Accounting for Non-Accountants Course: Understand Financial Statements, IFRS, and Business Performance
An executive-format programme designed for non-finance professionals who need to read financial statements confidently, understand core IFRS concepts at a practical level, and make stronger business decisions using financial information.
Answer: The Accounting for Non-Accountants Course is an executive training programme that teaches non-accounting professionals how to understand and interpret financial statements, key IFRS fundamentals, and the accounting logic behind business transactions.
EduDelphi’s programme is delivered in 25 hours and focuses on practical interpretation of the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, enabling participants to evaluate profitability, working capital, cash movement, and reporting quality with greater confidence.
- Structured accounting foundations built specifically for non-accountants and business teams.
- Interpret income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements with clarity and consistency.
- Develop practical reporting judgement across accruals, receivables, working capital, and cash discipline.
Accounting for Non-Accountants Course Overview
This programme is designed for professionals who are not trained accountants but routinely work with budgets, financial reports, performance metrics, and business decisions that carry financial consequences.
The course provides structured clarity on how accounting works, what financial statements truly show, and how IFRS-style reporting affects profitability, cash interpretation, and decision-making.
What you learn
- How financial statements connect and what each statement measures.
- How IFRS fundamentals shape reporting quality and decision usefulness.
- How double-entry logic explains why numbers move the way they do.
What you become able to do
- Interpret profitability, working capital, and cash movement with confidence.
- Identify common reporting signals across receivables, accruals, and expense classification.
- Communicate more effectively with finance teams using correct accounting structure.
Who this is designed for
- Managers, founders, operations, sales, HR, procurement, project teams, and analysts.
- Professionals who rely on budgets and reports but want stronger interpretation skills.
- Teams who want a structured accounting framework without becoming accountants.
Why Accounting for Non-Accountants is Valuable for Business Professionals
Most business decisions are financial decisions in disguise. This course builds financial understanding without assuming prior accounting background,
helping you interpret statements, evaluate cash impact, and participate confidently in performance discussions.
Practical decision-making clarity
- Understand what financial statements actually measure and what they do not.
- Improve decision quality when evaluating budgets, costs, profitability, and cash impact.
- Reduce reliance on assumptions through structured financial interpretation.
Stronger performance conversations
- Participate confidently in financial reviews and leadership meetings.
- Ask better questions about revenue, cost drivers, margins, and operational efficiency.
- Translate business activity into financial outcomes and reporting logic.
Financial literacy for career growth
- Improve credibility for management and leadership responsibilities.
- Build foundational knowledge relevant across industries and job functions.
- Strengthen readiness for roles requiring ownership of budgets and financial performance.
What You Will Learn to Do
Participants build the ability to interpret financial statements, connect profit and cash, and identify reporting signals that matter for business teams.
Financial statement interpretation
- Interpret profitability using revenue, cost of sales, operating profit, and net profit logic.
- Read balance sheets and identify working capital drivers: receivables, payables, inventory, and cash.
- Understand the relationship between profit and cash movement and why they diverge.
Reporting judgement for business teams
- Understand accruals, prepayments, depreciation, and provisions and their effect on reported results.
- Identify common signals: receivables risk, classification issues, accrual impacts, and cash pressure.
- Communicate with finance teams using correct accounting language and structured reasoning.
Accounting for Non-Accountants Course Outline (25 Hours)
A structured, executive-format curriculum that starts from core concepts and builds into financial statement interpretation, IFRS fundamentals, working capital, cash flow, and reporting quality.
