Accounting and Finance Fundamentals

This 2-day program focuses specifically on the principles of business accounting covered in our 5-day Finance for the Non-Financial Manager program. It is designed to provide a deeper understanding of accounting for people from other functional areas. 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.

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

DAY 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

DAY 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

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

DAY 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

DAY 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