Accounting and Finance Fundamentals

This program focuses specifically on the principles of business accounting and their impact on business decision-making. It is designed to provide a deeper understanding of accounting for people from other functional areas or lines of business.

Our experienced faculty will de-mystify accounting principles, helping you to understand and analyze financial statements, and to use accounting tools to make better business decisions. Session leaders present the material in a straightforward and engaging format that makes complex accounting concepts easy to understand.

Dynamic remote learning

Participate in the program from anywhere. Our remote learning platform combines live, interactive video instruction with breakout sessions, panel discussions, and expert Q&A.

Our learning platform is fully encrypted, allowing you to connect securely from home, office or anywhere in between.

Remote programs are designed to fit within your schedule, allowing you to learn new skills and immediately put them to work.

In this program you will learn to:

• Interpret accounting reports
• Use accounting tools to make better business decisions
• Engage in more productive communication with accounting and finance managers
• Understand the financial impact of business decisions

Personal Benefits

• Increased ability and confidence to include more analysis in your decision-making process
• Greater familiarity with accounting terms and acronyms permitting more effective communication with accounting and financial colleagues
• Better decision-making thanks to a more complete analytical skillset

Organizational Benefits

• Improved communication functional managers and accounting/financial managers
• Better decision-making with improved performance for the organization
• Higher retention of high-potential managers thanks to investing in their development and growth

Content

Module 1

Deciphering key accounting and financial statements

• Understanding the essentials of accrual accounting
• Learning how to read financial statements such as balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and statements of retained earnings
• Understanding financial concepts such as depreciation, sunk costs, retained earnings, and goodwill
• Interpreting cash flow patterns and recognizing trends in financial performance to make better business decisions

Assessing your organization’s health and evaluating its future direction

• Assessing working capital requirements
• Using accounting ratios to improve liquidity, profitability, capital structure and asset utilization
• Understanding how accounting fits into the broader decision-making framework
• Assessing the financial health of competitors

Module 2

Modelling profitability against changing volumes and cost behaviour

• Understanding cost behavior over a relevant range of activity
• Employing sensitivity analysis, break-even analysis, keep/drop analysis, and scenario analysis to improve decision-making
• Applying the principles of Target Costing to your operations
• Applying the principles of Activity Based Costing and Target Costing to your operations
• Employing sensitivity analysis, break-even analysis, keep/drop analysis, and scenario analysis to improve decision-making

Making more effective decisions on capital expenses, capital budgeting, and funding new initiatives

• Appraising investment opportunities and ranking capital investment alternatives
• Using financial tools such as Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), nominal and discounted payback to evaluate capital investment opportunities
• Understanding how to use Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Economic Value Added (EVA) for evaluating operating decisions