Key Topics

• Establish how investors and the market view value creation
• Overview of the capital budgeting process
• Estimate cash flows and cost of capital
• Understand key investment criteria
• Key financial performance measures: net present value, internal rate of return, return on equity, return on assets, and return on investment
• Apply decision making framework to “go or no-go” scenarios
• Learn how to manage payout policy
• Decide between capital structure alternatives
• Understand drivers of merger and acquisition success

Who Should Attend

This course is appropriate for managers of all backgrounds seeking coverage of advanced topics. Managers with a non-finance background may find that this course is best following our “Basic Accounting” and/or “Using and Understanding Financial Statements” courses.

About the Instructor

Nathan Mauck, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City

Nathan has specialized his research and teaching in the areas of corporate finance, international finance, financial modeling, firm valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and venture financing. He has over 20 peer-reviewed academic publications and his work has been featured in popular press publications such as The Wall Street Journal. Nathan is a favorite instructor of students at the Bloch School and has won numerous teaching awards.

What You Will Learn

• Understand how AI co-thinking applies specifically to financial analysis and strategic decision-making
• Use AI to surface and stress-test the assumptions embedded in a financial model or strategic recommendation
• Apply co-thinking methodology to capital allocation, scenario analysis, and investment decision framing
• Recognize where AI adds genuine analytical value versus where it produces fluent but unreliable output
• Practice AI-assisted analysis on realistic finance and strategy problems, with structured facilitation
• Develop a personal protocol for integrating AI co-thinking into your existing analytical workflow
• Understand the relationship between incentive alignment, decision framing, and AI-assisted analysis

Who Should Attend

This workshop is designed for finance and strategy professionals who already bring analytical training to their work and want to understand how AI can extend, not replace, that capability. Appropriate roles include financial analysts, corporate finance and FP&A professionals, CFOs and finance directors, strategy and business development professionals, and MBA/MSF graduates applying analytical frameworks in organizational settings. Participants with backgrounds in accounting, economics, or quantitative analysis will find the content immediately applicable. Some familiarity with financial statements and basic analytical concepts is assumed.

About the Instructor

Dr. Nathan Mauck is professor of finance at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He teaches financial management, advanced corporate finance, financial modeling, valuation/M&A, and international finance to undergraduate, graduate and executive students. Nathan positions himself as an AI power user, not an AI expert, a distinction he considers central to how professionals could think about AI adoption. He received his Ph.D. in finance from Florida State University and his undergraduate degree in finance from Kansas State University.

Key Topics

• Accounting equation and the relationship among its components
• The basic accounting principles
• The accounting process: journals and ledgers
• How debits and credits work
• How various business transactions affect financial statements
• Cash accounting versus accrual basis accounting
• The difference between accounting profit and cash flow
• Retained Earnings is the bridge between the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet
• Apply accounting conventions and guidelines
• The purpose of and terminology associated with the key financial statements:
  • Income Statement or Profit and Loss Statement (P&L)
  • Balance Sheet
  • Statement of Retained Earnings
  • Cash Flow Statement

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for both new managers of all backgrounds and established managers with non-finance backgrounds in every functional area of responsibility and in all industries.

About the Instructor

William R. Kay, MBA, is an adjunct Professor for the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), Bloch School of Management, and owner of W. Kay & Associates is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals enhance their competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance.

For the past 28 years, Mr. Kay has specialized in assisting businesses in the quest to improve performance in the areas of strategic planning, finance and accounting, project management, marketing, sales and sales management, and team building following the accelerated learning model for adult learning.

Mr. Kay’s professional experience includes over 20 years as CEO and owner of a major company and, for the past 28 years helping major Fortune 500 companies and Universities with organizational development and training.

Key Topics

• Overview of the planning and budgeting process
• Accurately develop an operating budget based on forecasted sales, revenues, and costs
• Work with a well-planned budget that clearly highlights crucial variables that impact profit
• Know the line items on the income statement, their metrics and interdependencies
• Define variances so you can quickly implement changes to meet your company’s financial objectives
• Develop and present a well-thought-out budget that will get buy-in
• Keep your plan on target with budgetary controls
• Understand the definition, purpose, and components of a budget
• Operating budget vs. capital budget
• Address issues and challenges when dealing with assumptions and targets
• Revise and finalize the budget
• Organize and deliver your operating budget for feedback and final approval
• Obtain tips, guidelines, and recommendations for developing and presenting your budget
• Perform a variance analysis and identify potential sources and causes
• Know exactly which variances to address to plan for next year’s budget

Who Should Attend

Managers and anyone with budget responsibilities who are interested in developing or improving their budget planning skills.

