What is the Certified Financial Technician?

The Certified Financial Technician is a globally recognised professional certification by the Global Leadership Institute (GLI), designed to equip professionals with advanced competencies in Finance & Accounting.

How long does this certification take?

The programme is 10 Week and can be completed at your own pace through our self-paced online option, or alongside live virtual sessions.

Is this certification globally recognised?

Yes. GLI certifications are internationally recognised and carry CPD credits, making them valuable for career advancement worldwide.

What level is this certification?

This is a Intermediate Level certification, suitable for professionals with relevant experience or background in the field.

You can enrol by emailing info@leadership.co.ke, contacting us via WhatsApp at +254 722 223 084, or filling the enrolment form below.

Certified Financial Technician (CFT) | Online Certification

Executive Summary

Certified Financial Technician

Designed for today’s high-impact professionals, the Certified Financial Technician (CFT) delivers a rigorous Intermediate-level curriculum that equips participants with the knowledge, tools and frameworks needed to excel in financial management, accounting, budgeting and financial analysis.

This 10 Week programme is structured around IFRS, GAAP and recognised financial management and reporting standards, ensuring every graduate applies internationally validated methods to real-world challenges.

GLI’s CFT holders are recognised by leading organisations across Africa, the Gulf, Europe and the Americas as qualified, results-driven professionals. Whether you are advancing your current career or transitioning into new responsibilities, this certification provides the competitive edge you need in 2026 and beyond.

Programme Overview

Certification at a Glance

Certification

Certified Financial Technician

Acronym

CFT

Who Should Enrol?

Reading Financial Statements — applied to your own work
Budgeting and Variance — applied to your own work
Internal Control and Fraud — applied to your own work
Investment and Cost of Capital — applied to your own work
Regulation and Compliance — applied to your own work
Profit, Cash and the Gap Between — applied to your own work

Programme Inclusions

Everything Included in Your Enrolment

All study materials and study guide
Access to GLI online learning portal
Online examination and assessment
Digital certificate and digital badge
Physical certificate (shipped to you)
CPD credits for professional bodies
GLI alumni network membership
Facilitator and tutor support
Resource downloads and reference library
Automatic enrolment confirmation

Certification Benefits

Why This Certification Matters for Your Career

Career Advancement

Accelerate your career towards senior finance, controller and CFO roles

Professional Recognition

Credential aligned with IFRS, GAAP and recognised financial management and reporting standards

Leadership Capability

Develop the strategic and operational skills to lead complex financial management functions

Organisational Impact

Design and implement financial management systems that drive performance and measurable results

Compliance Readiness

Master the standards, compliance and ethical governance central to financial management

Global Employability

Qualify for financial management roles across corporates, banks, NGOs and public-sector organisations worldwide

Competency Framework

Core Competencies You Will Develop

✦Financial Accounting, Reporting and Analysis

✦Budgeting, Planning and Cost Control

✦Corporate Finance, Investment and Valuation

✦Treasury, Working Capital and Cash Management

✦Financial Controls, Audit and Governance

✦Professional Ethics and Governance

Course Curriculum

Programme Modules

Click any module to explore the detailed curriculum topics included in this certification.

Foundations and Strategic Context of Certified Financial Technician

Certified Financial Technician: industry context, trends and professional standards
The role of finance in organisations and value creation
Financial, management and cost accounting distinguished
The finance operating model and business partnering
Accounting concepts, principles and the regulatory landscape
Financial statements and the accounting equation
Stakeholders and users of financial information
Ethics and professional standards in finance
Corporate objectives and shareholder value
The finance function and digital transformation
Building a finance career and professional development

Reading Financial Statements

Reading financial statements as a manager
Accrual accounting and the profit-cash gap
Audit evidence, sampling and professional scepticism
Credit assessment and the five Cs
Preparing financial statements
Cheque clearing and processing
Financial reporting frameworks (IFRS/GAAP)
Interpreting financial statements
Back-office processing and controls
Reporting quality and governance
Management accounts and dashboards
Budget vs actual and variance
Cost and profitability analysis
Forecasting and planning
Data visualisation for finance

