Introduction
This seminar provides business professionals with a deeper understanding of financial management as practiced by today's most powerful companies by demystifying the complex world of finance and providing the tools and insights that you will need to meet your own professional goals and the greater goals of the organizations you serve.
The seminar is split into two modules:
MODULE I - Corporate Financial Planning, Budgeting & Control
MODULE II - The Oxford 5-Day MBA in Finance
Each module is structured and can be taken as a stand-alone course; however, delegates will maximize their benefits by taking Module 1 and 2 back-to-back as a two-week seminar.
Course Objectives of Oxford Financial Excellence
By the end of this seminar delegates will be able to:
- Acquire an understanding of the fundamentals of the successful management of corporate financial performance, from the development of strategy through planning and budgeting to performance monitoring and control
- Develop practical experience of the workings of a best practice financial performance management model, and of how to improve corporate financial performance in real-life
- Gain the insights required to win in the global marketplace, for example relating to:
- interpreting financial statements
- evaluating financial performance
- financial forecasting
- the financing decision
- determining the cost of capital
- evaluating investment opportunities
- managing risk
- Raise financial skills
Training Methodology of Oxford Financial Excellence
Using a combination of seminars, team exercises, and individual exercises, delegates will gain both a theoretical and practical knowledge of the topics covered. The emphasis is on the practical application of the topics and as a result, delegates will return to the workplace with both the ability and the confidence to apply the techniques learned.
There will be a strongly participative, learning-by-doing, style, making extensive use of short case studies (both numeric/ analytical and non-numeric/descriptive) and syndicates, as well as open plenary discussion sessions.
Some parts of the course will include short revision/refresher sessions on accounting and DCF basics. Each day will comprise several sessions, introducing new material to build on the learning in the previous sessions.
The seminar manual will include copies of all the material used.
Organizational Impact of Oxford Financial Excellence
- Delegates will develop a set of transferable skills which will improve their powers of financial planning helping the company to increase profit, improve cash flow whilst minimizing costs and risk
- Delegates will not only be able to analyze various business problems but will also be able to evaluate various courses of action and make sound recommendations for action using leading software
- They will become more aware of the importance of effective planning, budgeting and forecasting making the capital budgeting process more cost-effective
- Updating delegates with recent developments in risk management
- Providing exposure to numerous annual reports and real-life cases
- Emphasizing the role of risk in decision making
Personal Impact of Oxford Financial Excellence
- Develop an understanding of today’s major issues in international corporate finance and budgeting
- Make improved finance and capital budgeting decisions, which will increase your importance to your organization.
- Be able to identify areas in which they may be able to contribute to improvements in the financial performance of your company which will help improve your career development.
- An ability to utilize sophisticated investment appraisal techniques
- An appreciation of the key items from an annual report and recognition of important ratios and linkages
- Recognition of the appropriate tool to manage risk
Course Outlines of Oxford Financial Excellence
Module I
Corporate Financial Planning, Budgeting & Control
Day 1
Corporate Financial Planning
- Strategic Planning
- The Objective of the Firm – meeting Shareholder & Stakeholder Objectives
- Agency Theory – the relationship between Shareholders & Management
- Creative Accounting and the Case of Enron
- Preparing a Strategic Plan
- Financial Management & Financial Planning – the Scope, Role & Responsibilities of Financial Management
- Preparing a Financial Plan – The Master Budget
- Forecasting Future Cash-flows
- Time Series Analysis
- Correlation & Regression
- Financial Modelling
Day 2
Financing the Plan
- Sources of Finance – Long Term & Short Term
- Evaluation of the Types of Finance
- Equity Finance
- Debt Finance
- Hybrid Finance & Financial Engineering
- The Dividend Decision
- The Cost of Capital
- Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
- Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
- The Capital Investment Process
- Payback
- Accounting Rate of Return (ARR)
- Net Present Value (NPV)
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
- Capital Investment Appraisal
- Capital Rationing
Day 3
Preparing & Managing Budgets to support the Financial Plans
- Definition of Budgets
- The Budgetary Process
- Types of Budgets
- Fixed
- Flexible
- Incremental
- Zero Based
- Activity-Based Budgets
- The Purpose/Benefits & Problems/Limitations of Budgets
- Setting/Implementing Effective Budgets - Eliminating the Problems
