ΠΕΡΙΓΡΑΦΗ

Boards and senior leaders do not need indiscriminate volumes of financial data. They need the right level of relevant, reliable, material and decision-useful information, supported by accessible evidence.

This practical workshop equips participants to turn financial results, cash-flow information, forecasts, risks and operational performance data into concise, balanced and decision-ready board insights.

Participants learn to move from:

Numbers → meaning → implications → uncertainty → options → recommendation → required board response

The course treats financial storytelling as disciplined, evidence-led executive communication. It is not presentation “spin”, selective reporting, or advocacy disguised as analysis.

ΣΚΟΠΟΣ ΣΕΜΙΝΑΡΙΟΥ

By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

• Acknowledge the difference between financial reporting, financial analysis, board-level financial storytelling and unsupported advocacy.

• Recognise the distinction between board reporting and senior-management reporting.

• Collect the information boards and senior leaders require to oversee performance, liquidity, funding, strategy, risk and major decisions.

• Identify the importance of materiality, traceability, comparability, assumptions, uncertainty, scenarios, sensitivities and balanced communication.

• Identify the principles of credible forecast governance, decision-paper design, visual integrity and risk-appetite reporting.

• Identify the principal board question, issue, decision, approval, oversight requirement or escalation need behind a financial report.

• Distil detailed financial and operational information into the few material movements, drivers, risks, opportunities and implications that matter most.

• Separate confirmed facts, management analysis, forecast assumptions, scenarios, options, recommendations and required board responses.

• Explain financial performance through clear links between results, operational drivers, cash flow, liquidity, funding, strategy and risk.

• Present forecasts, scenarios, sensitivities, assumption quality, downside exposure and management mitigation in a transparent and decision-useful way.

• Prepare or contribute to a concise board paper using the BRIEF framework and TRUST quality test.

• Develop proportionate options using defined financial, strategic, risk, timing and stakeholder decision criteria.

• Present a clear recommendation, authority request, action owner, timetable, escalation trigger and monitoring approach.

• To develop a commitment to accuracy, balance, traceability, evidence quality and disclosure of material adverse information.

• Gain confidence to move beyond reporting numbers towards explaining implications, uncertainty, choices and required action.

• Develop a professional discipline to challenge unsupported assumptions, false precision, selective reporting and weak decision requests.

ΣΕ ΠΟΙΟΥΣ ΑΠΕΥΘΥΝΕΤΑΙ

This course is designed for professionals who prepare, review, present, challenge or use financial information for boards and senior-management teams, including:

• CFOs, finance directors, finance managers and financial controllers.

• Management accountants, FP&A professionals and business-finance partners.

• Treasury, liquidity, strategy, commercial-finance and investor-relations professionals.

• Risk, governance, compliance and business-resilience professionals.

• Internal auditors and assurance professionals reviewing management-information quality, forecast governance or board reporting.

• CEOs, business-unit leaders, operational directors and senior managers responsible for performance, investment or transformation decisions.

• Consultants and advisers preparing board papers, financial reviews, business plans, funding packs or investment proposals.

Recommended prior knowledge: Participants should be comfortable reading management accounts, forecasts, budgets, cash-flow reports and key business-performance measures.

ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΕΡΕΣ ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΕΣ

Training Outline

Why Board Reporting Often Fails

• Data overload, weak headlines, unclear board requests, selective optimism, inconsistent comparisons and missing risk context.

• Board-pack triage: identify what the board cannot determine from an overloaded management pack.

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What Boards and Senior Management Need from Finance

• Board versus management reporting, decision rights, materiality, oversight, approval, escalation and board-paper classification.

• Participants identify the required response for common financial-reporting situations.

From Financial Results to Material Insight

• Actual versus budget, prior forecast, prior period and strategic plan.

• Revenue, price, volume, mix, margin, EBITDA, working capital, cash conversion, debt and operational drivers.

• Variance-to-insight exercise: convert raw data into three material conclusions and implications.

Forecasts, Scenarios, Funding and Risk

• Forecast assurance, assumption ownership, sensitivities, combined downside scenarios, reverse stress testing, liquidity, covenant and funding implications.

• Forecast challenge: identify weak assumptions, downside triggers, financial effects and management actions.

Designing Remediation That Reduces Risk

• RAVEN framework; corrective, preventive, detective, and compensating controls; interim protection; resources; milestones; dependencies; evidence; and risk-reduction measures.

• Weak-action challenge: redesign insufficient management actions into a credible remediation plan.

Designing the Board Narrative

• BRIEF, TRUST, conclusion-first writing, narrative discipline, decision criteria, options and recommendation structure.

• Transform an unfocused management update into a concise board opening.

Visuals, Dashboards and Decision Signals

• Visual integrity, conclusion-led headlines, bridges, trends, scenario tables, cash profiles, dashboard design and appendix discipline.

• Board-visual critique: improve unclear or misleading visuals.

Progressive Integrated Board Case Study

• Arcturus Group: revenue growth, declining margins, weaker cash conversion, customer concentration, forecast uncertainty, covenant pressure and capital-allocation choices.

• Groups prepare a board opening, one required response, one financial visual and a five-metric dashboard.

Presenting and Defending the Financial Story

• Executive presence, handling challenge, distinguishing facts from judgement, explaining uncertainty and responding to downside questions.

• Two-minute executive briefing using cohort-size appropriate presentation format.

Individual Board-Opening Assessment

• Application of all course frameworks to an individual financial scenario.

• Individual 150-word board opening, uncertainty statement and required board response.

Training Style

The programme is designed to equip participants with practical knowledge and strengthen their professional capabilities through a highly interactive and application-focused learning approach. Delivery combines short, targeted lectures with case studies, practical examples, facilitated discussions, and realistic workplace simulations.

Through structured discussion, peer exchange, and facilitator feedback, participants will apply the concepts, tools, and techniques introduced throughout the programme while strengthening their analytical thinking, problem-solving, professional judgement, and decision-making skills. By the end of the programme, they will be better equipped to respond confidently and effectively to comparable workplace challenges.

CPD Recognition

This programme may be approved for up to 3 CPD units in Accounting and Auditing. Eligibility criteria and CPD Units are verified directly by your association, regulator or other bodies which you hold membership.