Budgeting and Variance

Budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis
Accrual accounting and the profit-cash gap
Investment appraisal and the cost of capital
Risk, return and diversification
Decision support and insight
Communicating financial results
Valuation and security analysis
Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic approaches
Performance measurement and attribution
Investment strategy and allocation
Ethics and suitability
Financial risk types and management
Interest-rate and FX risk
Hedging strategies and instruments
Attachment and developmental theory

Internal Control and Fraud

Internal control and the fraud triangle
Audit evidence, sampling and professional scepticism
AML, KYC and financial crime prevention
Professional roles, boundaries and settings
Audit opinions and reporting
Ethical principles and codes of practice
Managing boundaries and dual relationships
Industry and business risk
Loan structuring and pricing
Peer support and consultation
Sustaining ethical, effective practice
Consumer, SME and corporate credit
Ethical frameworks and codes of practice
Duty of care and risk management
Record-keeping and data protection

Investment and Cost of Capital

Investment appraisal and the cost of capital
Treasury, liquidity and currency exposure
Budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis
Complaints, accountability and fitness to practise
Legal responsibilities and professional bodies
Client feedback and satisfaction
Evidence-based improvement
Managing risk and difficult cases
Lessons learned and development
Driving effective, ethical outcomes
Designing and facilitating groups
Psychoeducation and workshops
Working with organisations on wellbeing
Designing an intervention or programme
Ethical, risk and feasibility considerations

Regulation and Compliance

Financial regulation and prudential supervision
AML, KYC and financial crime prevention
Expected credit loss and portfolio quality
Finance KPIs and the finance scorecard
Process efficiency and cycle-time metrics
Benchmarking finance against best practice
Quality, accuracy and error reduction
Continuous improvement and lean finance
Cost-to-serve and value-for-money analysis
Finance maturity assessment
Driving measurable financial improvement
Capstone scoping: a real financial problem or decision
Data gathering and financial analysis
Building a model, budget or business case
Risk assessment and sensitivity analysis

Profit, Cash and the Gap Between

Accrual accounting and the profit-cash gap
Reading financial statements as a manager
Treasury, liquidity and currency exposure
Appraisal of development projects
Concessional and blended finance
Professional case study and presentation
Risk-sharing and guarantees
Evidence-based practice
Infrastructure and PPP finance
Risk assessment and safety planning
Goal setting and contracting
Value-chain and supply-chain finance
Treatment planning and review
Digital and alternative-data credit
Guarantee and de-risking schemes

Technology and Systems

Process improvement and automation
Treasury technology and systems
Digital financial services
Digital finance and automation roadmaps
Innovation and fintech partnerships
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and finance systems
Automation, RPA and the digital close
Cloud finance and system integration
Digital finance, mobile money and payment operations
Payment innovation and fintech
Digital currencies and CBDCs
Digital and internet banking
Emerging payment technologies
Digital tax administration
Managing complexity and comorbidity

Strategic Context

Mergers, funding and growth strategy
Workplace and organisational contexts
Collections strategy
Financial strategy and capital allocation
Financial inclusion strategy
Strategic analysis: PESTLE, SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces
Learning strategy and business alignment
Digital learning strategy
Learning strategy and roadmaps
Real options and strategic investment
Sustainability strategy and materiality
Growth strategy and demand generation
Measuring growth and transformation impact
Capstone scoping: a real growth or brand challenge
Designing a marketing or sales strategy

Projects and Delivery

Crisis, resilience and contingency planning
Leading finance projects and change
Forecasting and planning (FP&A)
Tax planning, avoidance and evasion distinguished
Tax planning vs avoidance vs evasion
Audit programmes and fieldwork
Planning and understanding the entity
Project finance structures
Leading service projects and change
Banking products, services and delivery channels
Leading banking projects and change
Team leadership in field and project settings
Change talk and readiness
Goal setting and action planning
Implementation planning and risk management

