Short Courses

Financial Acumen for Engineers

Develop your financial acumen with a practical understanding of finance and gain the confidence to apply this knowledge in your workplace.

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Overview

Develop your financial acumen with a practical understanding of finance and gain the confidence to apply this knowledge in your workplace.

As businesses become more competitive and complex, and engineers move into project or leadership roles, financial know-how is increasingly more important. Engineers need to understand the ‘big picture’ of financial performance, the key levers for influencing financial results, and the consequences of their decisions. 

This course will help you develop the financial acuity to make informed decisions that align with your organisation’s financial priorities and objectives. It will also help you to communicate more confidently with executives and financial specialists about financial issues. 

After completing the course, you’ll be able to: 

  • Make sense of financial concepts and terminology 
  • Easily interpret key financial statements 
  • Take an executive perspective on profit creation 
  • Explain the difference between profit and cash flow 
  • Recognise the interconnection of financial metrics 
  • Identify the financial variables you personally affect 
  • Use financial ratios to interpret financial performance 
  • Ask more insightful questions about the business 
  • Make better decisions by incorporating financial know-how 
  • Positively influence financial productivity and results. 
Details
Price
$750*
EA members
$882.35*
Non-members

EA members get 15% off on selected workshops and training. Not a member? Sign up now

*1% credit card surcharge applies.

Any questions?

Duration
10 hours over four sessions
Location & dates
Online

30 April - 21 May

Online

23 July - 13 August

Online

28 October - 18 November

Additional Information

This online short course will run on the following dates:

30 April – 21 May 2025, 12:30pm – 3pm AEST

  • Session 1: 30 April
  • Session 2: 7 May
  • Session 3: 14 May
  • Session 4: 21 May

23 July – 13 August 2025, 9:30am – 12:00pm AEST

  • Session 1: 23 July
  • Session 2: 30 July
  • Session 3: 6 August
  • Session 4: 13 August

28 October – 18 November 2025, 1pm – 3:30pm AEDT

  • Session 1: 28 October
  • Session 2: 4 November
  • Session 3: 11 November
  • Session 4: 18 November

RSVP

Registrations close three business days before the start of each session.

 

Duration:

This course consists of seven sessions that are delivered over a period of 22 days.

There are four virtual workshops delivered via Zoom and three sessions that are self-paced. The virtual workshops are delivered one per week followed by a self-paced session, except for the last virtual workshop.

  • Four virtual workshops, 2.5 hours each: 10 hours
  • Three self-paced sessions, 1.0 to 1.5 hours each: 3.0 to 4.5 hours
Price
$1,440.75*
EA members
$1,695*
Non-members

EA members get 15% off on selected workshops and training. Not a member? Sign up now

*1% credit card surcharge applies.

Any questions?

Duration
2 Days
Additional Information

Please register at least two weeks before the scheduled course start date.

We can customise this course for groups of six or more.

You choose the time, place, duration and format.

Find out how we can help you and your team by clicking on the button below to request a quote or calling us directly on +61 3 9321 1700.

Duration
Customisable
Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Financial acumen

  • Easily make sense of balance sheets and income statements
  • Understand essential financial concepts and terminology
  • Understand the interrelationship of key financial variables and metrics
  • Understand how managers can and do influence financial performance
  • Gain an executive perspective on the financial drivers of a business

Organisational and interpersonal skills

  • Consider your organisation’s financial goals and priorities
  • Gain confidence in communicating with senior managers, executives and finance staff
  • Learn how to ask pertinent questions about financial issues and performance
  • Be better able to justify proposals and projects from a financial perspective
  • Improved decision-making through consideration of multiple effects on financial performance
Is this course for you?

Is this course for you?

This course suits engineers and project managers who seek to gain a strong understanding of the fundamentals of finance from an executive perspective. Prior knowledge of accounting and finance is not required.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Topics we'll cover

Topics we'll cover

Session 1: The Financial Window of Business (Workshop)

This session uses a new business venture to introduce and explain the ‘financial window’, which is based on three fundamental financial equations. The model links three key financial statements and provides a coherent foundation for the entire course.

The financial window will be used to explain important financial concepts (and associated jargon), such as funding of assets, how profit is generated and where it is retained, the inflow and outflow of cash, how a business can go bust showing a profit, and two financial imperatives that apply to all businesses.

Session 2: Cash Flow Versus Profit (Self-paced)

This session begins with a few quick review exercises so you can check and reinforce your learning from session one. It then extends your knowledge by focusing on the concept of recognition to clarify the essence of accrual accounting and the real meaning of profit.

Two key principles of accrual basis accounting will be clarified: the revenue recognition principle and the matching principle. Also, specific concepts will be covered, such as expenses vs expenditure, cash vs non-cash transactions, accrued expenses and accrued revenues, and free funding of assets.

Session 3: Financial Window Thinking (Workshop)

We start with a brief reflection exercise. The expanded balance sheet will be explained, including the recording of three types of cash flow (operating, investing, financing) and the recording of revenue, cost of sales, and operating expenses.

‘Financial window thinking' is a valuable skill that involves using the financial window to quickly ‘decode’ and make financial sense of business plans, conversations, and activities. The skill is developed via the analysis of numerous 'micro-scenarios', which cover a wide range of financial events.

Session 4: Real Financial Statements (Self-paced)

This session begins with a few practice exercises to check and reinforce your learning from session three. It then significantly extends your knowledge of Balance Sheets and Income Statements by examining real-life financial statements from selected engineering companies.

You will learn about operational vs non-operational expenses, multiple levels of profit (e.g., EBITDA), the vertical balance sheet format, more balance sheet concepts/terminology, the meaning of ‘capital' and ‘funds employed', and questions to guide your initial reading of the financial statements.

Session 5: The Big Picture of Profitability (Workshop)

We start with a brief reflection exercise and then consider two basic strategies for increasing profit. You will then be introduced to the three fundamental levers of the Profit Creation Cycle. These are expressed in the form of the DuPont equation, which was developed by an engineer.

You will learn three high-level metrics for managing profit creation, the inherent role of financial leverage, the effect of asset utilisation, and the interpretation of return on equity (ROE). The profit creation cycle will be applied to two engineering-led companies and their performance compared.

Session 6: Key Financial Metrics (Self-paced)

This session begins with a few practice exercises to check and reinforce your learning from session five. Next, the concept of coarse-grained vs fine-grained financial metrics is introduced, and alternatives to the DuPont equation are provided, including the Return on Funds Employed (ROFE) equation.

How you'll learn

Prior to the course you will receive practical suggestions for getting the most out of the learning experience, including priming your brain to maximise learning.

The course is an engaging learning process that makes use of unique financial models, thought-provoking case studies, team and group discussions, reinforcement quizzes, and reflection questions,

Immediately after the course you will receive guidelines for reinforcing your learning, strengthening retention and maximising the benefits through application in your workplace.

Towards chartered

Towards chartered

Take this course to build skills and knowledge in the following Engineers Australia Chartered status competencies*:

6. Identify, assess and manage risks
9. Performance

Learn more about Chartered Status.

*Completing this course does not automatically guarantee you a competency. However, you will gain the base knowledge you need to develop these specific Chartered competencies.

Facilitator
Geoff Rip
Reviews

I could not fault this course.  Geoff delivered everything I was looking for and then some. His written material and verbal presentations were engaging and informative. I left with confidence that I can now understand enough of the financial aspects of business to make a difference.  Thank you, Geoff! 

Participant

I found the content very well matched to my needs and Geoff's approach to engaging participants ensured maximum engagement and gave me a very good chance of retaining knowledge of the topic.

Participant
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