Pricing a tender, dropping a product line or accepting a special order all hinge on understanding how cost, volume and profit move together. This practical course builds the cost volume profit toolkit that South African commercial and finance staff use to find breakeven, protect contribution margin and test decisions before committing. Delegates work through local scenarios covering rising input costs, foreign exchange pressure and volume swings.
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Register for this course| Module | Topic | Main competency |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Cost behaviour and cost classification | Reading cost behaviour from real ledger data |
| 02 | Contribution margin fundamentals | Confident contribution and margin calculation |
| 03 | Breakeven analysis | Breakeven in units and in money, correctly interpreted |
| 04 | Margin of safety and target profit | Measuring operating risk and planning profit |
| 05 | Product mix and limiting factor decisions | Allocating scarce capacity to the best return |
| 06 | Special orders and relevant cost decisions | Judging incremental business on relevant cost |
| 07 | Make or buy analysis | Financially sound outsourcing decisions |
| 08 | Sensitivity and what if analysis | Testing a decision against uncertainty |
| 09 | Applying cost volume profit analysis to business decisions | A defensible management recommendation |
Each training day runs 08:30 to 16:30 with morning and afternoon breaks and a lunch break. Timings can be adjusted to suit an in house group.
| Time | Session | Key topics | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:30 to 09:00 | Registration and introductions | Participant introductions; course expectations; overview of the programme; introduction to cost volume profit analysis; why it matters in commercial decision making; linking financial information to business decisions | Delegate introductions |
| 09:00 to 10:30 | Module 1: cost behaviour and cost classification | What cost behaviour is; fixed costs; variable costs; semi variable and mixed costs; direct and indirect costs; relevant and irrelevant costs; avoidable and unavoidable costs; identifying cost behaviour from accounting information; cost drivers; common classification challenges | Exercise: classify real business costs as fixed, variable or semi variable and discuss how each behaves as activity changes |
| 10:30 to 10:45 | Morning break | ||
| 10:45 to 12:30 | Module 2: contribution margin fundamentals | Revenue and variable costs; contribution margin; contribution per unit; contribution margin percentage; the relationship between contribution and profit; contribution against gross profit; how pricing affects contribution; how variable costs affect contribution; using contribution for decision making | Exercise: calculate contribution per unit and margins for several products, then test the effect of price and variable cost changes |
| 12:30 to 13:30 | Lunch | ||
| 13:30 to 15:00 | Module 3: breakeven analysis | Understanding the breakeven point; breakeven units; breakeven sales value; the effect of fixed costs, variable costs, selling price and contribution margin on breakeven; interpreting breakeven results; using breakeven in business planning | Exercise: calculate breakeven for a business and analyse how price, variable cost and fixed cost changes move the required volume |
| 15:00 to 15:15 | Afternoon break | ||
| 15:15 to 16:30 | Module 4: margin of safety and target profit | Understanding and calculating margin of safety; margin of safety percentage; actual sales against breakeven sales; understanding operating risk; calculating the sales required for a target profit; profit planning; assessing the impact of declining sales volumes | Case study: a business with falling sales volume, and the effect on breakeven, margin of safety and profit |
| 16:30 to 16:45 | Day one review and questions | Key learning points; questions and discussion; practical application of the day one concepts | Facilitated review |
What you take away from day 1
| Time | Session | Key topics | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:30 to 08:45 | Day one recap | Review of cost behaviour, contribution, breakeven and margin of safety | Short calculation exercise |
| 08:45 to 10:30 | Module 5: product mix and limiting factor decisions | Understanding product mix; contribution per product; identifying limiting factors; capacity, labour, machine hour and material constraints; contribution per limiting factor; allocating scarce resources; product mix decisions | Exercise: several products competing for limited capacity, and how contribution guides the allocation |
| 10:30 to 10:45 | Morning break | ||
| 10:45 to 12:15 | Module 6: special orders and relevant cost decisions | What a special order is; relevant costs and revenues; incremental revenue and incremental cost; spare capacity against full capacity; pricing below the normal selling price; qualitative considerations; accepting or rejecting additional business; avoiding the common special order errors | Case study on a discounted customer order |
| 12:15 to 13:15 | Lunch | ||