Performance Measurement

Performance and SLAs
Habit change and behaviour design
KPIs and performance reporting
Interpreting financial performance
Funnel, pipeline and conversion metrics
Customer and brand health metrics
Dashboards and performance reporting
Capacity and performance management
Setting objectives, indicators and targets
Yield, productivity and profitability metrics
Linking CX to business performance
Performance measurement and KPI dashboards
Continuous feedback and performance conversations
Accountability and follow-through
Leading and lagging metrics

Procurement and Suppliers

Payables, procurement controls and supplier fraud
Supply market analysis
Vendor and faculty management
Supply analysis, gaps and scenario planning
Procurement and supply chain: scope and value
The procurement cycle and operating models
Procurement’s contribution to organisational strategy
Public versus private procurement
Supply markets and the enabling environment
Digital procurement and the future of the profession
Sustainable procurement principles and standards
Procurement and asset management under donor rules
Vendor, venue and supplier contracting for events
Water supply systems: sources, treatment and distribution
Wellbeing and resilience coaching

Ethics and Conduct

Professional ethics and codes (IFAC, ACCA, CIMA)
Data ethics and privacy in finance
Ethics and transparency in tax
Ethics in tax practice
Ethics, transparency and reputation
Roles, conduct and professional standards in banking
Ethics and integrity in banking
Professional ethics and banking conduct
Treating customers fairly and market conduct
Integrity, confidentiality and conflicts
Anti-corruption and financial-crime ethics
Bribery, corruption and conduct risk
Ethics and independence
Ethics in communications
Ethics, confidentiality and professional conduct in HR

People Administration

Payroll, statutory deductions and employment cost
Strategic workforce planning and demand forecasting
Communicating risk to the workforce
Workforce and shift management in retail
Workforce management and scheduling
Workforce planning and scheduling
Employee experience and engagement
Customer and employee satisfaction
Talent, succession and workforce learning
Employee engagement models and drivers
The employee lifecycle and HR value chain

International and Currency

Transfer pricing and international tax
International and cross-border tax
Foreign exchange and currency risk
Tax risk management
Measuring coaching outcomes
Strengths, flow and engagement
Meaning, purpose and values
Ratio and trend analysis
Operational risk management
Governance of operations
Credit risk measurement

Change

Change management in finance
Measuring transformation impact
Finance transformation and target operating models
Behaviour change and adoption of innovations
Customer experience transformation
Digital and self-service transformation
Measuring CX transformation impact
Digital transformation in banking
Foreign exchange and treasury operations
Technology governance and change control
Foreign exchange and hedging
Baseline setting and change control
Sales and marketing transformation
Outcome and process measures
Digital and market transformation

Sustainability and ESG

Sustainability and responsible finance
Sustainability of microfinance
Sustainability reporting and disclosure
Embedding sustainability in sourcing
Mine water, tailings and environmental management
Integrated and sustainability reporting
The project environment and stakeholders
Sustainability and social impact in projects
Market analysis and environmental scanning
Sustainability and responsible marketing
Carbon markets and climate finance
Sustainability, ESG and integrated value
Data, records and confidentiality tech
The regulatory and legal environment
Trends: ESG, transparency and stakeholder capitalism

Learning and Research

Evidence-based practice and research literacy
Lessons learned and knowledge management
Market research design and methods
Qualitative and quantitative research
Facilitation, training and public presentation skills
Practice management systems
Complaint data and learning
Training and capability building
Training needs analysis
Cognitive load and learning science
The learning and development profession
Aligning learning to performance
Leading the learning function
Training needs analysis and learning strategy
Knowledge management and capability building

Financial Practice

Financial inclusion and serving underbanked markets
Costing methods and relevant cost for decisions
Financial modelling and forecasting discipline
Tax compliance and the tax risk agenda
Applying reporting standards and accounting judgement
The finance function, month-end close and reporting cycle
Tax administration and compliance
Corporate income tax computation
Tax compliance and returns
Managing tax audits and queries
Tax provisioning and reporting
Financial risk: credit, market, liquidity, operational
Corporate governance and the finance role
Stakeholder mapping for the finance function
Board and executive financial reporting

