This course is instrumental in bringing finance and accounting managers to a higher level of strategic understanding of the business, as well as getting board members to more successfully interact with their peers (most notably the CFO!).

If you are in finance and accounting…. Would you like to become a finance business partner that brings value to the company? Someone that the executives of the company invite into strategic initiatives to support as well as challenge the business. Someone that sees the bigger picture. Someone that the CFO trusts to take care of things. The Finance Business Partner is expected to act as a co-pilot of the business; sitting beside them and pointing out opportunities, dangers or possible shortcuts. Providing valuable information at the right time, enabling the business to make the right decisions.

If you are a board member…. Would you like to maximize your impact in driving change in the organization? Someone that gets the deals approved that they bring to the executive table. Someone that receives the budget that is needed to pursue opportunities. Speaking the language of the CFO is crucial in order to get the buy-in for your vision! Translating strategic plans into actions that move the needle on the key financial metrics.

This course connects business strategy and financial performance. It provides tools for finance and accounting professionals, as well as board members, to branch out into adjacent fields, leverage their financial and business acumen to achieve business impact, while at the same time acting as the voice of reason and objectivity in strategic discussions.

“What the CFO wants you to know” is built around four key segments:

  • Value creation
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • International business
  • Bringing financial rigor to strategy

Each segment covers a wide variety of topics, to ensure that you see all the pieces of the puzzle, and learn how to put it together. For example, in the mergers and acquisitions segment, we cover:

  • The reasons for doing a deal
  • The difference between a sale of assets versus a sale of equity
  • How to account for business combinations
  • Consolidated financial statements and non-controlling interest
  • Measuring deal success or failure
  • Goodwill impairment examples
  • Best practices for the due diligence
  • EPS accretion and dilution

The course includes many real life “big name company” examples to make each topic interesting and understandable, and ensure that during your next strategy meeting you can relate these concepts to what actually goes on right now in the outside business world.

Course Key Concept: Bench marking, Business partnering, Consolidation, Due diligence, Economic value added, EVA, IFRS, IPO, Initial Public Offering, Key performance indicators, Liquidity, Market capitalization, Mergers and acquisitions, ROIC, Solvency, Strategic thinking, Strategy, SWOT.

Learning Objectives
  • Explore key financial metrics that measure value creation.
  • Identify accounting, financial, and strategic variables in mergers and acquisitions.
  • Discover the similarities and differences between the US GAAP and IFRS accounting standards.
  • Recognize the main contributions finance can make in bringing rigor to the strategy process.
Last updated/reviewed: August 18, 2023
Course Search
159 Reviews (720 ratings)

Reviews

5
Anonymous Author
very insightful course that goes over key metrics in analyzing a business. the real world examples are very helpful in painting a picture to understand the importance of these formulas/metrics.

5
Anonymous Author
This was a very good refresher on important concepts to remember as a Finance employee in a corporation. I especially appreciated the application to various real-life companies with screenshots from their Financial Statements. More than other courses, it just seemed like the application to the real world was very well done in this course.

5
Anonymous Author
This was an excellent course and highly recommend it for both financial and non-financial professionals. It was organized in a logical manner and the instructor's presentation pace was brisk and focused. As a financial professional, it was an opportunity to review how key financial concepts and tools tie into running a business.

5
Anonymous Author
The instructor was great - very engaging

5
Member's Profile
A stellar presentation. Phillip de Vroe delivers an entertaining, clear and simplistic approach to make financial concepts very informative. His discussion on "what is an IPO" is second to none and rather humorous. A great refresher course or perfect for someone new to the concepts - just a well done course.

5
Member's Profile
This course provides a strong overview of key financial management concepts going beyond traditional accounting topics covered in CPE courses, which I found particularly useful as a financial analyst for a public company. Nice to have technical info from something unrelated to audit for once!

5
Member's Profile
I love how this instructor presents material! I find his courses entertaining and easy to pay attention to. They're straightforward with effective graphics. He varies his tone enough to keep your attention, and even throws in some little jokes to bring a chuckle every now and then.

5
Anonymous Author
The lecture illustrates the concepts by using a lot of real life examples to provide a deeper insight that helps understand those concepts in a broader perspective. In addition, the lecture is very organized and easy to follow. Thank you so much for offering such a wonderful lecture!

5
Member's Profile
Great primer on what the CFO is focused on and helps accountants focus on metrics and other items (ratios, KPIs, measures) that they may not normally focus on. This helps the accountant take the numbers being calculated and use those to better understand the health of a company.

