How do you really know whether a company is performing well — beyond what the bottom line shows? That question sits at the heart of this Arab British Fellowship Training Academy training course, which equips finance professionals and managers with the tools to measure performance accurately and turn that measurement into sound decisions.

Far from stopping at ratio calculations, the programme walks through how organisations forecast financial trouble before it happens, benchmark themselves against the best performers in their field, and use budgets and balanced scorecards to keep strategy and numbers aligned.

By the end, participants will be comfortable moving between the technical side of financial statements and the strategic conversations that those statements are meant to inform.

Who Should Attend

• Account managers at every level within institutions and companies.
• Certified and practicing accountants.
• Anyone who wants to analyse the financial position of a business they own, manage, or work for.

Course Objectives

• Give participants the core principles for organising financial information as reporting requirements keep growing.
• Teach methods for preparing the reports that feed into management decisions, and the standards those reports should meet.
• Build the ability to forecast future financial performance and anticipate both success and failure.
• Cover the practical side of accounting entries — recording, posting, and closing accounts — in line with international standards.
• Explain how planning budgets are built and used for monitoring and control.
• Clarify the purpose and usefulness of each financial statement.

Module 1: Balanced Scorecard — Linking Numbers to Strategy

• The scorecard concept and its four performance axes: financial, customer, growth and learning, and internal processes.
• Stages of building a balanced scorecard.
• Using the scorecard to measure strategic performance at the institutional level.
• Practical applications.

Module 2: Forecasting Financial Trouble Before It Happens

• Spotting possible financial problems and predicting bankruptcy.
• Assessing whether an organisation can continue operating.
• Failure-prediction models and how to apply them.
• Practical exercises forecasting future financial performance.

Module 3: Benchmarking — Comparing with the Best

• The "compare with the best" method and what it involves.
• The benefits of benchmarking for an organisation.
• Identifying strengths and weaknesses through comparison.
• Practical applications.

Module 4: Budgets as a Performance Measurement Tool

• The concept, purposes, and classifications of budgets.
• Basis and precautions for budget preparation, and the role forecasting plays in it.
• Budget planning and preparation stages.
• Linking monitoring and performance evaluation to the budget.

Module 5: Core Methods of Accounting and Financial Performance Measurement

• How financial analysis relates to performance measurement, and its types, benefits, and tools.
• Ratios and indicators used in financial analysis, including within government ministries and institutions.
• Financial accounting fundamentals: financial statements, balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow elements.
• Internal control over financial reporting and annual reports.