Financial Planning and Analysis Course

Lesson 1 • The FP&A Function Defined

Covers FP&A's mandate, organizational placement, and stakeholder relationships. Anchors all subsequent topics by clarifying what FP&A owns versus adjacent finance roles.

Lesson 2 • Key FP&A Metrics and KPIs

Introduces profitability, liquidity, and efficiency metrics used in FP&A reporting. Students gain a shared metric vocabulary applied throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • Core Financial Statements Review

Refreshes income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement mechanics. Provides the data literacy required for every forecasting and analysis task ahead.

Lesson 1 • Scenario and Sensitivity Analysis

Adds scenario toggles and data tables to stress-test model outputs. Students quantify the impact of key assumption changes on financial results.

Lesson 2 • Building the Income Statement Model

Constructs revenue and expense drivers that feed a dynamic income statement. Students apply driver-based logic rather than static line-item entry.

Lesson 3 • Model Auditing and Error Checking

Applies systematic techniques to identify formula errors and logical inconsistencies. Auditing skills protect model credibility before results reach leadership.

Lesson 4 • Spreadsheet Architecture and Best Practices

Establishes model layout, color-coding, and formula discipline standards. Clean architecture prevents errors and makes models maintainable by any analyst.

Lesson 1 • Revenue Budget Construction

Builds revenue budgets using volume, price, and mix drivers by segment. Accurate revenue budgets anchor all downstream expense and headcount planning.

Lesson 2 • Expense and Headcount Budgeting

Develops operating expense and headcount budgets aligned to revenue plans. Students apply cost categorization and span-of-control logic to build credible expense plans.

Lesson 3 • Budget Governance and Controls

Establishes approval workflows, change-request processes, and budget policy documentation. Governance prevents unauthorized spending and maintains budget integrity.

Lesson 4 • Budget Consolidation and Review

Aggregates departmental budgets into a company-wide P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow. Students manage intercompany eliminations and reconcile to strategic targets.

Lesson 1 • Statistical and Trend-Based Methods

Applies moving averages, exponential smoothing, and regression to historical data. Students build quantitative forecast models grounded in statistical logic.

Lesson 2 • Forecasting Fundamentals

Defines forecast types, horizons, and accuracy measurement frameworks. Students distinguish between a budget and a forecast and understand when each is appropriate.

Lesson 3 • Forecast Communication and Presentation

Packages forecast outputs into concise narratives and visual summaries for leadership. Clear communication converts analytical work into actionable business decisions.

Lesson 4 • Rolling Forecast Design

Designs a rolling 12- to 18-month forecast process that replaces static annual budgets. Students build the template, cadence, and governance for a continuous forecast.

Lesson 1 • Expense Variance Analysis

Analyzes spending variances by cost category, department, and cost driver. Students distinguish controllable from non-controllable variances to focus management attention.

Lesson 2 • Revenue Variance Deep Dive

Decomposes revenue variances by product, channel, geography, and customer segment. Granular revenue analysis reveals which business levers drove performance gaps.

Lesson 3 • Variance Analysis Framework

Establishes price, volume, mix, and rate variance decomposition methodology. A consistent framework ensures variance explanations are comparable across periods.

Lesson 4 • Management Reporting Design

Designs monthly management report packages aligned to audience and decision needs. Effective report design reduces noise and accelerates executive decision-making.

Lesson 1 • Sales and Revenue Decision Support

Provides financial analysis for pricing, discounting, deal structuring, and sales incentive design. Students quantify the P&L impact of sales decisions before they are made.

Lesson 2 • Marketing and Investment Analysis

Evaluates marketing spend efficiency using ROI, payback, and attribution frameworks. Students help marketing teams allocate budgets to the highest-return activities.

Lesson 3 • Operations and Supply Chain Finance

Analyzes cost of goods sold, capacity utilization, and make-versus-buy decisions. Students provide financial insight that improves operational efficiency and margin.

Lesson 4 • The Business Partner Mindset

Defines the shift from report producer to strategic advisor within the FP&A role. Students adopt a proactive, commercially aware approach to finance partnership.

Lesson 1 • IRR, Payback, and Return Metrics

Calculates and interprets IRR, payback period, and return on investment for capital projects. Students understand when each metric is most and least appropriate.

Lesson 2 • Business Case Development

Structures a complete business case with financial projections, risk assessment, and recommendation. Students produce investment proposals that withstand executive scrutiny.

Lesson 3 • Capital Portfolio Prioritization

Ranks competing capital requests using scoring models and portfolio optimization logic. Students allocate a constrained capital budget across projects to maximize returns.

Lesson 4 • Discounted Cash Flow Analysis

Builds a DCF model projecting free cash flows and terminal value to derive net present value. Students apply DCF to capital projects, acquisitions, and new business cases.

Lesson 1 • Enterprise Value and Valuation Frameworks

Applies EV/EBITDA, P/E, and DCF valuation frameworks to assess company and business unit value. Students use valuation to support strategic decisions and investor communications.

Lesson 2 • Scenario Planning for Strategy

Applies macro and competitive scenario analysis to stress-test the long-range plan. Students quantify strategic risks and opportunities to inform executive decisions.

Lesson 3 • Board and Investor Reporting

Designs board-level financial packages and investor relations materials aligned to strategic narrative. Students translate complex financial data into concise, credible executive communications.

Lesson 4 • Long-Range Financial Planning

Builds a three- to five-year financial plan linked to strategic initiatives and market assumptions. Long-range plans translate strategy into quantified financial commitments.