About the Instructor

William R. Kay, MBA, is an adjunct Professor for the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), Bloch School of Management, and owner of W. Kay & Associates is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals enhance their competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance.

For the past 28 years, Mr. Kay has specialized in assisting businesses in the quest to improve performance in the areas of strategic planning, finance and accounting, project management, marketing, sales and sales management, and team building following the accelerated learning model for adult learning.

Mr. Kay’s professional experience includes over 20 years as CEO and owner of a major company and, for the past 28 years helping major Fortune 500 companies and Universities with organizational development and training.

Key Topics

• Understand “CFO speak” including terminology and financial performance metrics related to:
  • Profitability
  • Growth
  • Impact of project financing
  • Risk
  • Cost and benefits
  • Creating shareholder or owner value
• Convert functional area jargon into the language of finance
• The role of financial projections in decision making
• Using your business case to influence others
• Identifying drivers of success and risk
• Financial models that support the business case
• Conducting sensitivity analysis and what-if analysis
• Demonstrating alignment of strategic and financial goals
• Anticipating and dealing with pushback
• Presenting key decision points in concise manner

Who Should Attend

Managers of all backgrounds who seek improved skills to articulate financial goals and describe performance to non-financial audiences. Managers with a non-finance background who want to learn finance jargon and “CFO speak.”

About the Instructor

Nathan Mauck, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Nathan has specialized his research and teaching in the areas of corporate finance, international finance, financial modeling, firm valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and venture financing. He has over 20 peer-reviewed academic publications and his work has been featured in popular press publications such as The Wall Street Journal. Nathan is a favorite instructor of students at the Bloch School and has won numerous teaching awards.

Financial Analysis with AI Includes:

It starts by grounding you with the purpose of financial analysis: understanding performance, financial health, and value creation. From there, it introduces the three primary financial statements and demonstrates how AI tools can summarize, reconcile, and extract insights from them in seconds, reducing the manual burden and freeing analysts to focus on interpretation and judgment.

It then dives into the mechanics of performance evaluation — margins, profitability, liquidity, leverage, and efficiency. Participants learn how ratios connect to real business dynamics and how AI can automate calculations, flag anomalies, benchmark against peers, and generate narrative explanations. This section reinforces that AI is not a substitute for financial reasoning but a force multiplier that enhances speed, accuracy, and depth.

We then look at forward looking analysis. We will explore cash flow drivers, free cash flow, and the fundamentals of forecasting and scenario modeling. AI’s predictive capabilities come into play here, helping participants build quick revenue models, test sensitivities, and generate best-case, base-case, and worst-case scenarios.

We conclude by analyzing financial statements, calculating ratios, assessing risks, and preparing a brief executive summary. By the end, you will leave with a clear understanding of the fundamentals of financial analysis and a practical toolkit for integrating Financial Analysis with AI into your daily workflow.

What You Will Learn

What financial analysis is and how AI enhances—not replaces—analytical thinking.

• Purpose of Financial Analysis:
  Liquidity, Leverage, Profitability, Efficiency, Solvency, Value Creation
• Core Financial Statements:
  Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement
• How AI Fits In
  • Automating data extraction
  • Identifying patterns and anomalies
  • Accelerating ratio calculations
  • Supporting scenario modeling
  • Reducing manual error 

Income Statement and the Balance Sheet
Build fluency in interpreting performance and financial position.

• Revenue, Margins, Operating Leverage
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
• Selling, General, & Administrative Expenses (SG&A)
• Earnings Before Interest Expense, Tax Expense, Depreciation Expense, & Amortization Expense (EBITDA)
• Net Income
• Assets, Liabilities, Equity Structure
• AI Applications:
  • Trend detection
  • Variance explanations
  • Benchmarking against peers
  • Natural‑language summaries of performance 

Ratio Analysis and Performance Metrics
How to evaluate the health and performance of an organization.

