Budget Compliance Made Clear
Most finance programs throw theory at you and hope something sticks. We spent two years watching where people actually struggle with budget management in Australian businesses. Turns out, it's not the spreadsheets that trip people up.
Our autumn 2025 program focuses on the conversations around money that nobody teaches. The approval meetings. The variance explanations. The monthly reviews where you need to sound confident about numbers.
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How This Actually Works
We built this around three core modules that take you from basic compliance understanding to handling real budget scenarios. Each phase builds on what came before, but in ways that actually matter when you're sitting in front of a spreadsheet at 4pm on a Thursday.
Foundation Month
Budget structures, compliance frameworks, and why certain rules exist in the first place. We cover Australian standards but focus on practical application rather than memorization.
Application Phase
Real budget scenarios from Melbourne businesses. You'll work through variance analysis, forecast adjustments, and the kind of reporting that actually gets read by executives.
Integration Period
Bringing it together with your current role or target position. Mock reviews, presentation practice, and peer feedback on your budget communication style.
Alaric Pemberton
Spent 14 years fixing budget processes at mid-sized Australian companies. Now teaches the practical side that textbooks skip over completely.
Leif Thorwald
Handles the technical side of budget software and reporting tools. Makes sure you understand the systems, not just the theory behind them.
Learning From People Who've Done It
Both instructors came from operational finance roles. They're not career educators who learned budget compliance from a curriculum guide.
Alaric ran budget cycles at three different companies before designing this program. Leif built reporting systems that actually worked instead of just meeting compliance checkboxes.
You'll get direct feedback on your work, not generic comments. They remember what it's like to present budget variances to a room full of skeptical managers, and that perspective shows up in every session.
Program Timeline
Sixteen weeks starting September 2025. Sessions run Tuesday and Thursday evenings, with Saturday workshops twice monthly. We keep cohorts small because feedback matters more than scale.
Weeks 1-5: Budget Fundamentals
Understanding budget cycles, compliance requirements, and variance tracking. You'll learn the Australian standards that matter and why certain reporting formats exist. Includes hands-on practice with budget templates used by Melbourne businesses.
Weeks 6-11: Practical Application
Working through real scenarios with peer review sessions. Monthly close processes, forecast adjustments, and budget revision requests. You'll present findings to the group and get feedback on both your analysis and communication approach.
Weeks 12-16: Integration Project
Building a complete budget compliance process from scratch or improving an existing one. Final presentations include Q&A sessions where instructors push back on your assumptions, just like real stakeholder meetings.
Next Intake: September 2025
Applications open June 2025. We review submissions on a rolling basis and aim to respond within one week. The selection process includes a brief conversation about your current experience and what you're hoping to gain from the program.
Cohort size capped at 18 participants to maintain quality feedback and discussion. Prior finance experience helps but isn't required if you're currently working with budgets in any capacity.
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