Investment Courses & Training

Our investment team very much enjoyed the forensic accounting course – with relevant reminders for the vintage corporate collapses, such as Polly Peck, and the more recent falls from grace, like Carillion or Patisserie Valerie. It is our job to avoid the portfolio torpedoes at all costs, which come from poor accounting.  It is always helpful to be reminded of them, especially at this stage in the cycle.  Our team’s discussions continued long after Steve’s departure. Behind the Balance Sheet planted an essential seed for fund managers and analysts alike - to question company numbers with greater scrutiny. Thank you.

It is easy to forget in a world where companies’ own narratives tend to dominate opinion that there is still a critical place for financial analysis.  Financial statements tell their own story, one that often challenges the company’s tale.  Steve’s course is a detailed and timely reminder of the importance of looking at the accounts and what might lie beneath the headline numbers.  His course covers the basics and  is full of anecdotes, examples and tips – as well as plenty of surprises.  You will learn a lot, be able to challenge and question companies more, and make better informed investment decisions.

I was delighted with the professional approach from Behind the Balance Sheet. Over thirty of our team attend the Forensic Accounting Course, and I am really pleased with the results. The team are more aware of accounting risks, and this enhanced awareness was a key objective given where we are in the cycle. Steve was very helpful in customising content and even put on an additional workshop to help some of the team further develop their accounting skills. I would highly recommend this product, so much so, we are now discussing follow-up programmes.

The content of Behind the Balance Sheet’s Forensic Accounting Course was selected and organ ised thoughtfully and well. The course was packed with useful pointers and tips, as well as rich examples and case studies that helped contextualise and bring the ideas and lessons to life.

The team, to a single person, found the Forensic Accounting Course very useful. From our point of view, it went very well and ticked the boxes we were after

Thanks very much for presenting to us. You pitched at exactly the right level and pace. There were lots of good examples and the range of global stocks were good. We all learned something.

Content is excellent, we were positively surprised over the details and breadth of examples of forensic accounting. The course very much delivers on its promise of understanding ways to manipulate company accounts. Making 4 hours of accounting in one sitting exciting isn’t easy but this was definitely both educational and enjoyable.

Steve gave our investment team 2 sessions of forensic accounting, and the entire team was impressed with both his easy, affable teaching style and immense wealth of experience. The sessions were practical, easy to follow, and had easily implementable ideas that I have no doubt will improve how we think about companies and detecting risks. I happily recommend Steve to any investment professional looking to sharpen their ability to critically analyse companies.”

Excellent course, relevant and suitable for all levels of experience from entry level analysts to seasoned portfolio managers. Steve does a great job in categorising the various relevant topics and manages to make the sometimes dull topics more entertaining.

I was very pleased with the content and impressed with the delivery. His presentation is packed with useful, actionable insights, which he presents in an engaging way. This is a highly technical subject, and far from being dry, Stephen really puts it to life with real examples from all over the globe and practical insights on how to not just uncover fraud and manipulation, but get a deeper understanding of accounting more generally. So in summary this is a very good investment and I’m already using some of his insights in my research.

Steve’s course was an excellent refresher in detecting accounting red flags and included lots of interesting and relevant case studies to illustrate concepts. The breadth and depth of the content was vast, and delivered by Steve in his usual engaging and energetic demeanour. I think what gives the workshop an edge over peers’ offerings is Steve’s unique insights as a successful analyst, the commendations for website.docx sheer number of relevant case studies and the range of topics covered. Overall, well worth the investment and far superior than alternative courses that I have attended.

Course was very well pitched and covered a lot of good material with a range of worked examples to enhance learning. Steve knows his stuff. Extremely good value from a very strong.

I found the case studies and examples very useful; it really opened by eyes to the importance of challenging company management on the numbers presented in the financial accounts, particularly within the cash flow statement.

Stephen Clapham has created an excellent course on forensic accounting that mixes inputs from academic research with practical cases from investing experience. This course, together with his coaching, are excellent for deepening an investor's knowledge of accounting, especially at a time of increased accounting complexity.

I really enjoyed the course and found it really thought provoking. It is depressing how CFOs are incentivised to polish their accounts to such an extent and I didn’t realise that these practises are as prevalent even amongst those who aren’t outright crooks. Your wealth of experience and the efforts you have made to find a breadth of examples across many countries makes the course really interesting.

A great course, really useful to hear from Steve and benefit from his many years of experience, he was very generous with his time and provided additional help outside the original brief’. An extended bull market and low rates has encouraged a very creative and loose accounting culture and this is a great course getting you prepared for when the tide goes out.

No time was wasted on the basics which can be gleaned from many a textbook. Steve punctuated the course with numerous relevant, real - world examples in order to keep the content current and engaging. The training, and subsequent access to online content, is a great addition to any analyst’s forensic accounting arsenal – regardless of prior experience.

I would recommend this course to any portfolio managers or analysts focussed on investment fundamentals. Steve’s lively style brings another level to what is an already fascinating subject matter, with additional insights from topical case studies/examples throughout. Everyone on our team benefitted from it.