Strategic Finance Programme

Corporate Finance, Financial Modelling and Strategic Investment Decisions

Evaluate strategic investments using financial logic, cash flows, value drivers, scenarios, uncertainty and risk-adjusted decision models.

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Course overview

Strengthen strategic judgement by connecting financial models with business assumptions and uncertainty.

Strategic investment decisions require more than calculating a single return metric. Leaders must understand cash flows, value drivers, assumptions, opportunity cost, uncertainty, strategic fit and the consequences of different scenarios.

This course builds practical corporate-finance and financial-modelling capability for strategic decision-making. Participants develop and challenge investment models, evaluate NPV and other measures, test sensitivities and scenarios, and communicate financial evidence clearly to decision-makers.

The programme emphasises model logic and decision quality rather than spreadsheet mechanics alone. Participants learn to identify where numbers are robust, where judgement is required and where uncertainty should change the decision.

Learning outcomes

What participants will be able to do.

By the end of the course, participants should be able to:

Explain the financial logic that links strategy, investment, cash flow and value creation.
Build a transparent financial model with clear assumptions, drivers and outputs.
Estimate relevant incremental cash flows and distinguish accounting measures from decision cash flows.
Apply NPV, IRR, payback and other appraisal measures appropriately.
Use sensitivity, scenario and break-even analysis to understand uncertainty.
Assess cost of capital, risk and the limitations of risk-adjusted discounting.
Integrate qualitative strategic factors with quantitative investment evidence.
Present a clear investment recommendation, assumptions and decision risks to senior stakeholders.

Who should attend

Designed for professionals who influence strategic choices or execution.

Managers and leaders responsible for investment or capital-allocation proposals.
Finance business partners and management accountants.
Strategy, corporate-development and portfolio professionals.
Project sponsors, business-case owners and investment-committee members.

Prerequisites

Professionally accessible and application-focused.

Participants should be comfortable with basic arithmetic and business concepts. Prior finance experience is helpful but not required. Spreadsheet familiarity is beneficial.

Course structure

A five-module strategic learning journey.

The sequence develops understanding, application and practical outputs progressively across five connected modules.

1 Module 1

Corporate Finance and Value Creation

Strategy, investment and enterprise value
Cash flow versus accounting profit
Time value of money
Value drivers and opportunity cost

2 Module 2

Investment Appraisal

Incremental cash flows
NPV, IRR and payback
Terminal values and lifecycle economics
Decision criteria and common errors

3 Module 3

Financial Modelling Discipline

Model architecture and transparency
Assumptions, drivers and formulas
Checks, controls and model integrity
Communicating model logic

4 Module 4

Risk, Sensitivity and Scenario Analysis

Sensitivity and break-even analysis
Scenario design
Cost of capital and risk
Uncertainty, ranges and decision confidence

5 Module 5

Strategic Investment Decision-Making

Strategic fit and non-financial factors
Portfolio and capital constraints
Investment committee challenge
Recommendation, governance and post-investment review

Learning experience

Learn by analysing, applying, challenging and producing.

Understand

Clarify the strategic logic

Worked investment examples and facilitated explanation.

Apply

Practise with evidence and cases

Hands-on financial-modelling exercises.

Produce

Create practical outputs

Sensitivity, scenario and break-even workshops.

Challenge

Test assumptions and trade-offs

Investment-committee decision simulation.

Transfer

Connect learning to work

Application to a strategic investment or business-case context.

Completion requirements

Complete the applied learning journey.

Complete core financial-modelling and appraisal exercises.
Develop an integrated investment model for the case.
Participate in scenario and investment-committee challenge sessions.
Produce a final investment recommendation and decision summary.

Participant outputs

Leave with practical strategic-management artefacts.

Investment cash-flow model.
NPV/IRR and appraisal summary.
Sensitivity and scenario analysis.
Investment risk and assumption register.
Executive investment recommendation.

Delivery options

Choose the format that fits your people and operating environment.

Instructor-led

Live Classroom

Face-to-face delivery with facilitated discussion, strategic cases, workshops, practical tools and immediate feedback.

Instructor-led

Live Virtual Classroom

Interactive online delivery using collaborative workspaces, breakout activities, coached practice and guided application.

Flexible

Blended Learning

A structured combination of preparation, live sessions, applied assignments, workplace tools and follow-up.

Organisation-specific

Corporate and In-Company

Tailored delivery using organisational terminology, strategic priorities, industry context, decision processes and anonymised cases where appropriate.

Frequently asked questions

Course information and participation.

Is advanced accounting knowledge required?

No. The course explains the finance concepts needed for investment decisions and focuses on practical decision logic.

Do participants need Excel?

Spreadsheet familiarity is useful. The exact platform can be agreed for corporate delivery; the course focuses on sound model structure and reasoning rather than software-specific shortcuts.

Does the course cover financial statements?

Only where needed to understand investment cash flows and value. It is not a full financial-accounting course.

Can we use our investment-approval template?

Yes. Corporate delivery can align exercises with your business-case, hurdle-rate and investment-governance practices.

Does completion provide a professional certification?

The course may provide an INDENTRA completion record where applicable. No external finance certification is implied.

Take the next step

Make strategic investment decisions with stronger financial evidence and clearer assumptions.

Discuss a course tailored to your investment types, business cases, modelling standards and capital-governance process.