The aim of this course is make financial management accessible and useful. It will be of particular interest to non-finance staff: project officers, programme managers, senior managers and board members of not-for-profit organisations.
The course takes participants through the basic principles and techniques of organisational finance. Financial management is a vital part of managing operations, but project officers and managers do not have to be financial experts or qualified accountants to understand and use financial management tools. Financial management is based on common sense ideas; indeed, it can even be enjoyable and rewarding. This course shows how.
Throughout the course there are exercises and assignments which will either draw on participants’ own experience or help them learn a particular skill. Several of the exercises are aimed at getting participants to produce materials that will be useful in their future financial management work.
The course is part of an integrated collection of courses developed by Fahamu in conjunction with the University of Oxford.
Course content
1 Introduction
- An overview of financial management in NGOs
- Key language and concepts.
2 What is financial management?
- The concept of managing
- Who is responsible for financial management
- Why financial management is important to NGOs
- Financial management as a shared responsibility
- How to achieve good practice in financial management.
3 Who is responsible for financial management?
- Individual responsibility
- Responsibility in law
- The responsibility of trustees
- Other staff who have authority delegated to them.
4 Why is financial management important for ngos?
- Protecting an organisation against unexpected events and external risks
- Giving an organisation a competitive edge over other NGOs
- The legal and moral obligations for good financial management.
5 How to achieve good practice in financial management
- Keeping accounts
- Budgeting
- Internal controls
- Financial monitoring.
6 Advanced financial management techniques for managers
- How cash flows should be managed
- Working with donors and finance staff
- Strategic financial management.
7 Financial management and organisational values
- How strong ethical and moral values, such as gender equality, can influence financial management
- How to organise projects to take these values into account.
By the end of the course
Participants will be able to:
- Keep accounts
- Design budgets
- Monitor budgets
- Put in place internal control mechanisms
- Manage cash flow
- Work more effectively and efficiently with donors and finance staff
- Use financial management to create strategies
- Integrate gender into financial planning.
The course is not intended to give people any level of proficiency in these techniques, as these will continue to be the responsibility of an organisation’s financial manager.
Course benefits
Participants will all receive a printed ‘Financial management tool-kit’, a reference resource which provides:
- Further explanations
- Practical techniques and procedures
- Sample policies
- Additional resources.
Every participant will be provided with course materials including a course CDROM, which contains a comprehensive library of all relevant documents, as well as useful website addresses. A resources section on the CDROM provides a glossary of frequently used terms, a list of recommended books, copies of documents, links to relevant websites and other useful resources.
Every participant who successfully completes a course will be awarded a certificate from the University of Oxford and Fahamu.
Audience
This course will be of particular interest to non-finance staff: project officers, programme managers, senior managers and board members. It is aimed primarily at people working in not-for-profit organisations.
Course length
Residential course: 2 weeks
Distance learning course (1–2 hours/day): 8 weeks
Tuition fee
Contact:
How to apply
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