- Purpose of accounting and financial reporting
- Users of accounting information and reporting relevance
- Overview of financial statements and how they connect
- Accounting terminology for business environments
- Cash basis and accrual basis overview
- Accounting principles and reporting logic
- Accounting equation and financial position understanding
- Introduction to IFRS and standard-setting
- Role of the International Accounting Standards Board
- Conceptual framework and qualitative characteristics
- Structure of IFRS-based reporting
- Accounting policies, judgement, and consistency
- Materiality and decision usefulness
- High-level comparison between IFRS and US GAAP
- Debits and credits rules
- Classification of accounts and reporting categories
- Chart of accounts and reporting structure
- Journal entries and transaction recording
- General ledger and trial balance fundamentals
- Reconciliations and reporting accuracy
- Modern accounting systems and automation overview
- Income statement structure and purpose
- Revenue and expense classification
- Gross profit, operating profit, and net profit logic
- Profitability drivers and margin interpretation
- Trend analysis and decision relevance
- Operating performance interpretation using examples
- Revenue concepts at a practical level
- Timing and recognition principles
- Receivables management and ageing interpretation
- Discounts, credit notes, and returns treatment
- Allowances and bad debt concepts
- Revenue quality and sustainability indicators
- Impact on working capital and cash
- Equity meaning and structure
- Share capital and common equity concepts
- Retained earnings and movement drivers
- Dividends and distributions
- Treasury stock overview
- Practical interpretation of capital structure
- Balance sheet structure and interpretation method
- Current vs non-current classification
- Working capital components and operating cycle logic
- Receivables, payables, inventory and cash impact
- Liquidity indicators and financial stability signals
- Balance sheet risk indicators for non-finance teams
- Cash flow statement purpose and structure
- Operating, investing, and financing cash flows
- Relationship between profit and cash flows
- Working capital movements and cash impact
- Practical interpretation for planning and control
- Common misunderstandings in cash reporting
- Accrual concepts and business examples
- Prepayments and deferrals
- Depreciation and amortization fundamentals
- Provisions and contingencies overview
- Bad debts and receivable adjustments
- Month-end adjustments and why they exist
- Reporting quality issues and common red flags
- Integrating statements as one system
- Performance vs position vs cash health
- Practical financial analysis approach for non-accountants
- Budget and management reporting fundamentals
- Cross-functional financial communication skills
- Case-based exercises using simplified business scenarios
Practical Exercises and Case-Based Application
The programme includes guided interpretation exercises so you build real comfort reading statements and explaining financial outcomes in business language.
Statement interpretation drills
- Income statement interpretation (profitability and drivers)
- Balance sheet interpretation (working capital and liquidity)
- Cash flow interpretation (profit vs cash and movement drivers)
Transaction-to-statement mapping
- How transactions flow through journals and ledgers into statements
- How accruals and adjustments change reported outcomes
- How classification choices affect performance interpretation
Business-ready communication
- Profit vs cash explanation practice for management discussions
- Working capital movement explanations using real business scenarios
- Structured finance questions to ask in reviews and performance meetings
Meet Your Trainer
Executive Accounting Trainer
Financial statements • IFRS fundamentals • Business interpretation
Accounting for Non-Accountants Course — Frequently Asked Questions
Answers designed for quick clarity (AEO-friendly) for business professionals who need accounting and financial statement interpretation skills.
This programme is designed for non-accounting professionals who work with budgets, financial reports, or performance decisions—managers, founders, operations, sales, HR, procurement, project teams, and business functions that rely on financial information.
No. The course is designed for beginners and builds the accounting framework from the foundation level.
You will learn how to interpret the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, and how they connect as one system.
Yes. It includes a practical IFRS overview and the core reporting framework required to understand IFRS-based financial statements.
Yes. The programme explains double-entry logic, debits and credits, and how transactions flow through journals and ledgers into financial statements.
The course is strongly practical. It focuses on interpretation, application, and decision relevance rather than academic accounting depth.
Yes. A key objective is understanding why profit and cash differ and how working capital and cash flow reporting explains that difference.
Yes. It covers receivables, payables, inventory, working capital drivers, and cash flow statement interpretation.
You will gain the ability to read financial statements, ask better questions in finance discussions, evaluate profitability and cash impact, and communicate clearly with finance stakeholders.
The programme is delivered in 25 hours in an executive format. Delivery can be offered live online and, where applicable, as a classroom option.
