EY Diploma in Advanced Finance and Leadership

This programme is designed for:

• CFOs, Treasurers, and Finance Directors seeking to strengthen their strategic financial leadership.
• Risk Managers and Corporate Treasurers responsible for liquidity and market risk oversight.
• M&A, Strategy, and Corporate Development Executives involved in deal evaluation and execution.
• Investment Bankers, Consultants, and Private Equity Professionals looking to refine valuation and transaction skills.
• Senior Accountants and Controllers managing treasury operations and hedge accounting

The programme blends academic rigor with practitioner insights using:

• Expert-led training that explains key frameworks and best practices, drawing on extensive hands-on experience from real Assessment, Development and Training programmes for aspiring Finance Executives and CFOs.
• Real-life case studies showcasing liquidity crises, hedging applications, and landmark M&A deals.
• Hands-on exercises in liquidity modelling, VaR analysis, and valuation techniques.
• Embedded leadership and soft-skills development, including psychometric insights, structured feedback, and coached behavioural practice.
• Group discussions and simulations to encourage peer-to-peer learning and strategic thinking.
• Practical tools and templates for immediate workplace application.

Module 1 – Corporate Treasury and Derivative Hedging Strategies

The first module focuses on strategic treasury leadership. Participants design and justify risk-management frameworks, evaluate derivative strategies, and align financial risk decisions with board expectations and enterprise value creation.

Technical Skills

• Articulate a clear, board‑aligned risk appetite for FX, interest‑rate, and commodity exposures.
• Develop treasury and hedging frameworks that safeguard margins and cash flows while enabling business flexibility and supporting long‑term value creation.
• Evaluate and recommend hedging strategies at a strategic level (justifying instrument selection) based on their effect on earnings stability, cash flow predictability, and competitive positioning.

Simulation Activities:

• Role‑played Treasury Committee.
• Pressurized board presentations.
• Shareholder Q&A stress tests.

Leadership Skills

• Discover how individuals differ in behaviour and communication preferences, and how organizations can leverage these differences to enhance performance.
• Learn why adapting messages to diverse recipients is critical for clarity, engagement, and business effectiveness
• Gain insight into personal communication tendencies and learn to use this awareness intentionally to build trust, influence, and strategic alliances.
• Practise interacting with other DiSC® style profiles to strengthen collaboration, reduce friction, and achieve team synergy.

Activities:

• Role-playing.
• Analysis of individual communication style.
• Case study in groups and individually.
• Hands-on practice in adapting communication strategies when engaging with representatives of different DiSC® styles.

Feedback

Participants receive structured feedback and targeted development guidance on the following leadership skills which are observed during the simulations:

• Communication Under Pressure.
• Decision‑Making & Critical Thinking.
• Stakeholder Management.
• Stress and Emotional Intelligence.

Module 3 – Advanced Investment Appraisal and Capital Structure 

In the final module, participants act as strategic capital allocators, challenging investment proposals, shaping funding strategy, and balancing risk, growth, and shareholder expectations.

Technical Skills

• Evaluate investments through a strategic lens, balancing financial returns with competitive positioning capital constraints and long-term value creation.
• Interpret complex modelling outputs (WACC, APV, scenarios) to inform executive decision-making and capital allocation.
• Critically challenge business cases and ensure assumptions reflect realistic market conditions and executable business plans.
• Shape capital structure and funding decisions to support sustainable growth, financial resilience and shareholder expectations.

Simulation Activities:

•  Assessing a complex project based on Adjusted Present Value and real options (delays, abandonment, growth expansion).
• Suggesting Capital structure and funding alternatives to the BoD.

Leadership Skills

• Develop an understanding of creativity as a practical mindset that supports analytical thinking and effective business decision-making.
• Apply proven tools and methods for generating innovative ideas and enabling teams to move beyond conventional thinking patterns.
• Gain familiarity with structured problem-solving and process improvement tools, including Brainstorming, the Ishikawa (Fishbone) Diagram, 5-Why Analysis, and SIPOC.

Activities:

• Interactive exercises designed to stimulate creative thinking and encourage collaboration.
• A case study in which participants apply creativity and problem-solving tools to a real-life business challenge.
• Practical application of process optimization techniques using Lean management tools.

Feedback

Participants receive structured feedback and targeted development guidance on the following leadership skills which are observed during the simulations:

• Strategic Thinking & Executive Presence.
• Challenging & Being Challenged.
• Creativity & Innovation.

Participants of this programme will receive 14 CPD (Continuous Professional Development) credit hours per module and an EY Diploma upon completion of the final exam at the end of the programme.

Our courses fulfil the requirements of the professional development schemes of international professional bodies such as ACCA, IIA, PMI®, etc.

The programme “Applied Finance in Business” consists of 4 modules: Module 1 – Reading, Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements under IFRS, Module 2 – Financial Risk Management and Derivatives, Module 3 – Measuring, Monitoring and Optimizing Performance, Module 4 – Financial Management: Investment Appraisal and Business Valuations.

From this page, you can sign up for the complete package of all 4 modules (choose 4-Module Package), or a preferred combination of modules (choose 3-Module Package or 2-Module Package).

If you decide to sign up for a single module, go to the page of the selected course by clicking on the module title below.

Module 1 - Reading, Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements under IFRS

• You present to the Board new attractive ideas but without the numbers, you will not be convincing anyone! How will such decisions impact the financial statements of the organization?
• Do you feel uncomfortable during financial conversations or when you read the financial press? This course will not only give you comfort in understanding what is being said but will also give you the power to challenge financial ideas
• Having obtained the skills to understand the language of finance, you will be able to appreciate how your decisions and actions affect the financial health of your company. Furthermore, you will be able to identify issues that arise because of others in the firm
• Financial statements always tell the true story!