3
Anonymous Author
This course was broad in scope, with very little connection from one topic to the next. In addition, while the instructor was knowledgeable, he didn't attempt to make much connection between the course and the topics usefulness to his intended audience.

5
Anonymous Author
This course provided details behind common finance terms and situations. It was helpful to get a broad overview as well as real-life examples. Even if you don't personally calculate these metrics, it helps to have a general understanding of the concepts.

5
Anonymous Author
I enjoyed the IPO section, in particular the slide "The long road to the IPO", which gave a difinition for all the rounds, from initial friends and family round to subsequent rounds. The 10 valuable due diligence tips were also helpful.

5
Member's Profile
Honestly this was a great course. I am currently taking the CFA exam, and this material was highly relevant and informative. Would highly recommend this course as an introductory course for those interested in becoming a CFO one day.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course for understanding how to read a balance sheet from a finance perspective. It teaches the importance of metrics (ROA, ROE, etc.). It was also great for teaching other important analyses such as SWOT, benchmarking, etc.

5
Anonymous Author
very good course and well presented in an interesting way. some good real world examples of the various topics are covered and discussed to show briefly that the concepts are important for investors and company management

4
Member's Profile
As a CFO, this course helped me focus on some valuable tools like SWOT analysis and key performance indicators. It was a good review. I also enjoyed the refresher course on IPO's and other methods for raising capital

5
Anonymous Author
A lot of content in this course. Some was not applicable in my current role, but still helpful for broad knowledge. I really enjoyed the case studies and real world examples used to explain the different concepts.

5
Member's Profile
Terrific course, packed with an array of well-presented and clearly explained finance, accounting and strategy concepts. One of the best courses I have taken on Illumeo. Will be taking others from this instructor!

5
Anonymous Author
This course was very thorough and hit all the most important concepts needed to evaluate the health of a business and transactions that a business may want to undertake to improve its prospects. Great presentation!

5
Member's Profile
Excellent class covering whats really important financially to a company's basic financial health. It explains the relationships of the various ratios and what and how these are determined and how to improve them.

5
Member's Profile
Wow, lots of info covered in just 3 hours. Thank goodness the presenter is clear and concise. If anything, I wish the slides contained more the voice over content. They aren't very useful without the context.

5
Member's Profile
I liked the short clip videos and having the slides to follow along. The review quiz was helpful. The exam was thoughtful and not just read and rote, I had to incorporate the material and analyze the outcome.

5
Anonymous Author
The course is very informative and delivered at at good pace. The Instructor explained finance concepts using effective analogies and real world examples, which kept me interested throughout the course.

3
Member's Profile
This course was very difficult and the questions were confusing. I have never had to take a CPE credit exam so many times. Overall good information, but not in a format I could easily understand.

5
Anonymous Author
There is a lot of information in this course! As a CFO of a non-profit, there are a lot of measures here that I don't use, but I can see the value for a for-profit CFO (or aspiring for-profit CFO).

5
Anonymous Author
This was a great course on what types of metrics that CFO's look at when evaluating a company. It spoke to the path to an IPO and various topics related to financial ratios which was interesting.

5
Member's Profile
Yahoo info on sale date was off. I worked there and was involved. VZ announced in July 2016 of intent to purchase Yahoo and we were sold to VZ in June of 2017. Should update the slide and course.

4
Anonymous Author
Interesting course but a little confusing. As a Controller who has worked directly for multple CFOs, while some of this seemed correct and applicable, other aspects didn't seem that important.

5
Member's Profile
Very engaging course - a great exercise to brush up on everything an accountant would need to be proficient at to get a big picture finance perspective on strategy and operations of a firm.

4
Anonymous Author
The instructor was a great presenter and did a great job of making it all interesting. There's a lot of information and the main topics are a bit disjointed but pretty moot at end of day.

5
Member's Profile
This instructor was superb. Not only did he select some important concepts to discuss, but he incorporated real-world examples to help reinforce the material. Highly recommend this course.

4
Member's Profile
It is an excellent course that covered many useful financial tools like ROC, ROIC, ROA, Initial Public offering, SWOT Analysis, significant differences between the US GAAP and IFRS, etc.

5
Member's Profile
Often the CFO is focused on economic factors vs bookkeeping/accounting issues and these are good reminders of key terms and concepts that he/she may be focused on. Great content!

