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Business & finance courses
Intermediate levelThis budgeting and forecasting course has you run a full planning year for an outdoor clothing brand that sells online, wholesale and through its own shops. You'll turn raw ledger exports into actuals that refresh in one click, explain the variances that matter, forecast where the year will land, then build next year's budget from its real drivers and take it to board sign-off with a cash plan that ties.
Course overview
This course follows the finance calendar. You start with month-end: getting actuals ready with Power Query, explaining variances and forecasting the outturn. Then comes the budget round: revenue drivers, people costs role by role, operating costs and capital spend, consolidation and board sign-off. Finally you keep the plan alive with a weekly cash forecast, rolling forecasts, scenarios and a board pack directors can act on.
By the end you can explain why the numbers moved, build a driver-based budget people believe in, see a cash squeeze weeks before it lands and put it all on one page. It suits finance staff, analysts and budget holders ready to plan the numbers rather than only report them. If you can read a P&L and use SUMIFS and XLOOKUP, you're ready.
Free course guide
Every module and what it covers, the price, how you're assessed and where the course can take you.
10-page PDF, free
Curriculum
An indicative outline of the modules and what each covers. Work through them in order, at your own pace.
Key benefits
Everything you need to learn the skill, prove it and put it to work.
All 3 for £189 instead of £297
Getting started
There is no application, no waiting for a start date and no sales call in the way.
Pay once. Instant access, yours for life.
Career outcomes
FP&A is where finance moves from recording the past to shaping what happens next. You'll have a signed-off budget, a cash forecast and a board pack ready to open when an interviewer asks how you'd build one.
Source: National Careers Service (gov.uk), September 2026.
An example of the certificate for the Certificate in Budgeting & Forecasting (FP&A).
If you're still finding your feet with the three financial statements, start with Finance Fundamentals. If SUMIFS and XLOOKUP are new to you, take Microsoft Excel first. And if you want to build a three-statement model rather than a budget, that's Financial Modelling in Excel.
A course advisor will talk it through with you free, and will say so if a different course fits your goal better.
Good to know
A full planning year, done for real. You set up month-end actuals with Power Query, explain variances by price, volume, mix and currency and forecast where the year will land. Then you run a budget round: revenue drivers, people costs role by role, operating costs and capital spend, consolidation and board sign-off with a cash budget and balance sheet that tie. After that come a weekly cash forecast, rolling forecasts and scenarios, and a board pack, and the capstone has you plan a business of your choice from ledger to board pack.
It's a good first FP&A course, as long as the basics are in place. You should be comfortable reading a profit and loss account and a balance sheet and using everyday Excel formulas. If not, Finance Fundamentals and Microsoft Excel will get you there first.
Financial planning and analysis. It's the part of a finance team that looks forward: budgets, forecasts, cash planning and the analysis that explains performance.
You should be comfortable with everyday formulas, including SUMIFS and XLOOKUP. Power Query, PivotTables, FORECAST.ETS and waterfall charts are all taught from scratch. You'll need the desktop app: Microsoft 365 on Windows or Mac, or Excel 2024 on Windows.
Budgeting & Forecasting if your job is the annual budget, the monthly variances and the cash forecast. Financial Modelling in Excel if you need to build a linked three-statement model for funding or a big decision. They sit side by side on the financial analyst path, you can take them in either order, and the Financial Analyst Bundle includes both.
No. You plan for a fictional outdoor clothing brand all course, and for the capstone you choose a subscription software company, a restaurant group or a group of children's nurseries. If you use Xero, Sage or QuickBooks at work, the course shows you where their exports live.
Yes. Pass the final assessment and you get an OBA certificate of completion that an employer can verify online. It isn't an accountancy qualification such as CIMA or ACCA, so if you're aiming at management accountant roles, check whether they ask for one as well. The budget, cash plan and board pack you build are the working proof behind it.
Download the free info pack first. It walks you through every module, what you'll build and what you need before you start, so you can enrol knowing exactly what you're getting. If you'd like to talk it through, get in touch and we'll help you choose.
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