Course details

Overview ?

The Course

This course offers an in-depth overview of the accounting and finance world. Part 1 emphasized the internal workings of the finance/control function as it communicates with external and internal constituencies to provide information for decision making under uncertainty. Part 2 emphasizes the capital markets impact on corporate finance, risk, and governance.

No preparation is necessary except to bring an open mind and a budget document or other financial documents of interest.

By combining techniques with analysis, problems and examples with real case studies, and supporting theories the course provides delegates with key finance terminology and practice. This course not only presents the key financial tools generally used, but also explains the broader context of how and where they are applied to obtain meaningful answers. It provides a conceptual backdrop both for the financial/economic dimensions of strategic business management and for understanding the nature of financial statements, analyzing data, planning and controlling.

The course is targeted at providing a university-quality ‘MBA’ overview of finance/accounting, planning/control, risk management, and corporate governance. Participants are expected to be high-potential learners seeking the next level of learning. Additional bibliographies, readings, and spreadsheets will be provided as takeaways.

The Structure

Module 1 - Accounting, Decision Making, & Financial Communication

Module 2 - Finance, Risk Management & Corporate Governance

The Goals

This course will help you learn how to:

Specify the exact nature and scope of corporate financial reporting
Identify and criticize specific concepts, rules, and procedures are in place for corporate financial reporting
Understand multiple interpretations of financial statements via IFRS, FAS, SEC, etc
Integrate risk management and corporate governance
Understand the content of and relationships between financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows)
Understand how to use financial statements to evaluate the financial performance of an organization
Understand discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques and their application to financial decision making
Understand the budgeting process, including performance evaluation
Understand cost behavior and its impact on management decisions
Learn how to communicate and to question financial information effectively

The Process

This workshop will be highly participatory and your seminar leader will present, guide and facilitate learning, using a range of methods including discussions, case studies and exercises. Where appropriate, these will include real issues brought to the workshop by delegates.

Lessons learned from the seminar will be applied to your own organization. Key performance indicators (KPIs) for the critical success factors (CSFs) will focus attention on high priority action plans for taking back to your organization.

The Benefits

Improved appreciation for the finance/accounting/governance approach
Better integration of business plans and strategic intent
Reduced inter-functional territorial battles
Improvements in communications between staff and line management
Higher productivity during the decision making process
Increased skill set in all phases of finance/accounting/governance
Greater ability to participate in and to lead the finance/accounting process
Recognizing the increased professionalism to deal with the current and future topics
Increased recognition by the organization of their learning and professional commitment
Challenging themselves in an immersive learning environment

The Core Competencies

Attendees will gain in the following competencies as a result of the program:

Using financial information for guiding decisions
Clarifying KPIs across different functions
Building strategic thinking and implementation orientation into their professional lives
Challenging the status quo of finance/accounting, budgeting, and decision making
Recognizing the value of external standards, governance requirements, and measurements of qualitative elements
Identifying Value Creation principles as the driving force for decision making

The Programme Content

Module 1:
Accounting, Decision Making, & Financial Communication

Accounting: An introduction

What is accounting?
What forms can accounting take
Definition and importance of profit
Decision scenarios explored
Funding business operations
Who is interested in profit?
Cash vs. Accrual accounting
Cash flow forecasting and improvement
Accounting policies chosen by companies
Accounting standards

Financial Statements, Accounting Policies, and Reporting Standards

Income Statement – basic components

Revenues & the questions
Direct/variable/product costs
Indirect/fixed/period costs
Mixed costs
Non-cash deductions: the what, the why & the how
- Depreciation: various methods explored
- Amortization: impairment test
- Depletion: when & how
The difference between profit and cash
A closer look at costs and expenses
Profit calculations
Summarizing profit statements and extracting the key figures

Balance Sheet

Assets – current & long term
Liabilities – current & long term
Equity – components
Capital employed - options
Managing the working capital cycle

Cash Flow Statement

Operating sources/uses
Investing sources/uses
Financing sources/uses

Making and Communicating Decisions using Budgets

The master budget
The budgeting as a planning tool, a control mechanism, a communications device & value creation
Budgeting Sales to “drive” the correct budget
Operating budget components
Financial budget
Pro Forma Financial Statements
Cash Budgets
Capital budget
Interrelationship of Financial Projections
Dynamics and Growth of the Business System – a model review
Flexible vs. traditional budgets – the pros & cons
Variance analysis as a tool for improvement & communications
Price and volume effects within variance analysis: state of the art

Financial vs. Management Accounting: differences and similarities

Objectives of Managerial Accounting
Managerial Versus Financial Accounting:
Role of the Managerial Accountant
Financial accounting: what we show to the public
Objectives of financial accounting
Role of financial accountant
Cost terminology: variable, fixed, controllable, non-controllable, incremental, sunk, opportunity, and relevant
Cost behaviors in Cost-Volume-Profit scenarios: contribution margin and fixed costs
Breakeven and targeted net income scenarios
Cost/Benefit analysis

Ultimatum Goal of Planning – Valuation, Business Performance & Decision Making

Definitions of Value
Responsibility centers: cost, profit, and investment
Measuring responsibility center performance
Segment reporting internally and externally
Business Valuation from multiple perspectives
Managing for Shareholder Value
Shareholder Value Creation in Perspective
Evolution of Value-Based Methodologies in planning and budgeting
Creating Value in Restructuring and Combinations beyond planning and reporting- the case for real change!

