In Brief
Programme Date:
Duration: 
Facilitated Workshops: 
Seniority: 
Non-member fee: Member fee: SME fee: This Spring, all of our Professional Diplomas will be delivered in-person at the IMI Campus to facilitate the best learning experience for participants. We will facilitate a hybrid delivery option should you require it.
Dates are as follows:
12, 13 & 14 April 2023
24, 25 & 26 May 2023
05, 06 & 07 July 2023
27, 28 & 29 September 2023
25, 26 & 27 October 2023
06, 07, 08 December 2023
18, 19 January
A candidate’s eligibility for each Professional Diploma or the Professional Master of Business Studies will be determined by a combination of their academic qualifications and/or relevant professional experience.
A primary degree from a recognised third-level institution (NFQ level 8), with a minimum classification of Second Class Honours, will typically be required with five years relevant work experience, at least 3 of which must be at managerial level, however, prior workplace learning will be recognised where applicants do not meet the academic requirement.
This experience may come from a general business or organisational background, or experience working at a management level or in the area specifically related to the Diploma.
Each candidate will meet with the Programme Directors, who will interview applicants in person virtually or physically.
The IMI Office of the Registrar will oversee all applications, and the final decision on any application shall remain with the Registrar. All applicants whose first language is not English will be required to show evidence of the successful completion of an IELTS or TOEFL test or equivalent as specified here. The English language requirement when using IELTS is a score of 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in each individual section or equivalent.
Why choose this programme?
Do you want to find the facts behind the figures?
IMI’s Professional Diploma in Business Finance will allow you to understand, interpret and contribute to your organisation’s financial planning and strategy.
You will work with experienced finance specialists and business practitioners to develop knowledge and competence in key areas of finance.
Analyse
Discover tools to analyse and understand financial accounts.
Understand
Develop a new financial vocabulary to contribute more towards practical day-to-day activity of your business.
Apply
Complete a company project that will comprehensively analyse a financial issue.
Programme Director
Cormac LuceyCormac is a chartered accountant with experience in industry, banking and corporate finance in both Ireland and continental Europe who has previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Rabobank Frankfurt and the Department of Justice. He is the author of Plan B - How Leaving the Euro Can Save Ireland and a co-author of The Business Compass - Perspectives on Business Ethics, and writes weekly columns on economics in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times. Cormac has also worked in Irish government as special advisor to the deputy prime minister (Tánaiste).
You can look forward to:
Case study analysis
You will discuss real-life case studies relating to business finance.
Input from specialist practitioners
You can expect expert input from practitioners in areas like venture capital, acquisition strategy, cash management and treasury.
Networking with a diverse class group
You will work closely with your class colleagues in team activities and organised study groups and will leave the programme with a valuable network of business contacts.
Extra tutorials and personal feedback
This is to ensure that any difficulties you may encounter on the programme are addressed and overcome.
Programmes themes
- Understand your organisation’s key financial statements: income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
- Critically examine financial statements and learn how to assess company performance analysis.
- Learn what drives costs and about the different costing systems that are appropriate to organisations of varying operational complexity.
- Enhance your ability to make costing and management decisions, including recommendations for restructuring.
- Use costing to determine whether your organisation should produce a product or service internally, or buy it in from an external source.
- Understand the key strategic and financial elements of a good business plan and deploy them in practice.
- Appreciate the similarities and differences of budgets and business plans.
- Explore how to assess investment proposals.
- Enhance your ability to deliver greater shareholder value and divisional financial performance through investment decisions that boost shareholder value.
- Learn how to optimise the management of working capital.
- Learn how to apply financial practices such as discounted cash flow and the capital asset pricing model to value any company.
- Apply the factors that drive corporate valuation to better boost the value of your own organisation.
- Communicate your financial knowledge and acumen through enhanced report writing and verbal skills.
- Explore research methodologies to best assess financial performance in a variety of contexts.
Key takeaways
Financial Vocabulary
Develop a financial vocabulary and deal comfortably with finance questions as they arise on the job.
Strategic Conversations
Talk at the highest levels. Understand all major financial topics as they relate to the practical day-to-day activity of your business.
Decision Making
Analyse, understand and leverage value out of financial accounts. Project budgets, analyse capital expenditure decisions and critically examine corporate finance transactions.
What our graduates say
The Professional Diploma in Business Finance was extremely comprehensive and has greatly increased my knowledge of finance. I would highly recommend it to any business people from a non-finance background.
Peter LaganDirector, Lagan Investments Ltd
