For Anne Tiong, a sales team lead at BD Biosciences, meetings with her colleagues from the finance department are often challenging encounters. Anne, a scientist by training, was finding it very difficult to grasp financial concepts.
“They end up having to go through the basics with me and what would be a 5-min conversation ends up being 15 minutes,” said Anne. She was determined to close the knowledge gap and wanted to search for a course to upskill.
Encouraged by her positive experience at a digital marketing course organised by NUS Business School’s Executive Education, Anne returned to the School. Here, she found the Accounting & Finance for Non-Financial Managers Programme.
The course was what Anne had been looking for. “I requested my company to send me for training programme to deepen my understanding of finance and accounting principles,” she said.
“Understanding issues in accounting and finance is a critical skill for all levels of management,” said Associate Professor Chng Chee Kiong, Department of Accounting. He is Vice-Dean of the School’s undergraduate programme.
A class photo of the latest Accounting & Finance for Non-Financial Managers Programme in October 2021.
The programme is designed to demystify financial jargon and concepts for non-financial managers, according to Associate Professor Ruth Tan, Deputy Head, Department of Finance.
Both professors are co-programme directors for the course. Chee Kiong teaches the accounting concepts, while Ruth focuses on the finance topics.
The programme aims to help participants understand performance metrics, interpret financial statements, and read and use company reports.
To help ease the participants’ learning journey, Chee Kiong and Ruth provide recent case studies that show the relevance of the topics taught. “We also encourage engagement from the participants, where we get them to share their experiences from their workplace,” Ruth added.
Just right for non-finance managers
Meanwhile, Anne is not alone in her upskilling journey. More workers are signing up and the programme has enjoyed a 14-per cent increase in personal enrolments despite the current pandemic situation.
Anne Tiong from BD Biosciences
Other Executive Education programmes have experienced similar uptakes in individual participants. Subsidies from SkillsFuture Singapore have also made it more attractive for individuals to sign up for courses.
And what does Anne think about the overall experience? “It was a week of intensive, engaging and mind-blowing discoveries about principles of accounting and finance that I never knew about,” said Anne
The programme has also helped smoothen relations between Anne and her finance counterparts. “I have stopped arguing with my finance teams on some of the things that I used to always disagree with them on,” she said.
