Your team is technically capable. But are they truly adding value?
The gap between accountant and Finance Business Partner is where performance is won or lost. This Academy is designed to close it.
Most finance teams are built to report the past. CFOs today need professionals who can drive insight, challenge assumptions, influence decisions, and add real commercial value.
Finance teams have become sophisticated reporting machines — producing accurate numbers on time, every time. But leaders are left to draw their own conclusions, and accuracy alone doesn't translate to value.
The shift from reporting to insight requires finance professionals to understand the business deeply enough to tell leaders not just what happened, but why it happened and what it means for decisions ahead.
We equip your team to translate data into stories that resonate with operational and executive leaders.
Technical competence is the price of entry — it is not a differentiator. The finance professionals who earn a genuine seat at the table are those who operational and executive leaders actively seek out for counsel.
Building that trust requires more than producing good analysis. It means developing the judgement to identify what matters, the courage to deliver an honest point of view, and the interpersonal skills to maintain relationships when the message is difficult.
We build up your team to be trusted advisors — not order-takers who challenge assumptions and help leaders make better decisions.
When finance teams spend most of their time responding to requests — pulling data, re-running models, answering ad hoc queries — they have no capacity left to contribute strategically.
The calendar fills up with urgent tasks, and the important work of identifying value drivers, anticipating risks, and shaping commercial decisions never gets done.
We help high-performing finance business partners invert this dynamic — bringing insight to the table before it's asked for.
Finance Business Partner Academy — 5 Core Modules
Turn financial data into compelling narratives that drive decisions. Learn to construct a clear story from complex numbers — one that resonates with executives and moves people to act.
Build the confidence and structure to present effectively to boards and executive teams. Learn to command attention, manage the room, and influence outcomes rather than just report them.
Map what moves the needle. Connect the operational levers your business teams pull every day to the financial outcomes that matter — and communicate that link with clarity.
Apply proven frameworks — Five Whys, fishbone, root cause analysis — to identify the real issues behind financial performance, not just the symptoms that appear in the numbers.
Translate strategy into plans that stick. Build operational budgets and targets that hold, and develop the skills to support teams through rigorous, commercially intelligent delivery.
"The gap between accountant and Finance Business Partner is where performance is won or lost."
Closing that gap is exactly what the Finance Business Partner Academy is designed to do.
5
Core Modules
Real
Case Studies
Designed For
Finance teams in mining, resources, and industrial businesses who are ready to move beyond scorekeeping.
What sets the Finance Business Partner Academy apart is not just what we teach — it is how we teach it.
We aim for our training sessions to be interactive, fun, and — as a result — impactful. Participants should come ready to be engaged and challenged as we explore their presentation skills, their engagement styles, and dig deep into how they influence others.
The result is capability that sticks — because it was built by doing, not listening.
The case study method — pioneered at Harvard Business School — is the world's most rigorous approach to developing practical business judgement. Rather than lecturing on theory, participants are placed in the role of a decision-maker facing a real, complex commercial situation.
They must analyse incomplete information, weigh competing priorities, and defend their recommendations under pressure. Every case study is drawn from real finance challenges inside mining and asset-intensive businesses — the environments your team operates in every day.
Cases are drawn from actual mining and industrial environments — not generic MBA examples. Your team recognises the situations immediately.
Wen has worked as both a Finance Leader and a Production Coal Manager. He teaches what matters in an operational business — not what looks good in a classroom.
Every module is designed to close the gap between technical accounting competence and genuine finance business partnering. No padding. No filler.
Participants leave each session with frameworks, templates, and language they can apply immediately — building confidence alongside capability.
Principal, StratumCore
+61 451 954 594 | wen@stratumcore.com.au
Wen is a finance and transformation leader with deep experience across mining and industrial sectors — including roles at BHP, Wesfarmers, and BUMA.
Having worked on both sides of the fence as a Finance Leader and Production Coal Manager, Wen teaches finance teams what it takes to partner effectively with operational leaders.
He is a Chartered Accountant (CA ANZ), Chartered Secretary (AGIA), and Harvard Business School alumnus.
Proven Track Record
StratumCore's work across finance transformation and commercial advisory has delivered measurable results across some of Australia's largest mining and industrial businesses.
A$30m+
Annualised cost savings delivered
~30%
Reduction in finance activity costs
A$1bn+
In contract negotiations supported
Reach out to discuss how the Finance Business Partner Academy can be tailored to your team's context — whether as a structured program or targeted workshops.