• Profitability: Gross margin, Operating Margin, Net Margin, Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE)
• Liquidity: Current ratio, Quick Ratio
• Efficiency: Inventory Turns, Receivables Days
• Leverage: Debt-to-Equity, Interest Coverage
• AI Applications:
  • Automated ratio dashboards
  • Peer comparisons
  • “Explain this ratio movement” prompts 

Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow
Show how Cash—not Profit—drives sustainability.

• Operating Cash Flows vs. Investing Cash Flows vs. Financing Cash Flows
• Working Capital Drivers
• Free Cash Flow and why it matters
• AI Applications:
  • Forecasting cash needs
  • Modeling working‑capital scenarios
  • Identifying liquidity risks 

Forecasting with AI
Move from analysis to forward‑looking insight.

• Revenue forecasting basics
• Cost modeling
• Scenario planning (best/base/worst)
• AI Applications:
  • Predictive models
  • “What‑if” simulations
  • Early‑warning indicators
• Build a simple forecast
• Produce a short AI‑assisted executive summary

About the Instructor

William R. Kay, MBA, is an adjunct Professor for the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), Bloch School of Management, and owner of W. Kay & Associates is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals enhance their competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance.

For the past 28 years, Mr. Kay has specialized in assisting businesses in the quest to improve performance in the areas of strategic planning, finance and accounting, project management, marketing, sales and sales management, and team building following the accelerated learning model for adult learning.

Mr. Kay’s professional experience includes over 20 years as CEO and owner of a major company and, for the past 28 years helping major Fortune 500 companies and Universities with organizational development and training.

Key Topics

• Define firm value from the perspective of owners and shareholders
• Understand common valuation techniques
• Apply a high-level discounted cash flow model to a real firm
• Valuation multiples
• Discount rates and cost of capital
• Use real firms and cases to identify key drivers of value including:
  • Sustainable competitive advantage
  • Organic and inorganic growth
  • Cost control
  • Risk reduction
  • Cash flow generation
• Apply valuation techniques to identify financial consequences of decision making
• Valuation in the context of mergers and acquisitions
• Establish the link between strategic initiatives and value

Who Should Attend

This course is appropriate for managers of all backgrounds with an interest in how value is created. Managers with a non-finance background may find that this course is best following our “Basic Accounting” and/or “Using and Understanding Financial Statements” courses.

About the Instructor

Nathan Mauck, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City

Nathan has specialized his research and teaching in the areas of corporate finance, international finance, financial modeling, firm valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and venture financing. He has over 20 peer-reviewed academic publications and his work has been featured in popular press publications such as The Wall Street Journal. Nathan is a favorite instructor of students at the Bloch School and has won numerous teaching awards.

What You Will Learn

• Understand the difference between AI task automation and AI co-thinking, and why the distinction matters for your work
• Identify where in your own professional practice co-thinking creates the most leverage
• Learn a practical framework for structuring AI interactions that produce insight rather than just output
• Observe live co-thinking sessions on real problems, including problems brought by workshop participants
• Practice co-thinking on a problem from your own work, with facilitated feedback
• Recognize the role of human intelligence, framing, judgment, domain expertise as the prerequisite that determines AI’s value
• Leave with a personal approach to AI co-thinking that you can apply immediately

Who Should Attend

This workshop is designed for professionals who have dabbled with AI experimentation but have not yet developed a systematic approach to using AI as a thinking tool. It is appropriate for managers, analysts, strategists, and leaders across all functional backgrounds. No technical background is required. Participants who identify as people who “figure things out,” those who value rigorous thinking over shortcuts, will find this session particularly relevant.

About the Instructor

Robert Greene has spent 30+ years helping organizations figure out complex strategic challenges, working as entrepreneur, executive, and consultant with businesses, innovation consortia, and universities. Bob architects AI+HI systems that methodically couple human intelligence and artificial intelligence to scale organizational capability. He believes that understanding the distinction between “using AI” and “Co-Thinking with AI+HI systems” is essential for executives leading AI adoption. Bob earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Yale University.

