How To Create The Best Corporate Finance Training Program

A company’s financial management is at the heart of its success. Corporate finance training goes beyond keeping employees up-to-date on developments in the world of finance. Effective corporate finance training keeps the heart of your company healthy, strong, and safe. Here's what it needs to include.

Why is effective corporate finance training so important?

The responsibilities of executives in corporate finance are immense. This division of a company deals with making important investment decisions that impact shareholders. Short- and long-term financial planning actions include making capital investments and maximizing returns for shareholders.

These responsibilities come with substantial risks. These days, the news is filled with reports of cybersecurity breaches and fraud throughout the corporate world. In dealing with the finances of a company, corporate finance training that includes mitigating these risks is crucial.

Where do you start with corporate finance training?

As with all training programs, corporate finance training programs should begin with a training needs analysis. A training needs analysis has four significant goals:

1. Assess what employees already know
2. Target areas to address
3. Prioritize those identified areas
4. Identify the best training methods for the subject matter and the employees

Assess what employees already know

Assessing prior knowledge is the cornerstone of great corporate finance training programs.

Entry-level managers may need more basics than more experienced managers. Understanding who knows what also allows you to tap into employees who can be leaders among their peers.

Target areas to address

Once you assess what employees already know, planning which areas to target is easy.

Why cast a wide net in your finance training courses if you only need to focus on a handful of topics? Already know that certain topics are required by regulations for your industry?

This focus on what employees need to know helps them stay engaged – no more sitting through another training on a topic they already know everything about!

Prioritize those identified areas

Is your company especially at risk for hacking due to its size or global network? Do you have a new crop of eager but inexperienced managers who need the basics in ERP systems? Has it been awhile since you revisited the (seemingly daily) changes in ethics and compliance laws?

You can’t do it all at once. Prioritize your company’s corporate training programs so as to not overwhelm your employees.

Identify the best training methods for the subject matter and the employees

Of all of the very important parts of a training needs analysis, this might be one of the most important. How will you deliver information so that employees learn it best? If you need them, who are the best subject matter experts (SMEs) for your trainings? What resources do you require in terms of time and materials?

Once you identify what resources you already have and what you will need to develop, you then need to identify which training platforms will work best. There are many different types of employee training. Different corporate finance training topics in your company may work better with one type than another.

Which corporate finance training topics should I cover?

It’s a big world out there in corporate finance, with lots of ground to cover. At a minimum, expect to cover these topics at some point in your corporate finance training programs.

Ethics and compliance

Ethics and compliance finance training for employees is more than just telling employees to do the right thing. There are rules, laws, and guidelines for everything from liquidating parts of a company to investing to making decisions about when to sell and to buy on behalf of shareholders. And, these rules seem to change almost daily.

If your employees are well versed in the basics, consider microlearning to deliver push notifications when anything changes.

Cybersecurity

The bar of cybersecurity is constantly being raised. New advances in technology make protecting a company’s financial network ever more challenging. Even the most experienced financial managers need constant education on new viruses or threats from hackers.

Cybersecurity corporate finance training programs should cover the basics and leave plenty of room for any new threats or risks presented by those who would do your business harm. Gamification of possible scenarios might work well here, or you may want problem-solving based asynchronous courses that employees can move through on their own time.

Fraud detection

Think of your corporate finance managers as detectives, seeking out an instance of fraud.

Essentially, fraud detection cracks down on those who would cheat the system for their own gain. This part of corporate finance training may need more intensive training that uses real instances of fraud to help them monitor suspicious patterns or activity.

Software skills

Most corporate finance managers don’t get where they are without a solid understanding of financial management programs. In some cases, though, you should make the effort to teach even the oldest dog some new tricks.

ERP systems help bring operations in accounting, procurement, project management, and manufacturing together in one easy-to-manage place. If your corporate finance manager doesn’t know the magic of ERP, bring it to them. Subject matter experts can offer on-the-job training to get managers into the system right away.

Employee support and mentorship

If your corporate finance managers are inexperienced, or your company is beginning to expand globally, trainings that address career growth and acquisition of skills in a global economy are crucial. You may need to create a separate manager training for those excited newcomers who need not only skills and knowledge but also mentorship and encouragement.

EdgePoint knows what it means to overhaul a corporate finance training. We helped Bank of the West transform 50 out-of-date instructor-led corporate finance training courses into seven highly interactive, exciting, and engaging online courses, with impressive results.

We can help you, too. Whether you need just a little guidance or a full-blown overhaul, we can help you develop your own corporate finance training program. Get in touch today!