By Eigen Escario
The Executive Education courses at Vanderbilt Business offer intensive programs that equip working professionals with valuable tools that may be outside of their respective roles. Financial Fundamentals for Non-Accountants is a 3-day program on financial literacy and resource management in the workplace. Vanderbilt Business faculty members Berk Sensoy, Hans Stoll Chair, Professor of Finance, and Richard Willis, Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker, Jr., Professor of Accounting, walk through this course and its intended value for participants.
Finance and Accounting: Hand-in-Hand
Berk Sensoy
Financial Fundamentals for Non-Accountants offers participants a unique opportunity to gain both finance and accounting fundamentals that they can apply to their daily work.
“The class structure has 2 different academic disciplines represented–I did my graduate work in Finance while Professor Willis did his in accounting and financial reporting,” Sensoy said. “We’re bringing together the financial reporting perspective with the capital markets view of finance to deliver content around financial acumen for individuals who may not have a strong financially oriented background.”
While the course will go over formal concepts of finance, most of the insights that participants will learn will be applied to situations that they will encounter in the workplace.
“In class, we’ll be looking at financial-based information in the context of making a decision–the cases we’ll do will have a target objective, which we will work to address with the standard financial information we will look at,” Willis said. “With that said, knowledge of journal entries, debits, credits, transactions, journals, general ledgers, and other accounting basics are not on the agenda.”
What is the Return on Investment?
Richard Willis
The Financial Fundamentals for Non-Accountants program will utilize discussions, exercises, and case studies that provide participants with financial frameworks to effectively manage their companies’ financial data and resources.
“We’re hoping that participants will take away a greater sense of facility and confidence around looking at financial information, interpreting financial information, and then also utilizing financial information for decision-making purposes,” Willis said. “By going over the principles that are embedded in accounting and finance in the context of using that knowledge in service to organizations, participants will finish the program with the tools to optimize allocation of division resources and make financially sound decisions on behalf of their companies.”
Since this program is taught at an accelerated pace, the curriculum focuses on knowledge that participants can immediately apply to their roles.
“Having an understanding of the fundamentals and helping students develop a framework to approach financial cases sets up a robust foundation for the participant to apply in their work,” Sensoy said. “Our objective is to bridge financial literacy and basic accounting knowledge in the user role to add value to participants’ jobs from day 1 after the program is done.”
Who should take Financial Fundamentals For Non-Accountants?
While finance and accounting might seem daunting to prospective participants who haven’t been exposed to the basics, Willis assures students that the general frameworks offered by the course will be digestible and not obfuscating.
“There are 2 ways to think about finance–the preparer role and the user role,” Willis said. “The preparer usually knows all the intricacies and rules of developing financial documentation, while the user role simply interprets and acts upon financial information in the context of making decisions for their company. The program focuses on the latter, and we don’t expect depth of technical, financial knowledge from students when they walk in the door.”
Regardless of industry or business specialization, having a strong foundation of financial principles and knowing how to leverage accounting literacy in decision-making will enhance your performance in any role and your understanding of your organization.
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