Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Financial Management of Social Entities

Financial Management of Social Entities
6
16552
1
First semester
OB
Main language of instruction: English

Other languages of instruction: Catalan, Spanish,

Teaching staff


Ms. GONZÁLEZ CARRILLO, Renato - rgonzalezca@uic.es

Introduction

Financial management for social enterprises and NGOs requires a distinct skill set: the ability to generate a surplus while remaining faithful to a mission. This course equips students with the technical and practical financial-management toolkit needed to lead, advise, or invest in social-purpose organizations. It is delivered in two complementary halves: the first builds fluency in reading and using the "Big Three" financial statements and applies that toolkit to real organizational examples; the second is fully practical, working through in-depth case studies anchored in three of the programme's career-outcome sectors — social economy/social entrepreneurship, public sector, and corporate CSR/sustainability — before students design, model, and defend their own real-life financial project.

Pre-course requirements

  • No formal prerequisites beyond admission to the Master's programme. 
  • Basic familiarity with spreadsheet software (Excel) is recommended, as several sessions involve hands-on financial modelling.

Objectives

  • Decode the "Big Three" financial statements through the lens of a social mission.
  • Apply practical impact-measurement and accountability tools (impact KPIs, transparency and good-governance review) to real organizational examples.
  • Develop the ability to build a business plan and financial projections for a social-purpose organization — business model, forward-looking projections, impact dossier.
  • Understand how social enterprises and conventional companies differ in financial behavior, and what practical consequences this has for how each is financially managed.
  • Design and defend a real-life financial project, integrating the full course toolkit into a single applied deliverable.

Learning outcomes of the subject

  • Interpret the financial health of a social-purpose organization using its full set of financial statements.
  • Apply social and environmental KPIs to measure and communicate impact.
  • Conduct a basic financial transparency/governance review and identify red flags in an organization's reporting.
  • Build a business plan and multi-year financial projections for a cooperative or social enterprise.
  • Contrast the financial and operational logic of organizations across the social economy, public, and corporate CSR sectors.
  • Design, model, and present a real-life financial project for a social-purpose organization.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  • ODS 01 - No Poverty. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Syllabus

  1. Foundations — Financial Statements in the Social Economy Context (Sessions 1–5): Basic financial concepts and cost structure in the SE context; investment, depreciation & financial-plan tools; income statement; cash flow/treasury statement; balance sheet.
  2. Planning, Impact & Comparative Financial Behavior (Sessions 6–9): Business model and multi-year financial projections; Excel-based feasibility plan; impact measurement (impact KPIs, transparency and good-governance review); social economy vs. conventional economy financial behavior.
  3. Guest Speaker & Assessment (Sessions 10–11): Guest speaker on financial management; theoretical and practical content check.
  4. Case Studies (Sessions 12–17): Social economy & social entrepreneurship (Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations); public sector (Calabash Community Hospital — capital investment decision); corporate CSR & sustainability (Carlsberg Group — decarbonizing draught beer).
  5. Final Project (Sessions 18–21): Kickoff and framing; working sessions with instructor checkpoints; final presentations.

Teaching and learning activities

In person



The course combines short theoretical lectures with hands-on, applied work:

  • Lectures introducing financial concepts and statements, illustrated with social-economy examples
  • In-class Excel exercises (feasibility plans, financial projections, cash-flow planning)
  • Applied case discussions (Som Mobilitat, Holaluz vs. Som Energia) in the first half
  • In-depth, two-session case studies with group work, Excel modelling, and group presentations in the second half
  • A guest-speaker session with a financial-management practitioner
  • A written test covering theoretical and practical content
  • A final real-life financial project, developed across four working sessions with instructor checkpoints and defended in a final presentation

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person



  • Theoretical & practical test: 20%
  • Case study participation & analysis: 30%
  • Final project & presentation: 50%

Bibliography and resources

  • Standard financial accounting texts: chapters on balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.
  • Thomsen, S. "Foundation Ownership at IKEA." Copenhagen Business School, Center for Corporate Governance.
  • nef (New Economics Foundation). "Measuring Value: A Guide to Social Return on Investment (SROI)."
  • CharityWatch and related reporting on nonprofit financial scandals (Feeding Our Future, United Way of America) — background reading for the transparency-audit exercise.
  • Ivey Publishing. "Charting a New Future for London Food Co-op."
  • Ivey Publishing, Centre for Building Sustainable Value. "Carlsberg Group: Decarbonizing Draught Beer."
  • The SROI Guide: A Framework for Social Return on Investment (evaluative vs. forecast models).
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