Case studies used in this module:

• Harvard Business School – The Accounting Framework and Financial Statements
• Harvard Business School – Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis

Programme

• Constructing the balance sheet and income statement (case study)
• Key balance sheet and income statement positions – rules for recognition and measurement (exercises), including:
  • Property, plant and equipment
  • Intangible assets
  • Financial instruments
  • Provisions
• Constructing the cash flow statement and the statement of changes in equity – what they show and how to link them to information presented in the balance sheet and income statement (exercises)
• Financial ratios – construction, interpretation, advantages and disadvantages of principal ratios (exercises)
• Major case study – just by looking at the numbers and the ratios you will be able to:
  • Identify problems and their root causes
  • Link the various strategies together
  • Come up with solutions to improve the health of the company in the medium as well as the long term
• Major financial accounting regulations in the EU and abroad (International Financial Reporting Standards and US GAAP) – what they are and who applies them
• What you can find out by reading the auditor’s opinion
• Creative accounting – what to look out for when reading financial statements (exercises)

Module 2 - Financial Risk Management and Derivatives

• How do financial markets determine interest rates, foreign exchange rates and other financial variables affecting your company?
• Are derivatives useful or only for gamblers? How can you make use of derivatives to protect your company from risks and add value to it?
• Learn how to hedge the financial risk of your firm, whether it is the price you are hedging against or interest rates or currency fluctuations
• How are derivatives presented in the accounts of a company, and how do they impact the financial statements? What is “Hedge Accounting” and what are its benefits?

Key features of this course:

• This is an intensive, interactive workshop based on case studies
• After this module, you will understand how derivatives work and how to practically apply key financial risk management techniques

Programme

• Interest rates – what they are, how they are determined, why they change (based on current market situation)
• Foreign exchange rates – analysis of current trends in major currency pairs
• Financial markets structure – segments, markets and players
• Financial derivatives and their basic mechanics:
  • Forwards and futures
  • Options
  • Swaps
• Case studies of how derivatives are used to hedge financial risks, including a hedge of currency exposures with forwards / futures and options and a hedge of interest rate risk exposure with interest rate swaps.
• Valuation and presentation of derivatives in the Financial Statements of a company and introduction to Hedge Accounting
• What happens when derivatives are misused: lessons learned from famous financial risk management failures (incl. bankruptcy of Metallgesellschaft and Baring Bank and the so-called “currency options crisis” of 2008)

Module 3 - Measuring, Monitoring and Optimizing Performance

• The orientation of the course is more towards management accounting than just accounting — the audience will acquire skills in participating in key strategic decisions like costing and pricing as well as in any efforts to improve the performance of the organization
• Advanced topics like Activity Based Budgeting, Relevant Costing, Variance Analysis and Pricing Methods will also be introduced through case studies
• The entire course is case–study based. Real-life case studies from the Harvard Business School and Yonsei University will be used during the course. This module includes a case study from Yonsei University: Assessing a service provider by applying Activity Based Costing

Key features of this course:

• This is an intensive, interactive workshop based on case studies
• Although you can attend this part of the course without any prior knowledge of finance, we recommend attending Part 1 of the course before registering for Module 2

Programme

• Budgeting and Control: Purposes; systems and types of budgets; preparation – including cash forecasts and expected values; (exercises)
• Costing and Management Accounting: Fixed and Flexible Budgets; Activity Based Costing (ABC) versus traditional methods of costing – (exercises and case studies)
• Decision-making Techniques – Relevant/Economic Cost Analysis; Identifying and calculating Relevant Costs from given data and for specific situations in the decision-making process; Application of the concept of Opportunity Costs; Pricing Decisions; Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty (case studies)
• Variance Analysis – From Standard Costing to Variances; Sales and Quantity Variances; Planning and Operating Variances; Performance Analysis (case studies)
• Cost-Volume Analysis: Calculation and interpretation of the Break-Even Point and the Margin of safety; Relevance to the operational as well as financial gearing of the entity; The importance of Contribution in decision-making (case studies)

Module 4 - Financial Management: Investment Appraisal and Business Valuations

• How do you assess whether an investment project is worth the while? And how do you choose between projects that seem to give the same future cash flows? Having taken all factors involved, does the chosen project finally add value to the firm?
• What is the difference between value and price? And what exactly is Value? Can all ventures and assets be valued?
• Why some companies are funded solely by shareholders’ equity, while others are financed with a mix of equity and debt? How a company’s capital structure change in the corporate life cycle?
• How companies estimate their cost of capital? And how is it useful in financial management?

Key features of this course:

• This is an intensive, interactive workshop based on case studies
• Zero prior knowledge of finance is required. What seemed impossible to comprehend will now appear easy and obvious

Programme

• Time Value of Money: Present Value, Future Value, Discounting Techniques (practical exercises)
• Methods of evaluating investment decisions – net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), payback period, real options (case study)
• Cost of capital – Weighted Average Cost of Capital, adjusting for risk, decisions on project financing (case study)
• Sensitivity analysis in situations of uncertainty (practical exercises), expected values and Monte Carlo simulations
• Valuations in business: Review of various approaches to pricing and valuation of equity and debt financial instruments
• Valuation of companies: a case study encompassing practical application of various techniques, incl. net asset value, market multiples, dividend valuation and DCF (discounted cash flows).