Financial Forecasting and Strategic Decision-Making
Learn how to forecast business performance, manage financial risk, and make smarter investment decisions.
Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
1 hourLanguages
English, Español, Italiano, Français, PortuguêsEnglish, Español100% online
How it works
Financial Forecasting and Strategic Decision-Making
This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. Find out more.
Predict business performance with confidence
Every business decision relies on one important question: what happens next?
On this practical course, you’ll learn how finance professionals build forecasts, evaluate investment opportunities, and manage financial risk.
Starting with the wider economic landscape, you’ll develop the skills to create evidence-based financial forecasts before testing how they perform under real-world uncertainty.
Build stronger forecasts from market insights
Every forecast begins with understanding the forces shaping business performance.
You’ll analyse macroeconomic trends, industry dynamics, and competitive positioning to develop realistic forecasting assumptions.
Using strategic frameworks, you’ll learn how market conditions, company performance, and growth drivers influence financial outcomes.
Forecast future performance and evaluate investments
Next, you’ll transform assumptions into practical financial models.
You’ll explore deterministic and stochastic forecasting techniques before applying capital budgeting tools including Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and discount rate estimation to assess investment opportunities and support strategic decision-making.
Manage uncertainty with practical risk analysis
Forecasts are only valuable if they account for risk.
In the final part of the course, you’ll assess market, credit, operational, and liquidity risks, stress-test your forecasts, and investigate practical mitigation strategies such as diversification and hedging.
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to build robust financial forecasts, evaluate investment decisions with confidence, and incorporate risk analysis into strategic financial planning.
Syllabus
Week 1
From Market Context to Forecast Assumptions
Lesson 1: Industry Drivers for Financial Forecasting
Connect top-down macro indicators with bottom-up industry and firm-level drivers to ground your forecast in reality.
Lesson 2 : Competitive Positioning & Industry Trajectory
Assess a company’s strengths in the context of the industry lifecycle and competitive landscape to refine growth and margin assumptions.
Lesson 3 : Forecasting Basics
Convert strategic insights into forecast-ready drivers for revenue, costs, and cash flows.
Week 2
Forecasting & Capital Budgeting
Lesson 4 : Forecasting Techniques
Strengthen forecasts through trend-based extrapolation, structured scenarios, and probability-aware simulations.
Lesson 5 : Core Capital Budgeting Methods
Evaluate investments with NPV, IRR, and Payback; understand when each metric is most informative.
Lesson 6 : Estimating the Discount Rate
Calculate cost of debt and equity and synthesize WACC aligned to business risk and capital structure.
Week 3
Risk Analysis & Mitigation
Lesson 7 : Market Risk- Measuring Exposure and Impact
Learn practical toolkits to quantify market risk and test resilience under shocks.
Lesson 8 : Credit & Operational Risk
Identify, measure, and monitor non-market risks that can undermine forecasts and project economics.
Lesson 9 : Mitigation- Practical Risk Mitigation Strategies
Convert risk assessments into actionable mitigation—financial, operational, and portfolio-level.
Lesson 10 : Course Conclusion
Concludes Strategic Forecasting & Risk Management by reinforcing learners’ ability to build forecasts, evaluate investment decisions, assess key risks, and apply practical mitigation strategies.
Who is this accredited by?
The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading independent CPD accreditation institution operating across industry sectors to complement the CPD policies of professional and academic bodies.
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...
- Apply strategic forecasting techniques to develop revenue, cost, and cash flow forecasts using industry and market insights.
- Apply capital budgeting methods, including NPV, IRR, and WACC, to evaluate investment opportunities and support financial decision-making.
- Apply risk analysis and mitigation strategies to assess market, credit, operational, and liquidity risks in financial forecasting.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for aspiring financial analysts, finance professionals, business students, and strategic decision-makers who want to strengthen their forecasting, investment appraisal, and risk management skills. It’s ideal for careers in corporate finance, investment banking, consulting, and business strategy.
Who will you learn with?
Who developed the course?
Starweaver
Starweaver is a next generation platform that engages your workforce as no other. Combining business and technical skills, Starweaver provides real-time skill building that is in line with your business objectives and strategies, and in your associates day to day tasks and jobs.
| Best ValueBest Value - learn more, save more! | |||
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Start learning today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choose the best way to learn for you! | $54/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
| Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Try this course - with limits | |
| Access to this course | tick | tick | Limited to 3 weeks |
| Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
| Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
| Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
| Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole 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
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$54/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Start learning today
Free
Try this course - with limits
- Limited to 3 weeks
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 2 November 2026 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 2 November 2026 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
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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