Banking and Financial Services

Credit and counterparty risk
Development banking principles
Negotiation with banks, investors and suppliers
Investment of surplus funds
Investment and disinvestment decisions
Insurance, risk transfer and retained risk
Payment regulation and oversight
Payment risk types and management
Types of banks and financial institutions
Trade finance and letters of credit
Psychometric and screening tools
Credit risk governance
Stress testing credit portfolios
Credit bureaus and data
Regulatory capital for credit

Risk and Control

Fraud risk, prevention and detection
Governance of controls and reporting
Statutory compliance and filings
Managing tax risk and audits
Regulatory and compliance requirements
Regulatory compliance in operations
Market risk and VaR
Ethics of technology in practice
Emerging tools and innovation
Regulatory compliance and professional duty
Interest-rate risk and hedging
Financial risk management and derivatives
Continuous risk monitoring
Fraud and internal-threat investigation
Threat and risk assessment for principals

Legal and Regulatory

Regulatory capital and ratios
Regulatory reporting and disclosure
Recovery and legal remedies
Legal, cost and feasibility analysis
Contractor and visitor safety
Legal and other requirements
Contract types and risk allocation
Contract administration and variation
Contract governance and compliance
Legal and ethical investigation
Guard force and contractor management
Regulatory reporting and audits
Regulatory liquidity ratios (LCR, NSFR)
Contract law and formation
Contract exit and renewal

Data and Reporting

Audit committee reporting
Substantive and analytical procedures
Portfolio management and reporting
Board reporting and investor relations
Disclosure, notes and integrated reporting
Reporting quality and earnings management risks
Data visualisation and financial storytelling
Evidence-based financial recommendations
Financial data, master data and the chart of accounts
Data analytics and predictive finance
Cybersecurity and financial data protection
Working with referrers and multidisciplinary teams
Communicating with families and carers
Assets, liabilities and equity reporting
Data security and confidentiality

Analysis and Decisions

Make-or-buy and outsourcing decisions
Recommendations and decision support
Trend, common-size and comparative analysis
Pricing, contribution and product decisions
Competitive analysis and differentiation
Market and customer analysis
Budget, ROI and feasibility analysis
Account planning and whitespace analysis
Data-driven decision-making
Trend analysis and foresight
Segmentation and needs analysis
Risk identification and analysis
Qualitative and quantitative risk analysis
Issue and problem management
Backlogs, user stories and prioritisation

Operations and Process

Approval processes and delegation
Advisory and non-financial services
Portfolio quality and risk
Process re-engineering and shared services
Transaction lifecycle and processing
Service levels and quality
Service KPIs: CSAT, NPS, CES, SLAs
Quality monitoring and coaching
Continuous improvement in service
Driving measurable service improvement
Customer service and CX strategy
Design thinking for service
Service analytics and dashboards
Customer service technology stack
Emerging service technologies

Leadership and Management

Working capital management and the cash cycle
Cash flow forecasting and liquidity management
Receivables, payables and inventory management
Professional writing and reports
Psychoeducation and public communication
Cash and liquidity management
SME portfolio management
Document and configuration management
Programme management principles
Value management and business value
Managing difficult conversations
Team leadership in sales and marketing
Quality management systems and audits
Omnichannel and channel management
Queue management and service flow

People and Development

Managing resistance and upskilling teams
Succession planning and talent pipelines
Talent sourcing channels and pipelines
Facilitation, coaching and mentoring
High-potential identification and talent reviews
Building trust and engagement
Aligning teams around strategy
Team formation and effectiveness models (Tuckman, Lencioni)
Cross-functional and matrix teams
Leading remote and hybrid teams
Team diversity and inclusion
Sales enablement and coaching
Coaching for performance
Development banking and project finance
Message development and testing

Communication

Investor relations and market communication
Professional presentation and pitching
Media and public communication
Communicating technical information to diverse audiences
Professional report writing and presentation
Communication and interpersonal skills
Influencing and presenting insights
Professional and persuasive communication
Crisis communications
Stakeholder communications
Communications strategy and planning
Internal communications
Corporate social responsibility communications
Presentation and public speaking
Professional report and presentation