| 13:15 to 14:15 | Module 7: make or buy analysis | Understanding make or buy decisions; relevant costs; avoidable costs; unavoidable fixed costs; supplier pricing; internal production costs; capacity considerations; quality, operational and strategic considerations | Exercise comparing internal cost against a supplier proposal |
| 14:15 to 15:30 | Module 8: sensitivity and what if analysis | Introduction to sensitivity analysis; what if modelling; changes in selling price, variable costs, fixed costs and sales volume; multiple variable scenarios; rising input costs; foreign exchange pressure; identifying the key profitability drivers; understanding uncertainty and commercial risk. The modelled scenario combines a 10 percent input cost increase, a 5 percent price reduction, a 15 percent volume change, an exchange rate movement and a change in fixed operating costs | Scenario exercise, reading the effect on contribution, breakeven and profit |
| 15:30 to 15:45 | Afternoon break | ||
| 15:45 to 16:30 | Module 9: applying cost volume profit analysis to business decisions | An integrated business case covering pricing, cost behaviour, contribution margin, breakeven, target profit, margin of safety, product mix, special orders, make or buy and sensitivity analysis | Integrated business case, worked in groups |
| 16:30 to 17:00 | Course review, assessment and close | Review of the key concepts; participant questions; final practical exercise; course feedback; key takeaways; individual action planning; certificate of attendance | Final exercise and individual action plan |
What you take away from day 2
On successful completion of the course, delegates will be able to:
This course suits professionals involved in costing, pricing, budgeting, profitability analysis and commercial decision making: management, cost and financial accountants, finance managers, finance business partners and financial analysts, commercial managers and analysts, pricing and business analysts, business unit and operations managers, procurement and supply chain professionals, sales and commercial teams, budgeting and planning professionals, management consultants, and anyone pricing a tender or deciding on products and volumes. It is also written to work for non financial managers who need to see how cost, volume and pricing decisions move organisational profit.
Recommended entry level
No formal accounting qualification is required. Delegates should be comfortable reading a basic income statement and working with percentages, since every module is built on worked calculations. Delegates who bring their own product, cost and volume figures get the most from the exercises, and are encouraged to do so.
The programme is run as practical, competency based training rather than a series of presentations, so delegates rehearse the supervisory tasks they are expected to perform on their own sites. Methods used include:
Formative assessment
Practical assessment
Final assessment
Certification
| Dates | Venue | Days | Fee | Calendar | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 to 30 Sep 2026 | Johannesburg | 2 | R10,000 | Register | |
| 30 Sep to 1 Oct 2026 | Cape Town | 2 | R10,000 | Register | |
| 1 to 2 Oct 2026 | Durban | 2 | R10,000 | Register | |
| 5 to 6 Oct 2026 | Pretoria | 2 | R10,000 | Register | |
| 6 to 7 Oct 2026 | Windhoek | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 7 to 8 Oct 2026 | Gaborone | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 8 to 9 Oct 2026 | Maseru | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 12 to 13 Oct 2026 | Mbabane | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 13 to 14 Oct 2026 | Lusaka | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 14 to 15 Oct 2026 | Harare | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 15 to 16 Oct 2026 | Lilongwe | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 19 to 20 Oct 2026 | Blantyre | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 20 to 21 Oct 2026 | Mozambique | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 21 to 22 Oct 2026 | Nairobi | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 22 to 23 Oct 2026 | Dar es Salaam | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 26 to 27 Oct 2026 | Kigali | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 27 to 28 Oct 2026 | Kampala | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 28 to 29 Oct 2026 | Accra | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 29 to 30 Oct 2026 | Lagos | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 2 to 3 Nov 2026 | Cairo | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 3 to 4 Nov 2026 | Mauritius | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 4 to 5 Nov 2026 | Dubai | 2 | US$1,100 | Register | |
| 5 to 6 Nov 2026 | Online | 2 | US$900 | Register |
Fees are per delegate. South African venues are priced in rand; other locations and online in US dollars. Fees exclude 15% VAT where applicable. Group bookings of three or more delegates from the same organisation qualify for a reduced rate; contact us for a quotation.
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