Finance for Decision Makers Training

• Accounting information in its decision making context;
• External financial reports;
• Financing and business structures;
• Financial statement analysis;
• The time value of money;
• Capital budgeting;
• Cost-volume-profit analysis;
• Management accounting tools of analysis;
• And budgeting.

The overall aims of this course include the following:

1. To provide a basic understanding of the economics of business

     For example:

• How cash flows through a business
• What are the resources of an entity
• How are those resources funded
• What are the different sources of funding
• Short-term liquidity and working capital management
  
  

2. To introduce the role of accounting and how accounting captures information about the economics of an entity.

     For example:

     Accounting provides information about:

• Financial resources and obligations (via the balance sheet)
• Financial performance (via the income statement)
• About the cash flows (and their different types) via the cash flow statements)
• Who wants to know to Develop an understanding of the ‘language’ of accounting (i.e., accounting uses everyday terms with specialist meanings; alternate names exist for the same items)
• What are the components (elements) of the information in accounting – i.e., assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, expenses

3. What are the key questions in financial reporting?  i.e., What is a ‘transaction’?

• Definitions
• Recognition
• Measurement
• Disclosure Introduce students to the reality that alternative but legitimate differences can exist about how the key questions above are answered and the resulting impact upon financial statements
• What are the reasons for diversity in accounting practice?

4. To enable students to prepare their own basic financial statements Transactions analysis; making choices

5. To enable students to understand the ‘story’ told by financial statements and the implications for the story when different      choices are made:

• Develop skills in financial statement analysis throughout the course material
• focus students’ understanding of the inter-connectivity and causality between the different components of financial information
• Provide a detailed focus on the use of accounting for decision making by parties both external and internal to an organization
• Basic internal decision-making applications – e.g., cost behaviour, cost-volume-profit analysis, product costing
• To assist to develop an ‘intuition’ about the impact of transactions on an entity’s financial condition, performance, and cash flows.

• Explain the concepts that underlie the preparation of general-purpose financial reports;
• Explain the purpose of and factors which influence the content of a balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows;
• Analyze financial statements;
• Explain the information needs of management;
• Explain and apply the concepts of present value and future value;
• Undertake a simple capital budgeting exercise;
• Discuss and apply cost-volume-profit analysis;
• Apply various management accounting techniques to analyze decisions faced by management; and
• Demonstrate an understanding of the role and preparation of budgets.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This program is designed for:

• Non-financial managers in every functional area of responsibility in all industries
  
• Technical professionals with direct financial responsibilities