Corporate Finance for Non-Finance Directors

Driving Corporate Performance, Capital Allocation, Shareholder Value Creation and Market Valuation

As at June 2026, only about 250 companies of Malaysia’s roughly 1,100 public-listed companies (PLCs) have generated average returns on equity above 8%, while more than 50% of companies listed on Bursa Malaysia since January 2025 traded below their IPO prices. Many Malaysian PLCs have fundamentally sound businesses but are valued at less than their book value.

The Securities Commission Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia introduced the My Value Up Programme in April 2026 to address these valuation discounts and encourage PLCs to shift corporate culture from compliance toward active value creation for shareholders, articulate long-term strategies more effectively and enhance local and foreign investor confidence.

Today's boards are increasingly expected to look beyond historical financial reporting and analysis. This one and a half day in-person programme introduces participants to the principles of modern corporate finance that underpin boardroom strategic or financial decision-making, and are also in line with the value creation objectives of the My Value Up initiative.

It explains how investment decisions, financing policies, efficient capital allocation and returns above their cost of capital create value and sustainable free cash flows that ultimately determine a company's intrinsic value, enterprise value, market valuation and long-term shareholder returns.

The programme is not designed to turn participants into accountants or corporate finance specialists. Instead, it equips non-finance directors and senior executives with sufficient financial knowledge to ask the right questions and participate confidently and insightfully in board deliberations before decisions are made.

By the end of the Programme, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate financial performance drivers using the DuPont Model and explain how these influence Return on Equity (ROE).
• Understand capital structure, sources of finance, cost of equity, cost of debt, the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), and their implications for financing decisions.
• Apply established capital budgeting techniques, including Payback Period, Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) in appraising capital investment proposals.
• Recognise why companies create sustainable value only when Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) consistently exceeds their cost of capital.
• Appreciate the importance of capital allocation decisions involving reinvestment, acquisitions, dividends, debt reduction and share buybacks in enhancing shareholder value.
• Know the relationship between growth, ROIC, free cash flow generation, economic profit, intrinsic value, enterprise value and market valuation.
• Understand how investors assess companies using market metrics such as Earnings per Share (EPS), Price-Earnings (P/E), Enterprise Value/EBITDA, Price-to-Book (P/B) and Total Shareholder Return (TSR).