- Budgetary Control
- Responsibility Accounting and Absorption Costing
- Activity-Based Budgeting/Costing (ABB, ABC)
- Variance Analysis
- Cost Behaviour & Break-Even Analysis
- Sensitivity/What-If Analysis
- What-If Analysis combined with Du-Pont Analysis
Day 4
Managing and Controlling Cashflow to support the Financial Plan
- Cash versus Profit
- The Cash Conversion Cycle
- Calculating and Managing the Cashflow Cycle
- Cash Flow Ratios
- Working Capital
- The Cost of Maintaining Working Capital
- Maintaining the Optimum level of Working Capital
- Working Investment Ratios
- Preparing a Monthly Cash Flow Forecast
Day 5
Managing Financial Risk
- Risk Management
- Types of Risk
- Identifying Risk – SWOT Analysis
- The Major Quantitative & Qualitative Risks Facing Companies
- Establishing a Risk Management Strategy
- Financial Risk Management & Hedging Techniques
- Financial Risks
- Managing Exchange Rate & Interest Rate Risk
- Derivatives
- Forwards
- Futures
- Options
- Swaps
- Risk Management Glossary of Terms
Module II
The Oxford 5-Day MBA in Finance
DAY 6
An Introduction to the Financial Markets
- An introduction to the equity markets:
- IPO
- Market Indices
- International Equity Market Links
- An introduction to bond markets
- Long Term versus Short Term
- Treasury versus Corporate
- Types of Bond
- The spot and forward market
- Exchange Rate trends and linkages
- Carry Trades
- Futures
- Options
- An introduction to the FX market
- An introduction to the Derivatives Market
- The link between risk and return
DAY 7
Evaluating Investment Opportunities
- The Markowitz model of Portfolio Risk
- The Capital Asset Pricing Model
- A practical application of the CAPM to a range of companies
- The time value of money and discounted cash flow techniques
- The Gordon Growth Model
- A practical application of forecasting dividends
- Determining the Cost of Debt
- The Ameritrade Case
- The importance of the cost of capital
- Scenario analysis
- The weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
- A practical application of the IRR approach
- Pitfalls in using the IRR approach
- Investment Appraisal using the Net Present Value approach
- Payback and adjusted Payback
- The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) approach
- Real Options
DAY 8
A Walkthrough an Annual Report
- The Balance Sheet
- The Income Statement
- The Cash Flow Statement
- Ratio Analysis
- A practical application of Ratio Analysis:
- Apple v Microsoft
- Next v Tesco
- Easyjet v British Airways
- Forecasting Sales
- The cost of sales approach
DAY 9
The Corporate Financing Decision
- Financial Leverage
- Modigliani and Millers Theory of Capital Structure
- The Risk of Bankruptcy
- The Optimal Capital Structure
- The Dividend Decision
- The clientele effect
- The taxation effect
- The principal-agent problem
- The market for Corporate Control
DAY 10
Risk Management
- Hedging Exchange Rate risk using:
- the forward market
- the options market
- zero-cost collars
- Hedging commodity price risk using:
- Options
- Futures
- Practical Application of airlines hedging fuel price risk- the importance of correlation
About Dubai
Dubai, located on the Persian Gulf, is one of the seven United Arab Emirates and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The discovery of oil in the region has made Dubai extremely wealthy, allowing it to build the glittering skyscrapers that it is now famous for. That wealth is strongly in evidence in Dubai and visitors will see luxurious buildings and supercars aplenty. Perfect beaches and endless shopping opportunities are to key to Dubai's attractions. Flights to Dubai open up the city's cultural attractions to tourists, with beautiful mosques, museums and art galleries scattered throughout this ultra-modern metropolis.
Things to do and places to visit in Dubai
Dubai's wealth has made it famous for building ever taller buildings and creating artificial islands off its shores. The city's hotels are luxurious and shoppers will love its extensive shopping malls which showcase all the world's top brands. Dubai's attractions don't end there. Dubai also caters to adventure lovers, who can jump in a 4x4 or on a board to speed over dunes outside the city. Local culture mustn't be forgotten either, and visitors have wonderful mosques to visit and old districts to explore. All that combined means that a flight to Dubai is sure to lead to an unforgettable holiday.
When visiting Dubai, be sure to:
- Go to the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
- Admire the intricately beautiful Grand Mosque, which has the tallest minaret in the city.
- Understand the local history and culture with a visit to the Dubai Museum.
- Discover objects from the 6th century at Jumeirah Archaeological Site.
- Go skiing – That's not a joke, the Mall of the Emirates houses a snowdome.
- Go shopping at the Mall of the Emirates or the Dubai Mall.
- Explore the desert surrounding the city – either by 4x4 or atop a camel.
- Eat fantastic seafood at Dubai Marina.
- Cool off at the Wild Wadi Waterpark.
- Marvel at gorgeous Arabic calligraphy at Jumeirah Mosque, the biggest in the city.
- Take a yacht tour around the artificial islands of Palm Jumeirah.
- Haggle for souvenirs in one of the city's souks.
- Wander around the traditional building in Bastakiya District.