5
Anonymous Author
The speaker provided clear examples and calculations to help illuminate the concepts. The subjects discussed covered some important areas for the CFO to know and communicate.

5
Member's Profile
Course was very informative. A little tougher than most the courses that I have done on here but the information is very useful for those who work on larger clients or IPOs.

4
Anonymous Author
A lot of this is review and looking at these issues from a high level. It was interesting and a good refresher, but not a lot new from business courses I have taken before.

5
Anonymous Author
The presentation was very well put together with good examples. It had both real life examples and entertaining fictional expamples that helped explain the concepts well.

5
Member's Profile
Ire ally enjoyed learning abut Key Performanace Indicators and Financial Statement ratios and indicators of success. These things are foreign to me in my accounting job.

5
Anonymous Author
Great high level overview of CFO's needs and wants. Some of the terminology may have been incorrect (i.e. Presenting Consolidated statements as a single entity).

4
Anonymous Author
This course was a great foundation in some basic areas and provided very interesting depth on SWOT and IPO dynamics. I found the course informative and helpful.

3
Member's Profile
The title is misleading, I thought the instructor was going to talk more about the concern of the CFO in running the organization, new technology adoption etc.

4
Anonymous Author
The course was very good. The speaker was very good. He provided a lot of inputs and valuable insights. The material was well organized and well structured.

3
Member's Profile
I felt this was a tough course, fairly technical but some good insights. Very important to pay close attention to the lecture to get all points to pass exam

5
Anonymous Author
Really solid overview of what a CFO should be focused on and thinking about as they work on the strategy to help drive and create value for the business.

3
Anonymous Author
There was a lot of content in this course which made it a bit overwhelming to view all at once. Would be helpful to have a deeper dive on select areas.

5
Anonymous Author
This is an excellent course! The instructor has done a very good job on SWOT analysis and explaining the difference between solvency and liquidity.

5
Anonymous Author
I liked this course, although less relevant to someone working for a non-public company. Even still, these are highly important concepts to a CPA

5
Member's Profile
Great course that really helps you understand the ins and outs of a business from different party's perspectives. I enjoyed it and learned a ton.

4
Anonymous Author
This course was a helpful overview of the basic financial concepts that one will encounter when working as a finance professional or executive.

5
Member's Profile
I really enjoyed this course. The graphics were fun, the information useful and the instructors knowledge and interest in the teaching clear.

5
Member's Profile
I really enjoyed this course, especially the section on the differences between US GAAP and IFRS; that was a very helpful high-level overview!

3
Member's Profile
The course seemed more like a combination of topics from other courses than a cohesive training. Also, I was expecting more examples/stories.

5
Anonymous Author
As always, the financial storyteller makes these topics interesting and has a great approach to making these on demand classes entertaining.

5
Anonymous Author
There is a lot of good information in this presentation. We just went through a merger and I really liked the section on due diligence.

4
Anonymous Author
This was like a 3-hr cliff notes course for a Finance MBA. It touched on a lot of topics and serves as a good review for a CPE session.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was challenging in all the right ways to drive growth on key financial metrics. I will watch a second time when time allows.

5
Anonymous Author
The Course was very engaging and provided great examples of real life. The instructor is very enthusiastic and content is to the point.

5
Anonymous Author
Very challenging course and a great tool to expand the knowledge of what it means and what you need to know in a leadership position.

5
Member's Profile
There should be a handout which can be referred to with more information that assists with the exam. This took longer than 3 hours.

5
Anonymous Author
I like how the "Storyteller" presents subjects. He makes them very easy to understand with examples/walk throughs of the concepts.

3
Anonymous Author
Great course study in terms of 'need to know' financial concepts. Presentation a bit too lengthy but still effective and useful

5
Anonymous Author
This course was really insightful and included many of the topics that are key to excelling in a Finance org. Great course!

5
Member's Profile
Good summary of how to analyze a company and all of the things a CFO has to deal with besides the basic accounting rule.

5
Anonymous Author
What I like the most, the course provide a nice overview of each topic and provide a general understanding of the topic.

5
Member's Profile
MBA level course that teaches students how to think like a CFO and understand the broader picture of financial reporting.

5
Member's Profile
On the test I had to suffer a little, but in general everything is ok. Intersting material. In general, you need to think

5
Member's Profile
This course covers a lot of important topics regarding high level financial analysis, presented in an engaging manner.

5
Member's Profile
"CPE course 'What the CFO Wants You to Know' is informative and practical for finance professionals. Highly recommend!"

