A founder, investor, board member and operating executive will often notice different things in the same set of accounts. The programme allows those perspectives to be tested against one another.
1. Founders and owner-operators
People who understand their businesses deeply and want their view of the finances to become equally strong.
2. Board members and investors
People who need to form an independent judgement on financial information prepared by management or advisers.
3. Business and product leaders
People whose decisions about pricing, hiring, investment, growth or delivery have direct consequences for margin and cash.
No accounting qualification or prior financial training is required. The programme is taught through the decisions involved in operating, investing in and governing a business, rather than through the technical work of preparing accounts.
V
COHORTS
Upcoming cohorts
9 - 10 OCT
2026
OPEN - LIMITED SPACES
8 - 9 JAN
2027
OPEN
£1,250 per participant
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Two days live, three hours daily
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Applied to your own business wherever possible
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A complete working set of accounts provided where needed
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Your executive dashboard, built during the programme and kept afterwards
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Certificate of Financial Fluency on completion
VI
QUESTIONS