Week 1: Financial Modelling and Forecasting in Excel

Theme: Building professional financial models
Tools: Excel + Smart Add-ins

Topics:

• Principles of structured financial modelling
• Dynamic income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow models
• Integrating scenario analysis and Monte Carlo simulations
• Financial forecasting techniques (trend, regression)
• Excel Add-ins: Solver, ThinkCell, Power Query, Data Types

Practical Application:
Build a modular financial model with dynamic inputs, risk simulation, and executive reporting sheets.

Week 2: Financial Planning and Budgeting with Variance Analysis

Theme: Budgeting and financial control
Tools: Excel + Power BI

Topics:

• Designing annual and flexible budgets
• Rolling forecasts and variance tracking
• Cost centre planning and performance monitoring
• Power BI dashboards for real-time budget control
• Data-driven budgeting with trend and deviation analysis

Practical Application:
Create a full-year departmental budget with a variance analysis dashboard and interactive visualisations in Power BI.

Week 3: Digital Finance Transformation and Cloud Integration

Theme: Cloud systems and digital integration
Tools: SAP / Oracle (conceptual), Power BI, Python, Excel

Topics:

• Digital finance strategy and transformation roadmap
• Overview of SAP S/4HANA and Oracle Cloud ERP
• Data integration across financial systems
• AI-driven automation of finance processes
• Linking cloud data with Power BI and Python for analytics

Practical Application:
Simulate integration of cloud ERP data into Power BI and Python for advanced financial analytics.

Week 4: Automation and KPI-Based Performance Management

Theme: Intelligent automation and KPI governance
Tools: UiPath or Automation Anywhere, Excel, Power BI

Topics:

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for finance
• Designing bots for invoice processing, reconciliations, and reporting
• Defining and modelling financial KPIs (e.g., spending ratio, efficiency index)
• KPI dashboards for decision support
• Financial governance using real-time indicators

Practical Application:
Design an RPA bot to extract financial data and update a Power BI dashboard with performance indicators.