Intermediate Financial Management
Participants will learn how the three core financial statements—the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement—work together to tell the full story of a business’s financial health.
Over four sessions, participants will build skills in (1) understanding and applying financial statements, (2) financial analysis and interpretation, (3) budgeting and profit planning, and (4) cash flow planning and management.
Through practical examples, case studies, and hands-on exercises, you’ll strengthen your ability to interpret financial results, identify strengths and red flags, and connect day-to-day operations to long-term outcomes.
In this session, you will:
- Interpret the three core financial statements—income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
- Assess a business’s financial position and performance by identifying key indicators related to liquidity, profitability, efficiency, leverage, and growth capacity.
- Analyze financial statements using practical tools, including trend analysis, common-size analysis, benchmarking, and financial ratio analysis, to support informed decision-making.
- Evaluate profitability drivers such as pricing, cost structure, gross margin, operating expenses, and contribution margin—and understand how management choices impact results.
- Develop and use budgets for sales, expenses, profit, and cash flow to support planning, control, and strategic goal-setting.
- Apply profit planning techniques to identify opportunities for improving margins, controlling costs, and strengthening overall financial performance.
- Differentiate between profit and cash flow and explain why profitable businesses can still experience cash shortages.
- Forecast and manage cash flow by analyzing cash inflows and outflows, understanding the cash conversion cycle, and identifying timing-related risks.
- Manage working capital more effectively by evaluating accounts receivable, inventory, payables, and debt levels.
- Use financial information to communicate more effectively with accountants, lenders, investors, and other advisors, and to support financing and growth decisions.
This course does NOT:
Replace the need for professional advisors
Teach bookkeeping, recordkeeping, or accounting software
Provide personalized financial, legal, or investment advice
Discuss tax planning or tax compliance
Focus on advanced accounting theory or CPA-level technical standards
Registration Information
Date: November 3 – December 1, 2026
Schedule: Tuesdays, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm CST
Location: Live Virtual
NOTE: This course is designed for business owners, managers, and key team members who already have some familiarity with financial statements and want to use them more effectively to guide decision-making, planning, and growth. If you are brand new to financial statements, our Introduction to Financial Management course may be a better starting point.
Accounting is the language of business—but financial management is how you use that language to run your business with intention. This intermediate-level course moves beyond basic definitions to focus on understanding, analyzing, and applying financial information to improve performance, manage risk, and plan for the future.
Not sure which financial class is right for you? Check out this page to find out.
Registration Fall 2026
Dates: Tuesdays
- November 3, 2026
- November 10, 2026
- November 17, 2026
- SKIP November 24, 2026 (Thanksgiving week)
- December 1, 2026
Time: 9:00 am – noon CST
Location: Live Virtual
Fee: $359
The cost of this course is being paid by the Main Street Bounceback Program for eligible businesses. Eligible businesses must be in business (not pre-venture), located in the state of Wisconsin, and employing fewer than 500 employees. These businesses may register here:
Nonprofits, pre-venture (not yet started) businesses, and those participants from a company of over 500 employees, register below:
Registration Types & Dates
Early Bird Closes: 10/4/2026
Late Registration Begins: 10/24/2026
Course Registration Closes: 11/2/2026
Registration Fees
Early Registration Fee: $287
Late Registration Fee: $395
Cancellation Policy: Due to program costs and space limitations for these programs, participants are expected to cancel their registration at least 24 hours ahead of the program. Cancellations that occur less than 24 hours prior to the start of the program will be considered no-shows and may be removed from future programming and/or charged a course fee.
Disability Statement: Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact the UW-Madison SBDC office at sbdc@bus.wisc.edu to request accommodations.
Note: Payment will be required at time of registration. You must have either a credit card or valid UW-Madison funding string to be able to register.
Victoria Thayer, CPA
Instructor
Victoria Thayer, CPA, is the President of Novii CPA, a relationship-focused CPA firm located in Madison, WI. With 10 years of experience, she serves small to medium-sized business owners across the United States in the biotechnology, professional services, and manufacturing industries. Victoria’s expertise includes financial statement preparation, budgeting, forecasting, tax planning, and tax preparation. In recognition of her accomplishments and dedication, Victoria was honored with the 2023 WICPA Excellence Award – Young Professional and the 2023 Young Athena Award Nominee. Victoria is also a member of the WWBIC Advisory Committee, the WICPA Federal Taxation Committee, and the AICPA Emerging Leaders Committee.
Prior to Novii CPA, Victoria grew up in a world vastly different from her current reality. Raised by a single mother, her family’s financial circumstances seemed destined to follow a familiar path. Refusing to let circumstances define her, she recognized that education offered boundless possibilities. Victoria graduated from the University of Rochester with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and business administration. She later earned her master’s in accounting from Edgewood College and obtained her CPA license.
I love how this course is put together and presented. Even though I took it before, I felt I learned a ton more this time. I will be back again in a few years.
[Taking this class] confirmed we are doing many things right. I learned the value of key reports and ratios, [which gave me] to have more tools to profit from and analyze our operations/decisions.
[I appreciated the] ease of understanding. Difficult “intimidating” topics made easier to understand and apply to my skill set. Very practical information that I can immediately apply and use in business.
It helped to have an in-depth explanation of the importance of the information, as well as connecting the dots for what pieces flow together.
All aspects of the course were valuable! The way material built upon itself was easy to follow and helped translate to my own business needs.
This class lit a fire under my butt to take action on cleaning up my financials.
This was my first SBDC course and I’m looking forward to taking more.
The Wisconsin SBDC Network is a proud part of the Office of Business & Entrepreneurship within the Universities of Wisconsin. It is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Wisconsin SBDC at UW-Madison is also part of the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub at UW-Madison.
The Wisconsin SBDC at UW-Madison helps entrepreneurs succeed at any stage. We offer no-cost, confidential consulting and business education across a wide region, primarily serving Dane, Sauk, and Columbia counties. SBDC services are provided in a nondiscriminatory way to all legal residents and citizens in the US.
Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact us at sbdc@bus.wisc.edu or call (608) 263-2221.