Finance Basics – Know Your Numbers
Date/Time: Thursday, 17 September 10:00am – 12:00pm
Location: Mount Martha House Community Centre, 466 Esplanade, Mount Martha, VIC, 3934
The Five Numbers That Matter Most in Your Business
A practical financial literacy workshop for women in business. No accounting background required.
Most of us didn’t start a business because we loved spreadsheets. We started it because we were good at something, and we wanted to do it our own way.
But somewhere between the invoicing and the BAS, the numbers can start to feel like someone else’s language — something your accountant handles, and you nod along to.
This workshop is about changing that.
Over two hours with CFO Dianne Dickson, you’ll learn to read your own financial reports with confidence, understand the five numbers that actually tell you how your business is going, and walk out with three clear actions to take over the next 90 days.
No jargon. No judgement. Just your numbers, finally making sense.
Your presenter — Dianne Dickson
Dianne is a WIBMPF member and a CFO who has spent her career making complex financial information make sense to the people who need to act on it.
She began at PwC working with enterprise clients across Australia, the UK and Italy, then spent three years as an independent consultant advising founders and CEOs of start-ups and established SMEs. For more than twelve years she was CFO at Grain & Bake Co, partnering with the founder to launch and scale a start-up manufacturing operation from $0 to $45M in revenue — leading capital raising, managing cash flow through rapid growth, and embedding the reporting and governance frameworks that made that growth sustainable. Before that she was Finance Director at STA Travel, leading a team of 20 and delivering a global shared services model that generated more than $1M in annualised savings.
Dianne is known for bringing clarity to complex financial and commercial challenges — and for being a genuinely generous teacher. Bring your questions.
Places are limited so everyone gets time with Dianne.
Dianne Dickson
WIBMPF Member Profile
What we’ll cover
- The five numbers that matter most — revenue, gross margin, operating profit, cash, and what’s coming next. What each one really tells you, and what it doesn’t.
- How to read your own reports — a plain-English tour of a P&L and a balance sheet, so you know where to look and what “good” looks like for a business like yours.
- Why profit and cash tell two different stories — the single most common thing that catches business owners out, and how to spot it early.
- What’s sitting in your numbers right now — time to look at your own business and name the biggest opportunity and the biggest risk hiding in plain sight.
- Your next 90 days — you’ll leave with three practical, written actions. Not a theory. A plan.
Who it’s for
Women running businesses at any stage — whether you’re in your first year or your fifteenth, whether you have a bookkeeper or you’re doing it all yourself. If you’ve ever opened a financial report and quietly hoped someone else would explain it, this one is for you.
What you’ll walk away with
By the end of the session you’ll:
- Know the five numbers that matter most in your business, and what each one is telling you.
- Feel confident reading your own financial reports — without an accounting background.
- Understand why profit and cash can tell two different stories, and know where to look when they do.
- Have identified the biggest opportunity and the biggest risk currently sitting in your numbers.
- Leave with three written actions to build your financial confidence over the next 90 days.
Places are limited so everyone gets time with Dianne.
Sponsor acknowledgement
This workshop is proudly supported by Community Bank Southern Peninsula, whose support makes it possible for us to deliver practical, affordable capacity building for women in business across the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston.
Ticket Prices:
Members: Free for current WIBMPF Members
Non-members: $49.00 (plus admin fee)
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book your tickets here
Date/Time: Thursday, 17 September, 2026 – 10.00am – 12.00pm
Location: Mount Martha House Community Centre, 466 Esplanade, Mount Martha, VIC 3934
Ticket Price: Free for members*
$49 for non-members*
Limited tickets available * plus booking fee