Financial Analysis for Business Performance: Data-Driven Decision Making

4 weeks
4 hours per week
Digital certificate when eligible

Find out more about how to join this course

Create a data-driven culture within your organisation

Using facts, analysis, and metrics to drive strategic decisions within an organisation is associated with higher profits, stronger performance, and business longevity. However, this often involves better communication, cultural change, and much stronger data analysis skills throughout the company.

On this four-week course. you’ll learn how to help your organisation become more data driven by improving your analysis skills, learning new reporting techniques, and sharing key data to support business decision making. By the end, you’ll have the knowledge and confidence to turn financial insights into positive action.

Improve the financial performance of your organisation

You’ll learn the various approaches that can be used to improve the financial performance of your organisation. The tools and techniques you will employ in this course can be used to justify recommendations for improving financial performance based on the business’ specific requirements and situation.

Put data-driven decision making at the heart of your business

Once you have the data and the analysis needed to drive better business performance, you now need to share it and turn it into strong strategic decisions. You’ll learn how to articulate key data and processes required to support business decision making to make your organisation stronger as a whole.

Syllabus

Week 1
Introduction to the course and financial performance
- Welcome to the course
  Introduction and welcome to the course.
- Levers to improve financial performance
  In this activity, we’ll cover the main cost control levels that drive financial performance, specifically value drivers and cash flow management.
- Week 1 wrap up
  Summary of this week's activities.
Week 2
Improving financial performance
- Welcome to Week 2
  Introduction to Week 2
- Data-driven performance decisions
  In this activity, we’ll cover the key metrics to track business performance, best practices for presenting metrics, and how to use a decision tree.
- Delivering actionable value
  In this activity, we’ll present an overview of the insight generation process and explain how to manage it. We’ll also discuss how to build a data-driven culture and the fundamentals of actionable insights.
- Week 2 Wrap-up
  Summary of this week's activities.
Week 3
Business decision making: Part 1
- Welcome to Week 3
  Introduction to Week 3
- Introduction to data analytics and data-driven decision making
  You will be introduced to data analytics and its importance for data-driven decision making. You will also explore the skills needed for an organisation to make data-driven financial decisions.
- Week 3 Wrap-up
  To complete the week, let’s recap the key points.
Week 4
Business decision making: Part 2
- Introduction
  Introduction to Week 4: Business decision making. Familiarise yourself with the week’s topics and listen to this week’s case study.
- Types of data
  You will learn how to define data, identify various sources of data, and discuss some of the challenges of working with data for businesses and organisations.
- Data-driven decision making
  You will learn why we make decisions with data, the types and value of business analytics, roles and responsibilities in data-driven organisations and creating a culture that values data-driven decision making
- Week 4 Wrap-up
  To complete the week, let’s recap the key points.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Explain the various approaches which can be utilised to improve financial performance of an organisation
Justify recommendations for improving financial performance based on the situation of the business
Articulate key data and processes required to support business decision making

Who is the course for?

This course is designed to support learners who need to engage with large volumes of financial data. This includes entry-level finance or accounting professionals who would like to progress to higher-skill positions, and current finance professionals. It would also be useful for new managers and leaders, as well as business workers and entrepreneurs.

If you want to build on your knowledge, you may be interested in these courses, from the same provider:

What software or tools do you need?

During this course we’ll be using Excel. If you don’t have Excel, you might find this online version useful.

We recommend you use a computer to access this course.

Who will you learn with?

Alysha Randall (CPA)

Commercially focused Finance Director / CFO with experience working with fast growth online SMEs in different sectors, including two successful exits (Amazon acquisition & Funding Circle’s IPO)

Who developed the course?

FutureLearn

FutureLearn is a leading social learning platform and has been providing high quality online courses for learners around the world over the last ten years.

In collaboration with

Endorsers and supporters

endorsed by


Ways to learn	Buy this course	Subscribe & save	Limited access
Choose the best way to learn for you!	$134/one-off payment	$349.99 for one year Automatically renews	Free
	Fulfill your current learning need	Develop skills to further your career	Sample the course materials
Access to this course	tick	tick	Access expires 26 May 2024
Access to 1,000+ courses	cross	tick	cross
Learn at your own pace	tick	tick	cross
Discuss your learning in comments	tick	tick	tick
Tests to check your learning	tick	tick	cross
Certificate when you're eligible	Printed and digital	Digital only	cross
	Continue & Upgrade
		Cancel for free anytime

Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$349.99 for one year

Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

Access to this course
Access to 1,000+ courses
Learn at your own pace
Discuss your learning in comments
Tests to boost your learning
Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$134/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

Access to this course
Learn at your own pace
Discuss your learning in comments
Tests to boost your learning
Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Continue & Upgrade

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

Access expires 26 May 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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