HR managers who cannot read a budget line or explain a variance to the finance department tend to lose arguments they should win — not because their case is weak, but because it is not made in financial language. Finance, in turn, depends on HR to justify what people cost and what they are worth.

This course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy is built around that two-way dependency: the finance department needs HR to define salary and hiring budgets accurately, while HR needs financial literacy to defend its own spending and influence company performance.

Participants work through the structure of corporate finance, key financial responsibilities, and how to read a balance sheet and income statement well enough to assess company performance, supported throughout by regional and international case studies and practical examples.

• Mid-level HR professionals with around seven years of experience in the field.
• HR practitioners who want a stronger understanding of what drives business performance.
• HR professionals who want to engage business leaders in conversations about financial metrics.
• HR professionals who directly support business leaders.
• HR managers, officers and deputy heads responsible for working alongside business leaders.

Target Audience

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

• Describe how core business operations work and define the key financial terms and concepts involved.
• Build an HR budget with confidence.
• Explain the relationship between financial metrics and shareholder value.
• Identify the core elements of an income statement and a balance sheet.
• Recognise practical ways to positively influence company performance.

Module 1: Where HR Meets Finance

• The relationship between HR management and financial management.
• The core responsibilities and duties of the HR department in that relationship.

Module 2: Reading the Numbers — Financial Statements for HR Professionals

• Understanding financial information and terminology relevant to HR decisions.
• Key financial statements: the balance sheet and the income statement.
• Measuring financial performance using these statements.

Module 3: Building and Running the HR Budget

• Structuring the HR department's annual budget.
• Planning and executing the annual recruitment budget for the department.

Module 4: Financing the Employee Lifecycle

• Financing the recruitment process from advertising to onboarding.
• Financing employee salaries and training programmes for new hires.

Module 5: Rewards, Policy and Value Creation

• Managing salary deductions, increases and bonuses.
• Responsibilities for preparing and developing HR policies and methodologies.
• Job analysis, classification and evaluation, and building career paths that create added value.

Module 6: Case Studies and Practical Application

• Working through regional and international case studies.
• Applying the financial concepts covered to real HR budgeting scenarios.