Finance for Non-Financial Leaders

Alongside peers from all industries and backgrounds, you will become familiar with key terminology in corporate finance management and strengthen your ability to make financially sound decisions for your organisation.

Designed to help you build your confidence and competence, Finance for Non-Financial Leaders will give you the tools you need to find your voice in discussions on corporate finance matters, and make numbers work for you.

Whether you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, or general manager of a small, medium or large organisation, understanding the core financial activities within your workplace can increase stability and improve decision-making processes for those in non-financial positions.

This four-day course will provide you with the unique opportunity to master key corporate finance management concepts, understand the drivers and criteria of good investment decisions, and gain the skills and frameworks needed to negotiate effectively in uncertain and ever-changing business environments.

Day one: 

• An introduction to discounting cash flows and how to calculate them
• Understand best practices in investment appraisal
• Explore the Net Present Value investment criterion and alternative investment criteria
• Analyse the reasons managers may make suboptimal investment decisions

Day two:  

• An examination of stocks versus bonds
• Study the Miller-Modigliani theory on capital structure irrelevance
• Learn about the trade-off theory, pecking order theory and market timing theory in relation to capital structure
• Explore capital structure decisions and their shareholder value effects in practice, and how much debt your company should have

Day three:  

• Examine key corporate finance theories relating to mergers and acquisitions
• Discover how to make corporate restructuring decisions that are aligned with your organisation’s vision, mission, and strategy
• Explore alternative forms of corporate restructuring including divestitures, spin-offs, strategic alliances, and joint ventures, and their effects on shareholder value

Day four:  

• Analyse the relation between environment, social and governance (ESG) factors and shareholder value, and how to measure ESG activity
• Delve into the empirical evidence of ESG factors’ impact on corporate finance decisions and the outcomes of these decisions
• Take part in team presentations combining your learnings from the course

During the course, you will have a range of opportunities to get to know your class, including a course dinner which offers the chance to come together with a wider cohort of short-course learners to help expand your network.

Delivered face-to-face over four days at Alliance Manchester Business School’s Executive Education centre, this hands-on and interactive course will heighten your understanding of finance for better decision-making and leadership capabilities.

Each day of the course will involve a blend of learning-styles including theory-based sessions, practical and collaborative group discussions, case studies and short presentations by relevant industry leading guest speakers to deliver an all-encompassing overview of the role of finance within organisations.

Throughout the programme you also work on a team assignment, combining your learnings from each module, which you present to the group during the final afternoon.

We aim for several stand-out learning experiences, including:

Applied Learning - A learning environment created by the course facilitator that draws on the experience and input of your course peers.

Knowledge Transfer - A steady stream of feedback from participating peers with diverse business backgrounds.

Reflection - A rare time-out to contemplate your own skills and development while engaging with our world-class faculty.

Network Expansion - An expanding professional network drawn from your peers.

Personal Growth - An expanding self-awareness of your own competencies and how they can be honed.

Behavioural Change - An adoption of new rationales and mindsets that improve strategic decision making in regards to corporate finance.

As part of this course, you will gain access to our comprehensive virtual learning environment before, during and after your time with us. Here, you will find course materials, including pre-work, slides, case studies, and recommended readings, all conveniently available to aid your learning.

At the end of the course, you continue to have access to this online learning area and the University of Manchester online library for up to one year, supporting you to embed your new toolkit of skills and knowledge back into your workplace.

• Increase your understanding of finance and key financial metrics
• Learn fundamental finance terms and language
• Gain practical skills for interpreting and evaluating financial data
• Develop the confidence to have insightful financial conversations, identifying the right questions to ask
• Understand the crucial and ever-increasing role of ESG performance in corporate finance decisions and their outcome
• Become a member of the AMBS Executive Education Network and benefit from top-class speaker events, regular updates and networking opportunities with like-minded professionals
• Demonstrate your commitment to continued professional development and gain expert insights through real-world case studies and industry speakers

• Assess the financial performance of your organisation and identify routes for its success
• Strengthen relationships across internal teams by improving communication channels and creating more efficient ways of working within the workplace
• Reinforce your organisation’s competitive edge by developing employee skills in effective negotiation
• Make organisationally sound investment decisions, taking into account expected cash flows and risk
• Within your organisation, increase confidence and effectiveness in making appropriate decisions on how to finance its activities 

Whether you are from a public, private or not-for-profit organisation, finance is at the core of all businesses, so anyone with a position of responsibility should understand the fundamentals of how to spend money wisely.

Finance for Non-Financial Leaders has been designed for business executives from a broad range of disciplines, sizes and industries, this course has been built for professionals who want to strengthen their financial knowledge, establish better communication channels across teams and master the language of finance to understand how financial decisions impact everyone within a business.

Professor Marie Dutordoir holds a Chair in Corporate Finance at Alliance Manchester Business School with key research interests in corporate securities issuance mergers and acquisitions, and corporate social responsibility.

She has published her work in a range of top journals and presented her research at high profile international conferences and for well-known companies and organisations. She also has extensive experience with developing and teaching courses on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and research methodologies, as well as teaching an award-winning course on time and energy management.

Marie also has a keen interest in the relationship between finance and other business disciplines such as supply chain management and marketing. She is a specialist on the impact of ESG on corporate finance decisions and their shareholder value. She has done research on the role of the UK Modern Slavery Act, the relation between environmental pressure and board gender diversity, and the economic impact of adopting a four-day work week, among other topics.

Upon successful completion of this short business course, participants will be awarded the Manchester Professional Certificate in Finance for Non-Financial Leaders

You will also receive a digital Manchester Professional Certificate in Finance for Non-Financial Leaders from Accredible, in the form of an online certificate and badge which can be displayed on LinkedIn profiles and represents completion and participation in the course. 

You can choose to curate your own curriculum by attending any four courses from our extensive portfolio. On completion of the four courses of your choice, you will be awarded the Manchester Professional Diploma in Leadership.

As part of the professional diploma, you will receive three executive coaching sessions.

These sessions will help you to apply your continued learning directly into your organisation, identify the specific skills needed to enhance your leadership capabilities, and align your professional development goals with the wider goals of your organisation.

If you choose to stay in Manchester during your time on one of our short business courses, you can benefit from preferential rates at the Hyatt Hotel, a modern and elegant hotel located at the heart of our campus and adjoining the Executive Education centre.

Learn more about the Hyatt Hotel >>

View frequently asked questions about our short business courses here >>