B Boardroom The Numbers Course
Reserve a seat
VOL. I · ISSUE 01 · AUTUMN COHORT 2026 Six weeks · Online · 15 seats
A six-week cohort · online · live

Stop nodding along.
Become the manager
who reads
the numbers.

A 6-week cohort that teaches financial statements by running a company. You'll make four years of business decisions in a simulation and watch them appear, line by line, on the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow.

Reserve your seat Starts [DATE] · 15 seats · $499
§ 01

If finance has always felt like a language other people speak…

You've sat through meetings where the CFO mentioned EBITDA, working capital, or operating margin, and you weren't quite sure what they meant.

You've been promoted into a role where understanding the numbers matters, but no one taught you. You've tried YouTube videos and skim-read articles, and somehow you still can't read an annual report with confidence.

That's not because you're not smart enough. It's because finance is taught backwards.

§ 02

A different way to learn the numbers.

Most courses show you the statements first and the decisions second. We do it the other way around. The simulation makes the abstract concrete.

01

You run a company.

You join a team. You're given a global consumer electronics business. Over six weeks, you make four years of decisions: pricing, marketing, R&D, factory expansion, dividends, debt.

02

You watch decisions become numbers.

Every choice shows up on the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow. Cut marketing? Revenue drops. Build a factory? Cash drops. You learn by seeing the connection in real time.

03

You write a CFO memo.

Your final deliverable is a five-page strategic memo to the Board: how the company performed, what you got right and wrong, and what you'd do differently. Graded with detailed feedback.

§ 03

What you'll be able to do in six weeks.

  • Read all four financial statements with confidence
  • Calculate and interpret 20+ ratios across profitability, liquidity, leverage, efficiency, and market
  • Apply the DuPont decomposition to break down any company's return on equity
  • Evaluate investment decisions using NPV, IRR, and payback period
  • Understand cost of capital (WACC) and why every project must clear it
  • Apply the capital allocation hierarchy — where smart CEOs deploy cash
  • Write a CFO-grade strategic memo that holds up under scrutiny
This is for you if
  • You're a mid-career manager who's been promoted past your comfort zone with numbers
  • You're an MBA student who wants to actually understand finance — not just survive the exam
  • You're a founder or product manager who wants to engage with your CFO as an equal
This is NOT for you if
  • You already work in finance, accounting, or investment banking
  • You want a self-paced video course you can binge in a weekend
  • You're looking for stock-picking tips or trading strategies
§ 04

What makes the Boardroom Simulation different.

Most finance courses teach you to read statements that already exist. You stare at Apple's annual report and try to make sense of it.

The Boardroom Simulation works the other way around. You're the executive team. You make the decisions. The simulation generates the statements. You see — viscerally, line by line — how every choice you make shows up on the page.

Cut R&D in Year 2 to free up cash? Watch your competitive position erode by Year 4. Issue $4M in bonds to fund expansion? See the interest expense bleed into operating profit for the next decade. Approve too generous a dividend? Watch retained earnings collapse — and watch yourself unable to fund the factory you needed.

By the time you've run a company for four simulated years, the financial statements stop being abstract. They become a record of decisions you actually made. And once you've read your own statements, reading anyone else's becomes obvious.

§ 05

What's included in your seat.

Six live sessions

One 90-minute session per week, delivered online via Zoom. Every session recorded for replay.

The Boardroom Simulation

Four years of decisions. Team-based with 3–5 people per team. Industry-wide competition with other teams in your cohort.

Eight modules of course content

From "why financial statements exist" through to "capital decisions and shareholder value." Handouts, slides, and quizzes.

The final case study

A five-page strategic memo, graded with detailed written feedback. Your portfolio piece for your next interview.

Certificate of completion

Issued on finishing the case study to passing standard. Useable for professional development records.

Lifetime access to recordings

Re-watch any session, revisit any module. Useful when you're preparing for a board meeting two years from now.

§ 06

Taught by people who’ve sat in the chair.

Dr Bruce Clayton

Bruce Clayton

CA  ·  MBA  ·  D.Com
Creator & Lead Facilitator

Bruce designed the Boardroom Simulation. A Chartered Accountant who came up through Ernst & Young and Deloitte before spending his academic career as Associate Professor in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance at Deakin University — where he specialised in management accounting and financial planning, taught from undergraduate through to PhD, and quietly came to a conviction that has shaped everything since: financial literacy is not acquired by reading about decisions. It’s acquired by making them.

The Boardroom is the practical expression of that conviction. He now also facilitates Financial Analytics at RMIT and Accounting & Financial Management at Adelaide University, and consults to Oxford University Press on the ACCA program. Earlier in his career he held visiting scholar positions in the UK, the US, South Africa, and China, and published research in Accounting, Organizations and Society, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, and the Australian Accounting Review.

When he teaches with the simulation, he isn’t reading from a manual. He wrote it.

bruce [at] boardroomsimulation [dot] com
Willy Bagg

Willy Bagg

CA  ·  MBA  ·  B.Com
Co-Facilitator

Willy spent three decades in the executive suite — Executive Director, General Manager, and Chief Financial Officer in professional services and corporate roles in both Australia and the United States — before transitioning to teaching. He is a Chartered Accountant whose specific strength is the part of finance that is essential to running a successful business: management reporting, financial analysis, and the cash-flow discipline that ensures long-term survival for the organisation.

He was awarded the RMITO Future Skills Outstanding Practice Award in 2023, in 2024, and again in 2025. Three years running. His teaching philosophy is straightforward and is applied to every cohort: theory only becomes relevant when you can see its implementation in operating reality.

When Willy debriefs your financial results, he isn’t describing the executive suite. He’s reliving it.

willy [at] boardroomsimulation [dot] com

Between them: two CAs, two MBAs, a doctorate, a CFO’s instinct for what the numbers mean, and the simulation’s author at the whiteboard.

§ 07

Get in touch.

For most questions, the form on the right is the fastest way to a reply — it lands in our inbox the moment you send it, and you’ll usually hear back within one business day.

If you’d rather email directly, the personal addresses for Bruce and Willy are listed beneath their bios above. The channels below are for everything else.

General
For broad enquiries about the program, how it works, and what’s included.
Enrolment
For corporate cohorts, group bookings, and invoicing arrangements.
Support
For technical questions during a cohort, or help with your account.

Send us a message

We read everything. Usually replied to within one business day.

§ 08

Things people ask.

Do I need any finance background?

No. The course assumes you've never read a financial statement before. If you can do basic algebra and follow a business news article, you can do this.

How much time does this take per week?

Roughly four hours: 90 minutes for the live session, 60 minutes of pre-reading, 60–90 minutes for simulation decisions and team discussion. We respect that you have a job.

What if I miss a live session?

Every session is recorded. You can catch up on your own time. Simulation decisions and team discussions happen asynchronously throughout the week, so you won't fall behind your team.

Do I get a refund if it's not for me?

Yes. Attend the first session and decide it's not for you? Email within 7 days for a full refund. No friction.

Can my employer pay for this?

Yes. We can issue an invoice in your company's name. If your company wants to enrol five or more people, ask about the corporate cohort option — same content, different commercials.

When does the next cohort start?

[DATE]. Cohorts run every six to eight weeks. If this one fills, you'll be added to the waitlist for the next.

Ready to read
the numbers?

The next cohort begins [DATE]. Fifteen seats. They tend to go quickly.

Reserve your seat — $499

Secure checkout via Stripe · Full refund within 7 days · Questions? Get in touch