Budget Variance Analysis Program
Six months of practical training where you'll work through actual business scenarios from Australian companies. We're not here to promise you'll become a financial wizard overnight—but you will learn to spot where money disappears and why forecasts fail.
Our autumn 2025 intake starts September 8th. Classes run Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus one Saturday workshop monthly. It's designed for people who already work full-time and can't drop everything to study.
Next Intake: September 8, 2025
What You'll Actually Learn
We built this curriculum after talking to 40+ finance managers in Queensland who told us what skills their teams were missing. So you won't waste time on textbook theory that doesn't translate to real work.
Reading Financial Statements
Learn to actually understand what balance sheets and P&L statements are telling you. Most people glaze over these documents—we'll show you how to read between the lines and spot inconsistencies.
12 hours contact timeVariance Analysis Fundamentals
This is where things get practical. You'll analyze why a retail chain's Q4 spending exceeded projections by 18%. Then work through a manufacturing case where material costs spiraled. We use anonymized data from real companies who've agreed to let us share their mistakes.
By week 10, you'll build your first complete variance report from scratch using Excel and present findings to the class.
24 hours contact timeForecasting Methods
Different industries need different approaches. We cover three main forecasting models and when to use each one. You'll learn why retail businesses can't forecast the same way manufacturers do.
12 hours contact timeCommunicating Findings
Numbers mean nothing if you can't explain them to non-finance people. We'll teach you to write reports that executives actually read and presentations that don't put people to sleep.
10 hours contact timeCapstone Project
Work with a real Queensland business to conduct variance analysis on their 2024 financials. You'll present recommendations directly to their management team. Past students have worked with everything from small cafes to mid-size logistics companies.
18 hours plus independent work
Wesley Novak
Spent 12 years as finance controller for three manufacturing companies. Now teaches variance analysis and still consults part-time.
Tamsin Fletcher
Former budget analyst for state government departments. Specializes in teaching forecasting methods for service-based businesses.
What Past Students Say
I took this course in early 2024 after struggling to explain budget overruns to my board. Within three months of finishing, I'd restructured how our nonprofit tracks and reports expenses. The capstone project gave me a portfolio piece I still show prospective employers.
Wesley's approach is refreshingly honest—he'll tell you when something is difficult and when it's just tedious. That saved me from wasting energy worrying about whether I was getting it.
