Governing the money

Who It's For

Trustees, non-executives, councillors and senior leaders without a finance background

Overview

This one-day programme moves in three stages. It opens with the language of finance: the four financial duties every board holds, the section 151 officer, accruals and the accounting equation, whether we lived within our means, reserves that are truly free, and why profit and cash diverge, with Northamptonshire and the University of Dundee as cases. The second stage reads between the lines: accounts across companies, charities, councils, housing and health, ratios as questions, how numbers bend from Tesco to Wirecard through Cressey's fraud triangle, and what external audit can and cannot tell you. The final stage looks ahead: bad-case scenarios, risk appetite set by category, assurance mapping, the failure to prevent fraud offence, and a capstone on Croydon, Nottingham and the Co-operative Bank.

Aims

This programme aims to give board members without a finance background the confidence to govern the money well: reading the accounts in plain terms, turning ratios into questions, spotting warning signs while there is still time to act, and testing whether assurance on risk and fraud is earned rather than assumed.

In summary, you will be able to:

1. 1Explain how the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement show whether an organisation lived within its means, holds enough reserves and can pay its way.
2. 2Use ratios, audit opinions and a structured reading of the accounts to turn financial papers into plain board questions and spot warning signs early.
3. 3Assess risk appetite, assurance maps and counter fraud arrangements to judge whether your organisation's financial health and controls will hold over the medium term.

What you'll develop

By the end of this Immerse, you will be able to:

1. 1Apply five plain questions to any financial paper, testing income security, true cost, risk, cash timing and assumptions with professional scepticism rather than cynicism.
2. 2Assess whether reserves are too little, too much or about right against risk, and set out what a defensible reserves policy should contain.
3. 3Use a thirteen week cash forecast, working capital measures and liquidity headroom to find the low point and test a delayed income scenario.
4. 4Apply a five-step discipline of define, trend, compare, set limits and ask to turn a ratio pack into board questions.
5. 5Apply five practical board defences, from naming the key judgements to protecting the voices of those who raise concerns.
6. 6Assess whether a risk appetite statement is quantified, qualitative where needed, linked to strategy and set by category.
7. 7Use the matching assurance to risk matrix to identify blind spots and over assured areas, and redirect assurance effort accordingly.
8. 8Use the six habits of financially confident boards to plan the questions you will raise at your own board.