5
Anonymous Author
This was a great overview of the role of the CFO and what your CFO should be teaching. I really enjoyed this class.

5
Anonymous Author
Practical overview of basic, yet high-level finance and accounting concepts. Presented in a well organized fashion.

4
Anonymous Author
There was a lot going on in the slides and semi hard to follow. However, it did cover quite a bit of good material.

5
Member's Profile
a Broad mix of topics - found the items related to external businesses more interesting than the accounting topics

4
Anonymous Author
Pretty good range of topics discussed and easy to follow explanations. Style of the slides may be a little dated.

4
Anonymous Author
Good high level review of M&A, SWOT and solvency. Not too detailed but gives some good examples in the M&A area.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was very good but also very long. Overall content was good and leader was interesting and insightful.

4
Anonymous Author
This covers alot of topics. It's very high level but generally a good brush up. I think it could dive deeper.

5
Member's Profile
This was a great course. There was definitely a lot of information I will take and use in my day to day work.

5
Anonymous Author
Liked the broad scope of this session, I will suggest it to my entrepreneurial clients that need this intel

5
Anonymous Author
Great breakdown of analyses used in actually running a business. Good information for an external auditor.

4
Member's Profile
The instructor makes the presentation more fun with his pictures and using metaphors to explain a concept

5
Member's Profile
Clear, well paced and enjoyable. It was a good review of key financial concepts with great story telling.

5
Anonymous Author
This course provide very good insight about basic concepts about Market capitalization and SWOT analysis.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course! Heavy on the finance and analysis piece of things which accountants often don't get to see.

5
Member's Profile
Long course, but lots of valuable information. Complex concepts are very well explained and illustrated.

5
Anonymous Author
I think this was a very insightful course showcasing important qualities and aspects to learn for a CFO.

5
Member's Profile
Really enjoyed the presentation and the way the concepts were explained. I found it very easy to follow.

5
Anonymous Author
Liked clarity of information and the material were good for reference and day to day use in some areas.

5
Member's Profile
dQEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEQ

4
Anonymous Author
I liked this course. It covered a wide variety of topics that I will think will be easy to remember.

3
Member's Profile
I like to read the slides and study at my own pace. Tough to do with this deck. material is good.

5
Member's Profile
Liked the flow of the information. Explanations were understable and the examples were helpful.

4
Anonymous Author
the author kept this interesting and relevant while still covering a lot of different material.

5
Anonymous Author
Good course, learned a lot. Informative and good explanations were provided for the material.

5
Anonymous Author
The course was easy to follow. It covered a great deal of material, but summarized it well.

5
Anonymous Author
Very difficult course with lots of detailed information, though overall presented very well.

5
Member's Profile
Great refresher and will plan to take again. Learning plan was well developed and helpful.

4
Member's Profile
Interesting course, well designed. It was a good review of some basic accounting topics.

4
Anonymous Author
While I found much of the material useful, it seemed to be an odd assortment of topics.

5
Member's Profile
very short and to the point yet impactful. I definitely learned and enjoyed this course.

5
Anonymous Author
I like the overarching subject matter of the course and especially the sections on SWOT

5
Anonymous Author
A lot of stuff to learn. i find swot analysis to be little challenging to understand.

4
Anonymous Author
Terrific course that provides a good overview as to what the CFO wants you to know.

5
Anonymous Author
thank you. the couse is very informative and easy to digest, learned a lot from it.

5
Member's Profile
Course included a ton of useful information for beginners and intermediate learners.

4
Anonymous Author
This was a great overview of key financials concepts. Thanks for a great course.

5
Anonymous Author
Great overview of a more inside look at KPI's and other business decision drivers.

4
Anonymous Author
This was a little rough - the questions were not easily understandable on the exam

5
Member's Profile
I really enjoyed learning about what CFO's look for and want us to know the most.

4
Anonymous Author
instructor did a good job of covering these topics and providing relevant examples

4
Member's Profile
Difficult subject needs more explanation and examples for students to understand.

5
Member's Profile
Great examples to help you understand and great to listen too; kept me interested

4
Anonymous Author
lots of info an examples. final quiz was hard and would like to review answers.

4
Anonymous Author
The presenter is engaging. There is a lot of information in this presentation.

4
Anonymous Author
interesting class, the material are diverse and covers a wide range of finance.

5
Anonymous Author
Comprehensive review of MBA / Acct topics relevant. Q&A after was simplistic.

4
Member's Profile
Audio quality varies throughout the program. Otherwise, decent presentation.

4
Anonymous Author
This was a helpful course. Thank you for providing the slides as a resource.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course. A lot covered but good overview of a lot of subjects. Thanks