Module 2:
Finance, Risk Management & Corporate Governance

What is Finance & Working Capital – liquidity or bankruptcy

Finance is a numbers game
Yet finance is more than the numbers
The three major components of finance
Working capital (WC) defined
Relationship to current ratio
Components of WC
Inventory
Accounts receivable
Cash
Accounts payable
Notes payable
The critical rations to compute
What should they be & why
The questions to ask
The answers you want

Capital Structure – what it is & why it is important

Equity capital - what it is
Equity capital – calculating it costs/required rate of return
Debt capital – what is it really
Debt capital – calculating it costs/required rate of return
Weighted Cost of Capital (WACC) – why it is so important
Calculating your WACC
When & how to use WACC
Leverage: two-edged sword - defined
Operating leverage - calculated
Financial leverage - calculated
Combined leverage – Wow! Look at the impact

CAPEX - Analysis of Investment Decisions with What-if Risks

Cash Flows and the Time Value of Money
Discuss the capital project evaluation process
Ideas for the future with a multiple time periods horizon
Estimating cash flows within the business system
Net present value (NPV) & Internal Rate of Return (IRR) as preferred methods
Profitability Index (PI) & Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) as reasonable alternatives
Defining the approval criteria and review process
Post-implementation audits of capital projects
Refinements of Investment Analysis
Dealing with Risk and Changing Circumstances – how do we explain?
Cost of Capital and Return Standards
Benchmarking Discount & Hurdle rates

Risk Management as an integral part of Corporate Governance

Understanding uncertainty and risk/opportunity
Identifying strategic financial risks
Identifying operational risks
Identifying functional financial risks
Assessing financial risks in each perspective
Finding our personal risk profile (appetite for risk)
Clarifying desired outcomes, expected outcomes, and actual outcomes
Performance measures – the need for FRM/ERM
Quantitative and qualitative risks
Developing FRM/ERM strategy – do we need a CRO?
Other risk issues to be concerned with: Joint ventures, alliances, product liability, environmental risk, outsourcing risk, growth risk, R&D risk, natural disasters, catastrophic risks, supply chain risk, reputation risk, and psychology of risk among others

Corporate Governance

What is Corporate Governance?
Corporate Governance environment
Relevance of Corporate Governance
Perspectives on Corporate Governance
Shareholders vs. Stakeholders
Voluntary vs. Enforcement
1-tier vs. 2-tier boards
Chairman/CEO duality
The independent director
Corporate Governance models
Structure & practices
Emerging trends in Corporate Governance
Principal-Agent theory and applications
Independence in fact versus appearance

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Training Methodology

Mini MBA: Accounting & Finance

Course details

Have a look too on these courses

Accounts Payable From Accounting to Management (Planning, Organizing and Achieving Best Practices)

Corporate Finance

Finance for Managers

International Financial Reporting Standards

Budgeting, Forecasting and the Planning Process

The Financial Excellence Programme

Main Pages

Quick Access

More Details

Contact Info

Mini MBA: Accounting & Finance

Course details

This course will help you learn how to:

Attendees will gain in the following competencies as a result of the program:

Module 1: Accounting, Decision Making, & Financial Communication

Accounting: An introduction

Income Statement – basic components

Balance Sheet

Cash Flow Statement

Making and Communicating Decisions using Budgets

Financial vs. Management Accounting: differences and similarities

Ultimatum Goal of Planning – Valuation, Business Performance & Decision Making

Module 2: Finance, Risk Management & Corporate Governance

What is Finance & Working Capital – liquidity or bankruptcy

Capital Structure – what it is & why it is important

CAPEX - Analysis of Investment Decisions with What-if Risks

Risk Management as an integral part of Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance

Have a look too on these courses

Accounts Payable From Accounting to Management (Planning, Organizing and Achieving Best Practices)

Corporate Finance

Finance for Managers

International Financial Reporting Standards

Budgeting, Forecasting and the Planning Process

The Financial Excellence Programme

Main Pages

Quick Access

More Details

Contact Info

Module 1:
Accounting, Decision Making, & Financial Communication

Module 2:
Finance, Risk Management & Corporate Governance