← Erudite Africa Center of ExcellenceFinancial ManagementSME Financial Management ProgramIntermediate · Professional Certificate
Financial Management for SMEs: Financial Control and Decision Making
Cash flow, IFRS for SMEs statements, Excel reporting, budgets, stock and assets, and the ratios that drive decisions in a growing Ethiopian business
Take control of a growing business's money: forecast cash 13 weeks ahead, prepare IFRS for SMEs statements, automate reports and dashboards in Excel, run budgets and variance analysis, control stock and assets, and read the ratios a bank will read. You follow one Kombolcha flour and pasta maker through a tight quarter and finish with your own monthly management dashboard.
0 of 6 modules completed
What you will be able to do
- Explain why profit and cash differ, build a 13-week cash forecast and manage working capital through receivables, stock and payables
- Prepare and read an income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows in the IFRS for SMEs format required by the Financial Reporting Proclamation No. 847/2014
- Automate monthly reports in Excel with a clean data table, SUMIFS, XLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH, pivot tables, conditional formatting and a one-page dashboard
- Build an operational budget, classify costs, calculate break-even and explain budget variances by price and volume
- Keep stock records and an asset register, value stock, run a stock count and apply tax depreciation rules
- Calculate and interpret liquidity, profitability and efficiency ratios from one set of statements and turn them into decisions
- For
- Owners and managers of Ethiopian small and medium enterprises, and accountants, finance officers and admin staff of growing businesses, NGOs and cooperatives who already keep books and now need to control cash, report monthly and support decisions. Level 1 (Financial Literacy for SMEs) or basic bookkeeping and Excel experience is recommended.
- Study time
- About 6 hours online, in 6 modules (4 days in the classroom version)
- Each module
- Short lessons, animated visuals, Ethiopian examples, decisions to make, the laws and directives that apply and worked calculations, then a quiz
- Assessment
- A 20-question final exam; pass mark 70%
- Certificate
- Erudite Africa Center of Excellence Professional Certificate
- Access
- Module 1 free for registered users; the full course, exam and certificate for subscribers
The 6 modules
- Module 01Free previewCash Flow ManagementSee why a profitable business can run out of cash, forecast cash week by week for 13 weeks, and free cash from receivables, stock and payables.6 lessons · 65 min · quiz
- Module 02Financial Statements for SMEsPrepare and read the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows under IFRS for SMEs, with the accruals, filing and audit duties of an Ethiopian company.6 lessons · 65 min · quiz
- Module 03Excel-Based Financial ReportingTurn one clean transactions table into an automated income statement, pivot table analysis and a one-page management dashboard that refreshes every month.6 lessons · 70 min · quiz
- Module 04Budgeting and Cost ControlBuild an operational budget from volumes and prices, classify costs, find break-even, explain variances by price and volume, and control costs without hurting the business.6 lessons · 65 min · quiz
- Module 05Inventory and Asset ManagementKeep stock records that match the store, value stock correctly, run and investigate stock counts, set reorder levels, and keep a fixed asset register that supports depreciation, insurance and tax.6 lessons · 60 min · quiz
- Module 06SME Financial RatiosCalculate and interpret liquidity, profitability, efficiency and leverage ratios from one set of statements, and turn them into decisions and a story a bank will trust.6 lessons · 60 min · quiz
- Workplace simulationA quarter as finance officer at Kombolcha Flour and Pasta PLCWork as finance officer: 11 real-life items, decisions with consequences and a hand-over note. Pass with 70% to qualify for the certificate.
- Final examFinal exam and certificate20 applied questions across all 6 modules. Pass with 70% to download your certificate.
Practical exercise
Create a monthly SME management dashboard
Build a one-page monthly management dashboard for your own business, employer, NGO or cooperative (or for Kombolcha Flour and Pasta PLC if you have no data you may use), using the course workbook. The dashboard must be driven by formulas from one transactions table, so that next month you only add data and refresh. Present it to the owner or manager as you would at a monthly review.
- 1Set up the Settings sheet (company name, current period, targets) and map your chart of accounts to statement lines in the Lists sheet, then load one month of transactions into the Transactions table
- 2Check that the SUMIFS income statement equals your pivot table total by line, and complete the balance sheet from your trial balance until the balance check shows zero
- 3Let the cash flow sheet calculate the month's cash movement from the two balance sheets and check it against the actual change in cash and bank
- 4Enter the month's budget, review the variance sheet and write a one-line explanation, owner and action for every variance flagged red (adverse by Birr 50,000 or more, or by 10% or more of budget)
- 5Update the receivables aging, the stock count and the asset register, and post any count adjustment and depreciation through the Transactions table
- 6Build the 13-week cash forecast from your opening balance, known payments and expected collections, and mark the lowest week
- 7Review the ratios and the one-page dashboard, then write three actions for next month with an owner and a date for each
What you hand in
- The completed workbook with formulas intact and all check cells at zero
- A one-page dashboard printout or PDF for the month, with the KPI tiles, charts and exceptions table
- A short management note (one page) explaining the main variances, the 13-week cash outlook and the three actions
Templates and tools
- SME monthly management dashboard workbook
Excel workbook with a transactions data table, a SUMIFS-driven monthly income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows, 13-week cash forecast, budget vs actual with variances, receivables aging, stock and fixed asset registers, ratios and a one-page dashboard, filled with the Kombolcha Flour and Pasta PLC sample month for you to overwrite.
How to earn the Professional Certificate
- Complete all six modules and their quizzes
- Pass the workplace simulation with 70% or more
- Pass the 20-question final exam with 70% or more
- Blended and classroom cohorts: submit the practical exercise, assessed by an Erudite facilitator against the deliverables above
- Classroom delivery: attend all four training days in full
Built on
- Erudite Africa training curriculum: Financial Management for SMEs, Level 2 Intermediate, Financial Control and Decision Making (October 2026)
- Financial Reporting Proclamation No. 847/2014 and the Accounting and Auditing Board of Ethiopia (AABE) adoption of IFRS for SMEs; Commercial Code Proclamation No. 1243/2021
- Federal Income Tax Proclamation No. 979/2016 as amended by Proclamation No. 1395/2025, and Council of Ministers Income Tax Regulation No. 410/2017 (depreciation rates)
- VAT Proclamation No. 1341/2024, VAT Registration Directive No. 1104/2025 and Electronic Invoicing System Administration Directive No. 1142/2026
- Federal Tax Administration Proclamation No. 983/2016 as amended by No. 1434/2026; Private Organization Employees' Pension Proclamation No. 1268/2022; Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019
- Published good practice on 13-week cash forecasting, working capital management, management accounts and spreadsheet controls
Examples and companies are fictional. Tax rates and rules are shown as they stood when the course was written; always check the current proclamations, directives and guidance from the Ministry of Revenues before filing, and take professional advice for your own case.