5
Anonymous Author
Great course, clear and concise, would recommend others to take this course

5
Anonymous Author
great course i really thought it was helpful to see the different metrics

5
Member's Profile
Very good course and instruction. Easy to follow and digest key takeaways.

4
Member's Profile
a LOT OF INFORMATION IN A THREE HOUR COURSE, BUT GOOD OVERVIEW OF TOPICS.

5
Anonymous Author
informative but fast,..... . ......stop making me fill this box out

5
Member's Profile
Great use of examples and great learning! Both pragmatic and insightful.

5
Anonymous Author
Very easy to understand. Excellent information. Thank you so much Philip

5
Anonymous Author
Great variety of content. Enjoyed all of the deep dives into the topics.

5
Anonymous Author
Very nice way of understanding financial metrics at a very high level

4
Anonymous Author
Great course, but slides could use some cleaning up some are not clear.

5
Anonymous Author
I would recommend this course to any CPA working on their CPE credits.

4
Member's Profile
Course offered a good primer on analysis for merger and acquisitions.

5
Anonymous Author
This is awesome. I will definetelly be taking more course from Philip

5
Member's Profile
Great storyteller and an in depth refresher for me as a seasoned CFO

3
Anonymous Author
to long, could be more sintetic; it seems to be boring at some time.

5
Anonymous Author
Very detailed review on many topics - good presentation, very long.

3
Member's Profile
Well presented, easy to follow, not dull. Informative and relevant.

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent course, explained complex topics in introductory fashion.

5
Anonymous Author
This course is a good summary of What the CFO wants you know about.

4
Anonymous Author
I found the content of this course to be relevant and informative.

5
Anonymous Author
Great presentation with consice information effectively presented.

5
Member's Profile
I liked the content of this course. Found it relevant and useful.

5
Member's Profile
What The CFO Wants You To Know!- None to mention. Great course.

5
Anonymous Author
Good course with helpful examples and a challenging final exam.

5
Anonymous Author
Very in depth education about financials as well as strategy!

5
Anonymous Author
Great course! Very helpful for learning the insights of a CFO

5
Anonymous Author
This one is tough and complex, but worth it. pay attention,

4
Anonymous Author
Thank you! There is a lot of info but it is well organized.

5
Anonymous Author
Class was informative, powerpoint was helpful for reference.

5
Anonymous Author
nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope

4
Member's Profile
Thanks for the Clever and engaging audio/video presentation.

4
Anonymous Author
This course is very useful to get basic knowledge as a CFO.

4
Member's Profile
A lot of content packed in. very useful in the workplace.

4
Anonymous Author
Some tough material that I haven’t reviewed in a while.

5
Member's Profile
that was hard but good, informative, helpful, insightful

5
Member's Profile
Good. This should be a course that we all have to take.

5
Member's Profile
Great course. I really like the real world examples.

5
Anonymous Author
Challenging course but worth it! As I learned a lot!

4
Member's Profile
good instructor clear guidance wish this was meatier

5
Anonymous Author
Good course that covers quite a few useful topics.

5
Anonymous Author
A lot of great information in this course. Thanks!

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Intermediate

No advance preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
  Introduction to What The CFO Wants You To Know!1:26
Value Creation
  Market Capitalization8:14
  ROIC vs ROE vs ROA vs ROI4:52
  Return on Invested Capital ROIC8:46
  Economic Value Added5:45
  What is an IPO?16:03
Mergers and Acquisitions
  Merger and Acquisitions14:18
  Accretion-Dilution5:40
  Due Diligence6:34
  Consolidated Financial Statements10:15
  Non Controlling Interest 5:27
International Business
  US GAAP Vs IFRS16:21
Bringing Financial Rigor to Strategy
  SWOT Analysis Explained9:19
  Aligning Key Performance Indicators4:28
  Benchmarking4:29
  Research and Development expense benchmarking4:46
  Solvency and Liquidity14:16
Conclusion
  Conclusion1:44
CONTINUOUS PLAY
  What The CFO Wants You To Know!2:22:43
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
  Slides: What The CFO Wants You To Know!PDF
  What The CFO Wants You To Know! Glossary/ IndexPDF
REVIEW AND TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam