Finance for Marketing Professionals: From Campaigns to Commercial Impact

This programme is designed for:

• Marketing managers, brand managers and those responsible for the commercial performance of a product, including pricing, volume, margin and profitability decisions.
• Commercial, Revenue and Growth roles interacting closely with finance
• Non‑finance professionals responsible for pricing, campaigns, budgets or profitability
• Marketing leaders who want to strengthen their commercial credibility

No prior finance education or experience is required.

Objectives

By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

• Have a strong understanding of the structure and logic of the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Statement of Cash Flows and Statement of Changes in Equity, all IFRS‑based
• Translate marketing decisions into their financial impact on revenue, margins, profit and cash
• Distinguish clearly between margin, mark‑up, contribution, overheads and profitability
• Interpret financial statements to assess performance, risk and value creation
• Participate confidently in budgeting, forecasting and performance discussions
• Make commercially sound marketing decisions aligned with overall business objectives

Benefits

Training methodology

This is an intensive, practical and case-based course in the form of a workshop, which combines:

• Short, focused conceptual inputs (no theory overload)
• Small but powerful, real‑world numerical examples from marketing contexts
• Interactive discussions linking finance concepts to participants’ day‑to‑day decisions
• Mini case studies, group exercises and guided calculations
• Continuous translation from “finance language” to “marketing reality”

Participants actively work through examples rather than passively listening.

Day 1 – Understanding Financial Statements through a Marketing Lens

The Financial Language of the Business

• Why marketing decisions are ultimately financial decisions
• How Boards and CFOs look at performance
• The role of marketing in value creation

The Income Statement (Under IFRS)

• Constructing an Income Statement
• Review of real-life Income Statements
• Revenue = price × volume: why this is not trivial
• Price elasticity and volume trade‑offs
• Cost of Sales vs Marketing Expenses
• Gross Margin vs Net Margin
• Mark‑up vs Margin – common marketing pitfalls
• Contribution logic: why “loss‑making” products can still be valuable

Marketing Decisions and Profitability

• How campaigns affect profit (not just sales)
• Discretionary vs non‑discretionary marketing costs
• Fixed vs variable costs: why volume matters
• Reading beyond “top‑line growth”

The Balance Sheet (Statement of Financial Position. Under IFRS)

• Assets, liabilities and equity explained intuitively
• Why marketing usually ignores the balance sheet – and why that’s a mistake
• Working capital and marketing activities
• Links between profit, assets and long‑term value

The Statement of Changes in Equity (Under IFRS)

• How net profit, dividends and other movements flow into equity
• Why not all “successful” marketing years strengthen equity
• The link between sustainable profitability and long‑term value

Day 2 – Cash, Analysis and Budgeting for Business Partnering

The Statement of Cash Flows (under IFRS)

• Profit is not cash – why this matters
• Operating, investing and financing cash flows
• How marketing actions impact cash timing
• Growth that destroys cash vs growth that creates value

Interpreting & Analysing Financial Statements (Under IFRS)

• Reading financial statements as a story, not numbers
• Key performance indicators relevant to marketing
• Understanding trade‑offs: growth, margin, cash
• Asking the “right questions” of finance

Budgeting, Forecasting and Decision Making

• Sales forecasting from a finance perspective
• Budgeting marketing spend with commercial logic
• Scenario thinking: price, volume and cost sensitivities
• Avoiding mechanically “accurate” but economically wrong budgets

Variance Analysis: Explaining Budget vs Actual Performance

• Understanding why results differ from plan
• Price, volume and mix variances in a marketing context
• Analysing variances driven by marketing decisions vs external factors
• Using variance analysis to explain results credibly to finance and management