DIPLOMA IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOR NGO’S

DIPLOMA IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOR NGOs

Financial management is the lifeblood of an organization. Everyone working to achieve an NGO’s objectives has an important role to play in ensuring the effective and proper use of financial resources. However, basic financial management skills are often lacking and financial management too often gets side-lined during program implementation.

Course Objectives

· Know how to achieve good practice in financial management – key principles and frameworks

· Build and use effective budgets – including project and donor budgets, and cash flow forecasts.

· Know which accounting records you should keep in your NGO – and why?

· Understand budgeting and accounting for central support (‘core’) costs

· Understand the Balance Sheet – how to make sense of annual financial statements

· Monitor and control budgets – preparing and using budget comparison reports

· Prepare to report to donors – how to meet donors’ requirements

· Safeguard our assets – internal control systems and procedures

· Manage the audit process

· Integrate good financial management systems into operations management

· Manage and control financial resources more efficiently and effectively

Who should attend?

This course is primarily aimed at staff in small to medium-sized NGOs who are involved in programme implementation and/or the management and control of financial resources. It is designed specifically for:

§ non-financial officers and managers who want to improve practice in financial planning, control, and reporting;

finance officers interested in developing their financial management skills and knowledge to improve finance systems and support for programme Course Content

Module 1:

Key Principles and Concepts of Financial Management

· What is Financial Management?

· Why is it important for NGOs?

· Structure and governance of NGOs

· Good practice systems: The principles and building blocks of financial management

· Systems design technique

Module 2:

Financial Planning

· The Financial planning process

· Cost structures

· Functions and types of budgets

· Practical approaches to building good budgets

· Cash flow forecasting

· Consolidated budgets and budgeting for core costs

Module 3:

Accounting Records

· Which records should you keep?

· The accounting process: cash or accruals

· Practical accounting: completing the cashbook

· Bank reconciliation

· Procurement – steps, people, and paperwork

Module 4:

Financial Monitoring

· Financial information – who needs what, when, and why?

· Using financial statements

· Using budget monitoring reports

· Overview of donor reporting

· How to minimize theft and fraud

· The role of audit

· Internal control policies and procedures development