'The success of Creative Kitchens took their management team rather by surprise. Since their start-up, four years ago, everyone has been working hard to keep up with the increasing pace of new orders. At today’s management meeting Sharon Bentley, the company’s management accountant, drops a bombshell. The Bank has asked for a thorough review of the company’s trading activities before they can sanction any further increase in the overdraft facility.'

From the opening session, Training for Financial Awareness presents a scenario with which any manager can empathize. The manual provides the trainer with a rigorous, professional and yet fun resource to teach managers the basics of the financial processes. As the story of Creative Kitchens unfolds, so the accompanying exercises enable the participants to discover more of the financial jigsaw.

The eight free-standing sessions, a total of 29 activities, include exercises both on compiling and using financial data. The sessions may be used independently, or built into a complete 'finance for non-financial managers' programme. The authors provide instructions for using the exercises, model questions and answers to help build on the learning. There is also an overview of the key learning points to help the facilitator structure the exercise and ensure everything is covered.

The most effective management training is that which has empathy for the environment and the day-to-day problems faced by the participants. This the authors understand only too well. They approach finance as a management issue (rather than an accounting one) and, consequently, provide materials that will help any financial trainer engage and involve their audience in learning.

Reviews
‘The exercises abound with relevant information, either data or recorded discussions, task sheets, handouts and so on, and a solution to the task. I approached the review of this material with trepidation as I belong to the class of "not really as financially aware as I should be", but I found the material and the guidance so helpful, user-friendly and comprehensive that it made me (well almost) want to dash out and run a workshop using the material.‘ Training Journal

'…I found this pack useful and it contained many ideas that could be used by trainers for financial awareness, whether or not they feel financialy competent.' Training Zone

'The presentation of material is excellent and the approach taken is original and practical. This training package will be a very useful aid for non-finacncial managers requiring an introduction to financial awareness.' Economic Outlook and Business Review

About the Authors
Mike Bolton worked in new product development for a number of years before joining the Business School of Leeds Polytechnic. Since then he has worked on consultancy projects including business planning, marketing and training services and has spent time in China, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. He first met his co-author working as Associate Director of Materials Development for the CESaME project, an EU funded project to develop a European network of business coaches.

Chris Singer spent 16 years in ICL Sales and Marketing, finishing as Vice President of Marketing in the US. Since then he has been a founder of Aregon, originally a State-owned company formed to export British software; Managing Director of Granada Microcomputer Services, which he took from start-up to weekly sales of over £200,000; and has founded Singer Electronics which was first into the market with digital voice recording. Since 1994 Chris has undertaken a number of consultancy assignments in Eastern Europe, principally in Russia, Transcaucasia, Mongolia and the Ukraine.