Introduction

Financial skills and knowledge are vital for all managers in all organizations. A more challenging business and economic climate and an increase in financial delegation are making this even more so.

Many senior professionals miss formal training in finance and often feel uncomfortable when discussing financial matters with their peers and financial professionals. This interactive and engaging program addresses these important issues.

Key areas covered in this program include:

• Reading, interpreting and using financial statements (internal and external)

• Improving business cases and decision making

• Costing and presenting plans and proposals

• Working more effectively with budgets

• Delivering improved financial performance, profit & cash flow

Objectives

At the end of this program delegates will be able to:

• Read and interpret financial statements

• Analyze business performance

• Contribute to cash and working capital management

• Build budgets and Manage costs and budgets

• Present business cases and utilize financing techniques to improve decision making

Target Audience

• Junior and mid-level managers in all business functions
• Non-financial managers who need to understand finance and accounting
• Supervisors, team leaders, and department coordinators
• Project and operations managers
• Sales, HR, and administrative professionals involved in budgeting
• Entrepreneurs and small business owners
• Newly appointed managers with limited financial background
• Professionals seeking practical skills in financial analysis and decision-making
• Staff involved in budgeting, reporting, and performance monitoring
• Individuals aiming to improve financial literacy, cost awareness, and business decision-making

Outlines

DAY 1

The Basics

• Accounting Terminology and Policies

• Accounting as an information system

• The accounting equation- what does it mean

• Generally accepted Accounting Principles

• Differentiating between cash and accrual basis accounting

• Basic cash flow statements

• Walking through an Annual Report

• The annual report package

• The role of an external auditor

• The accountant’s report and auditor’s opinion

DAY 2

How To Interpret Accounts and Financial Statement Analysis

• Preparing income statement & balance sheet

• Financial and liquidity ratios

• The cash conversion cycle

• Working capital management

• Profitability and gearing ratios

• Du Pont Formula

• Financial & Non-financial analysis

• Credit analysis

• Z- Scores and credit ratings

• Bank lending decisions

DAY 3

Planning for Profit

• Understanding and working with costs

• Plan for cost reduction and profit improvement

• Fixed and variable costs income statement

• Break-even analysis

• Contribution margin

• Costing approaches – Full Absorption, Marginal, ABC

• Standard Costing

• New ideas in cost management – lean principles

DAY 4

Budgeting in Today’s Competitive Business

• The Budgeting Process

• The role of budgeting

• Annual budgeting process

• Identifying and resolving budgeting variances

• Different budgeting systems in use today

• Budgeting tips and techniques

• Variance analysis

DAY 5

Cash Flow & Investment Decisions

• Capital budgeting

• Weighted Average Cost of Capital

• Present Value

• Internal Rate of Return – method

• Profitability Index

• Discounted cash flow