01
Meetings full of terms nobody explained
Margin, accrual, working capital and variance come up in every leadership meeting, and it is hard to ask what they mean once the discussion is moving.
Camderson Academy · CA-FA-001
Understand the numbers and talk about money with confidence.
A practical, self-paced course for managers and professionals without finance training. Read the three financial statements, use a handful of key ratios, explain a budget variance, check a business case and ask your finance partners the right questions.
About 5 hours · 18 lessons with video · Beginner · Self-paced · Certificate of completion · 30-day money-back guarantee
Most managers are handed the numbers without being taught how to read them.
02
Sales are up, yet cash is down
A business can grow and show a profit while its cash shrinks. Without the link between the statements, the explanation sounds like guesswork.
03
A budget you own but cannot defend
When actuals miss the plan, you need to explain what drove the gap and what you will do next, in plain language your finance partner trusts.
Learning outcomes
What you will be able to do
Eight practical outcomes, each practiced in an exercise and checked in the final assessment or the capstone.
- Explain why financial literacy matters at work and how accrual accounting, revenue recognition and matching differ from cash-basis records.
- Read an income statement and calculate and interpret gross, operating and net margins.
- Tell capital expenses from operating expenses and explain how each affects the statements and your budget.
- Read a balance sheet and a cash flow statement, and explain how the three statements connect and why profit is not cash.
- Calculate and interpret liquidity, profitability, efficiency and leverage ratios, judge a cash position and use benchmarks with care.
- Explain what budgets and forecasts are for, analyze budget versus actual variances with a flexible budget and work out basic unit economics.
- Use time value of money, payback, ROI and NPV to evaluate a simple business case.
- Discuss numbers confidently with finance partners and assemble a one-page Financial Snapshot with a recommendation.
The Camderson method
Teaching tools for reading the numbers and explaining them
The Three Money Questions
Did we earn money? · What do we own and owe? · Where did the cash go?
Three questions that tell you which statement to open: the income statement, the balance sheet or the cash flow statement.
The Profit-to-Cash Bridge
Net income · Noncash expenses · Working capital · Capital spending · Financing
Five steps you can say out loud to explain why profit and cash differ, from net income to the change in cash.
The Ratio Dashboard
Liquidity · Profitability · Efficiency · Leverage
Thirteen measures in four families, read as trends and compared with care using the Four Comparison Questions, never against an unsourced rule of thumb.
The Variance Explanation and Five Questions
Amount and percent · Driver · Owner · Action
Explain a budget gap by its driver (Volume, Rate, Timing or One-time), then prepare five questions for your finance partner before the conversation.
Read it, explain it, then decide.
Curriculum
Inside the course
Six modules, 18 lessons with worked examples and video
01
Why the Numbers Matter
Why every operating decision shows up in the statements, the Three Money Questions, accrual versus cash, and how revenue is recognized and expenses are matched.
02
The Income Statement
Reading the income statement from revenue to net income, gross, operating and net margins, margin versus markup, and capital versus operating expenses with straight-line depreciation.
03
The Balance Sheet, Cash Flow and How They Connect
The balance sheet and working capital, the three sections of the cash flow statement, and the Profit-to-Cash Bridge that explains why profit is not cash.
04
Ratios That Tell the Story
The Ratio Dashboard: liquidity and cash position, profitability and efficiency, leverage, and the Four Comparison Questions for using benchmarks with care.
05
Budgets, Forecasts and Variances
What budgets and forecasts are for, budget versus actual with a flexible budget, the Variance Explanation, and contribution margin and unit economics.
06
Making the Case and Talking About Money
The time value of money, ROI, payback and NPV in a one-page business case, and Five Questions for your finance partner.
