AAT Business Finance Fundamentals

Overview

A practical, CPD-friendly course to build your financial confidence

RICS is proud to collaborate with AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians), the world’s leading professional body for accounting technicians. Through this partnership, our members now have access to the AAT Business Finance Fundamentals course, designed specifically for professionals who wish to strengthen their understanding of essential financial principles.

In today’s competitive built environment sector, technical expertise alone isn’t enough. Surveyors who understand business finance are better positioned to advise clients, lead teams, and grow their careers.

The AAT Business Finance Fundamentals course offers essential knowledge in areas like budgeting, cash flow, financial statements, and risk management, all designed to build your confidence and capability in handling real-world financial decisions.

What is in it for RICS members?

Whether you’re newly chartered or a seasoned professional, this course offers a wide range of benefits specifically aligned with your learning needs to:

• Bridge the financial knowledge gap – ideal for surveyors and professionals whose work increasingly involves commercial decisions and client finance discussions
• Support your APC transition – consolidate your commercial awareness and round out your skillset after gaining your chartered status
• Run your own practice more effectively – gain the tools to budget, manage cash flow, and understand financial reports to make smarter business decisions
• Enhance client communication – speak confidently about financial implications with stakeholders, clients, and finance teams
• Strengthen your CPD portfolio – earn hours with a focused, practical course that supports your ongoing professional development
• Stay competitive in the industry – broaden your capabilities and stand out with a more well-rounded, financially fluent profile

Course structure

This training is made up of six modules, each offering essential insights into core financial topics relevant to today’s business professionals. With each module taking around an hour to complete, the course is designed to be both accessible and impactful, providing the foundational knowledge needed to build financial confidence and capability.

Module highlights:

• The basics of budgeting
• The basics of cash flow
• The basics of financial statements
• How to analyse financial statements
• The basics of bookkeeping

Key learning outcomes

1)      Master core bookkeeping principles

• Gain confidence in applying double-entry bookkeeping, accurately entering transactions (including VAT and credit), producing a trial balance, and avoiding common mistakes like omission or reversal.  

2)      Interpret and analyse financial statements

• Understand key financial terms and how income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements are constructed, and use ratio analysis to assess profitability, liquidity, efficiency, and overall financial health. 

3)      Plan, monitor and manage budgets and cash flow

• Learn the theory and practical steps behind budgeting (incremental, zero-based), forecasting cash inflows/outflows, performing variance analysis, and implementing credit-control best practices to maintain healthy working capital.

A co-branded certificate (RICS and AAT) will be available to those who successfully complete this course. 

Note: this product includes content that is specific to UK accounting principles, in particular relating to tax principles, and is available in English only.

If you have any enquiries regarding this course, please call +44 (0)2476 868584 to speak to a member of our team or email us at training@rics.org.