Stakeholders and Clients

Business partnering and influencing
Sponsorship and negotiation selling
Negotiation with clients and partners
Leading groups and workshops
Negotiation with buyers, suppliers and financiers
Partnership building and multi-stakeholder platforms
Stakeholder mapping and collaboration
Managing difficult stakeholders
Stakeholder mapping in banking
Negotiation and influencing
Relationship management and cross-selling
Conflict resolution and negotiation
Commercial negotiation and value capture
Influencer and affiliate marketing
Building strategic customer relationships

Markets and Customers

Transfer pricing basics
Transfer pricing documentation
Fees, pricing and interchange
Professional ethics in customer service
Aligning service to brand and business
Sustaining strategic customer focus
Customer and journey analysis
Operational efficiency and productivity
Customer experience strategy
Customer journey mapping
Reducing customer effort
Unified customer view
Customer loyalty and advocacy
Customer lifetime value
Voice of the customer to the business

Learning Outcomes

What You Will Achieve

Reading Financial Statements — applied to your own work
Budgeting and Variance — applied to your own work
Internal Control and Fraud — applied to your own work
Investment and Cost of Capital — applied to your own work
Regulation and Compliance — applied to your own work
Profit, Cash and the Gap Between — applied to your own work

Enrolment Process

How to Get Certified

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Step 1: Choose Your Certification

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Step 3: Study in the GLI Learning Portal

Work through 30 structured modules and 150 lessons at your own pace, with downloadable resources and expert-designed content — all inside the LMS.

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Step 4: Pass, Get Certified & Verified

Sit your final examination online, earn your certificate instantly, and receive a globally verifiable Certificate ID — plus GLI Alumni Network access.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions

What is the CFT certification?

Yes. GLI certifications are recognised across 100+ countries and are aligned with IFRS, GAAP and recognised financial management and reporting standards. Graduates receive a digital certificate, a physical certificate and CPD credits recognised by employers worldwide.

Who should enrol in the CFT?

This certification is ideal for Finance Officers and Accountants, Budget and Cost Analysts, Finance Managers and Controllers and Auditors and Financial Analysts, and other professionals seeking to formalise their expertise in financial management, accounting, budgeting and financial analysis with a globally recognised credential.

How long does the CFT certification take to complete?

The programme is structured over 10 Week and offers flexible learning modes. Self-paced learners can progress at their own schedule, while live virtual participants follow a structured cohort schedule with facilitator-led sessions.

Is the CFT internationally recognised?

What is the cost of the CFT certification?

The Certified Financial Technician is offered in two formats: Self-Paced at USD 349 and Live Virtual at USD 549. Corporate group rates are available for organisations enrolling 5 or more participants. Contact GLI for a bespoke corporate training quotation.

What does the CFT certification include?

Enrolment includes all study materials and study guides, access to GLI's online learning portal, online examination, digital certificate and badge, physical certificate (posted), CPD credits, GLI alumni network membership, and ongoing facilitator support.

What is the assessment format for the CFT?

The Certified Financial Technician is assessed through an online examination consisting of multiple-choice questions, case study analysis, and practical application assignments. The assessment is designed to evaluate real-world competency, not just theoretical recall.

What CPD credits do I earn from the CFT?

The Certified Financial Technician carries Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits, which can be applied towards professional body requirements including recognised international professional associations.

Can I study the CFT while working full-time?

Absolutely. The self-paced option is designed for busy working professionals and allows you to study when and where it suits you. Live virtual sessions are typically scheduled in the evenings or on weekends to accommodate professional commitments.

What career outcomes can I expect from the CFT?

Graduates progress towards senior finance, controller and CFO roles. The CFT strengthens your expertise in financial management, accounting, budgeting and financial analysis and positions you for advancement across corporates, banks, NGOs and public-sector organisations.

Certified Financial Technician

Certified Financial Technician

Certification at a Glance

Who Should Enrol?

Everything Included in Your Enrolment

Why This Certification Matters for Your Career

Core Competencies You Will Develop

Programme Modules

What You Will Achieve

How to Get Certified

Common Questions

What Our Alumni Say

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