What is included
Everything you need to read the numbers with confidence
- 18 lessons, each with a written lesson, worked examples and diagrams, and a narrated lesson video, at your own pace
- Practice statements for Hollis Creek Furniture Co., a fictional furniture maker, in a spreadsheet with check cells that tell you when you have it right, plus a worked solutions file where every result is a live formula
- A fillable Workbook with Try it and Reflect pages for every lesson
- A Ratio Cheat Sheet with every formula on one page, and a Glossary of the terms used in the course
- Printable Hollis Creek statements, lesson summaries, a figures pack and a sources list
- An optional visual companion PDF with the course diagrams
- Knowledge checks for every module and a 20-question final assessment
- The Financial Snapshot, an applied capstone reviewed by a person, with the Tamarack Outfitters statements and a one-page template
- A Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion when you pass the final assessment and the capstone
- Access to the Camderson Academy community
Is this course right for you?
This course is for you if
- You manage a budget, a team or a project and want to read the financial statements and reports that land on your desk
- You are a new manager, director or specialist who now sits in meetings where margins, cash and variances are discussed
- You want to build a business case and talk about money with your finance partners and leaders with confidence
It is not the right fit if
- You already work in accounting or finance and want advanced analysis (CA-FA-002 Reading Financial Statements goes deeper into warning signs)
- You need bookkeeping, tax preparation or accounting software training (this course does not cover them)
- You are looking for CPA exam preparation or continuing professional education credit (this course earns a Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion only)
Your instructor
Meet your instructor
Ruben Tejada
MA, MS, PHR
Managing Partner · Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness
Ruben Tejada is a strategic advisor and organizational leader whose career spans healthcare, public service, human resources, operations, and learning and development. He has advised executives and leaders on leadership development, talent development, employee experience, culture and succession planning, and has led initiatives to strengthen leadership accountability and build workforce capability. That work gives him a practical view of how leaders use numbers to make decisions and how clear conversations with finance build trust. In this course he helps you read the statements, use a few key measures and talk about money with confidence at work.
About
About Camderson Academy
Camderson Academy is the education division of Camderson Advisory Services. Camderson helps leaders build organizations that work without them in the room. Everything we teach has been used in a real organization first.
Training a team?
We offer group enrollment for leadership teams, new managers and department heads who want everyone to read the numbers and talk about them the same way. Email connect@camderson.com to talk through your team.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an accounting or finance background?
No. Every term is explained the first time it appears, and the course is written for managers and professionals without finance training. If you can add, subtract, multiply and divide, you have the math you need.
Will this help in a services, nonprofit or public sector organization?
Yes. The running case is a fictional furniture maker, and every lesson includes a sentence on how the same idea looks in another kind of organization, such as a professional services firm, a software company, a clinic, a nonprofit or a public agency.
How long do I have access?
Your access does not expire. We review the course regularly, and any updates are added for you at no extra cost.
How long does it take?
About 5 hours in total, including the written lessons and their videos, the exercises in the practice statements, the knowledge checks, the final assessment and the capstone. Everything is self-paced.
Do I need my own company's numbers?
No. Every exercise uses the fictional Hollis Creek practice statements, and the capstone uses the fictional Tamarack Outfitters statements. If you use your own organization's statements instead, get permission first and the course shows you how to leave out confidential details.
Is the certificate accredited, or does it carry CPE credit?
Neither. You receive a Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion after passing the final assessment and the capstone, a Financial Snapshot that a person reviews. It is not an academic credential and does not carry continuing professional education (CPE), continuing education or other professional credit.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes. You are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee. If the course is not right for you, email connect@camderson.com within 30 days of purchase and we will refund you in full. No questions asked. Your course access ends when the refund is issued.
What tools do I need?
A computer with a spreadsheet program that opens .xlsx files and a PDF reader. The practice statements, solutions, workbook, cheat sheet and glossary are included as downloads.
Read the numbers, explain them, then decide.
Self-paced, about 5 hours, with practice statements, worked solutions, a Workbook, a Ratio Cheat Sheet and a Glossary to help you read the three statements, use the key ratios, explain a variance, check a business case and talk about money with confidence.
Backed by our 30-day money-back guarantee.
This course earns a Camderson Academy Certificate of Completion. It is not an academic credential and does not carry continuing professional education (CPE), continuing education or other professional credit. This course is general education about business finance concepts, not accounting, tax, legal or investment advice. Accounting and tax rules change and depend on your situation. For a specific situation, talk with a CPA or another qualified financial professional.