Durham accountancy firm launches course to help business owners understand their own numbers
Knowing Your Numbers gives owners and directors a practical day working on their own accounts, in plain English
Durham accountancy and advisory firm Valued is launching Knowing Your Numbers, a one day course for business owners and directors who need to understand the numbers in their business but were never taught to read them.
The idea came from a client. His son had just been made a director of the family business, and he asked Valued’s founder, Stephen Paul, to recommend a course that would help him get to grips with the finances. He then added that a course like that would have really helped him too, after more than thirty years of running the business.
Stephen Paul said:
“That was the third time this year I’d had a version of that conversation. Plenty of capable owners read their accounts every month and make good decisions off them, but still feel they’ve been working it out on their own. We prepare the accounts and talk them through, but a lot of owners never get the time to sit down and properly understand what they’re looking at, so we decided to do something about it.”
Unlike most finance courses, delegates bring their own accounts and work on those, rather than a case study. Groups are capped at eight so that this is possible, and nobody is asked to share their figures with the room.
The day covers reading a set of accounts, the difference between profit and cash, margins and breakeven, budgets, cash forecasting, decisions about investing in equipment, and what to ask in a monthly management meeting. It deliberately leaves out the more academic techniques taught on many courses in favour of the questions owners actually ask, such as how long an investment will take to pay for itself.
Each place includes an hour one to one with Stephen on the delegate’s own figures, an online follow up session, and an ongoing invitation to Valued’s quarterly Numbers Clinic.
The course runs on Tuesday 10 November 2026 and Tuesday 12 January 2027 at Valued’s office at Durham Workspace.
Places for these first two groups are £295 plus VAT, half the standard price.
Details and booking at yourvalued.co.uk/events.
Valued is a human centred accountancy, coaching and advisory firm based in Durham, founded by Stephen Paul. Stephen is an ACCA accountant, business coach and Platinum Xero partner. He helps business owners understand their numbers in plain English, so they worry less and make better decisions.