What You Will Learn

• Understand why problem framing, not problem solving, is the highest-leverage professional skill
• Learn a structured framework for defining problems before committing to solutions
• Identify the assumptions embedded in how you currently frame your most important challenges
• Practice reframing real problems from your own work using the workshop methodology
• Understand how AI amplifies both good and bad framing and how to use AI to improve your framing process
• Distinguish between surface problems and underlying problems-to-solve in organizational and strategic contexts
• Build a habit of explicit framing that improves both individual decision-making and team alignment

Who Should Attend

This workshop is appropriate for professionals in any functional role who are responsible for defining problems, making recommendations, or leading teams through complex challenges. It is particularly valuable for managers who find that their teams often jump to solutions before the problem is well understood, and for analysts and strategists who want to improve the quality of their framing before investing in analysis. No prior AI experience is required, though participants who use AI tools regularly will find immediate application for the workshop’s framework.

About the Instructor

Robert Greene has spent 30+ years helping organizations figure out complex strategic challenges, working as entrepreneur, executive, and consultant with businesses, innovation consortia, and universities. Bob architects AI+HI systems that methodically couple human intelligence and artificial intelligence to scale organizational capability. He believes that understanding the distinction between “using AI” and “Co-Thinking with AI+HI systems” is essential for executives leading AI adoption. Bob earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Yale University.

What You Will Learn

• Understand why process consistency, is a primary determinant of long-term investing success
• Use AI co-thinking to stress-test an investment thesis before you commit, surfacing assumptions you didn’t know you were making
• Apply a structured framework for evaluating investments that separates what you know from what you are assuming
• Recognize the behavioral patterns, overconfidence, confirmation bias, loss aversion, that undermine even well-informed investors, and use AI as a check on those tendencies
• Practice AI-assisted analysis on real investment scenarios, with facilitated feedback on your reasoning process
• Define what a disciplined, personal investment process looks like for your situation, and how AI co-thinking fits into it
• Distinguish between the questions AI can help you answer and the judgment calls that remain irreducibly yours

Who Should Attend

This workshop is designed for individual investors who manage their own portfolios and want to improve the quality of their decision-making process. It is appropriate for investors at all experience levels, from those who are relatively new to self-directed investing to experienced investors who have developed their own approach over time and want to pressure-test it. Participants do not need a finance or investment background, though those with one will find the framework immediately applicable to how they already work. This is not a workshop about which stocks to buy or financial advice of any kind. It is a workshop about how to think more clearly about the decisions you are already making.

About the Instructor

Dr. Nathan Mauck is professor of finance at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He teaches financial management, advanced corporate finance, financial modeling, valuation/M&A, and international finance to undergraduate, graduate and executive students. Nathan positions himself as an AI power user, not an AI expert, a distinction he considers central to how professionals could think about AI adoption. He received his Ph.D. in finance from Florida State University and his undergraduate degree in finance from Kansas State University.

Key Topics

• The key Financial Statements and how they tie together
• Key Finance Terms: Assets, Liabilities, Capital, Depreciation, Current Ratio and others
• Master the mind-set: see business in terms of dollars-and-cents decision options that pay off, short and long-term
• Develop working rules regarding your corporate financial statements
• Use the balance sheet to examine assets and liabilities
• Analyze the income statement to assess revenues and expenses
• The statement of cash flow: sources and uses of funds
• Content and format of the annual report
• Understand the footnotes
• Debt vs. Equity financing
• How leverage can increase return to shareholders
• Use profit-planning tools, break-even analysis, financial forecasting
• Importance of Cash Flow: where cash comes from and how it’s applied
• Criteria for examining the performance of divisions and product lines
• Understand the cost of capital

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for both new managers of all backgrounds and established managers with non-finance backgrounds in every functional area of responsibility and in all industries.

About the Instructor

William R. Kay, MBA, is an adjunct Professor for the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), Bloch School of Management, and owner of W. Kay & Associates is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals enhance their competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance.

For the past 28 years, Mr. Kay has specialized in assisting businesses in the quest to improve performance in the areas of strategic planning, finance and accounting, project management, marketing, sales and sales management, and team building following the accelerated learning model for adult learning.

Mr. Kay’s professional experience includes over 20 years as CEO and owner of a major company and, for the past 28 years helping major Fortune 500 companies and Universities with organizational development and training.