Presentation Skills for Finance Professionals

Introduction

You may have highly developed finance knowledge and accounting skills; you might be the master of the Excel spreadsheet – but in today’s highly competitive work place those talents will not by themselves be enough to get you out of the accounting office and in to the C-suite with the real decision makers. The most successful CFO’s and Finance Directors achieve their place at the boardroom table by mastering the skills to interpret and communicate financial information in a way that provides key insights in to business performance for the organisation’s strategic decision makers. This programme will equip you with the essential skills to prepare and deliver winning financial presentations.

This seminar will highlight:

• The way to convert financial data to provide meaningful business insights
• Integrating financial and other key performance measures
• How to harness Excel and Powerpoint for making winning presentations
• Understanding and meeting the needs of your audience
• The rules for making financial presentations with real impact
• How to avoid the most common mistakes and pitfalls

Programme Objectives

The programme explains and practically demonstrates how to prepare for, plan and deliver financial presentations with real impact to internal and external audiences.

At the end of this seminar, you will learn to:

• Produce clear reports and business insights using Excel and Powerpoint
• Integrate financial and non-financial performance measures
• Understand the needs of your audience when making financial presentations
• Use the proven rules of effective communication to get your message across
• Make presentations with real impact to internal and external audiences
• How to handle difficult questions and challenging people

Training Methodology

The programme is presented in a highly participative workshop format using seminars, case studies and practical examples. Delegates will have the opportunity to develop practical skills for preparing financial presentations and practice making financial presentations in a safe environment. The programme also includes practical hands-on sessions to demonstrate the use of Excel and Powerpoint for presentations. The programme facilitator is a former Finance Director with more than 20 years experience of making financial board-level presentations to non-financial colleagues and external stakeholders.

Organisational Impact

The organisation will gain through the development and application of capabilities and skills in key areas of communicating key financial insights to decision-makers; specifically benefits will include:

• Improved awareness of key business performance measures
• Greater insights from better interpretation and presentation of financial data
• Better integration of financial and non-financial performance measures
• Raised levels of professionalism and communication skills in the finance team
• Improved human talent pool for internal succession planning
• More effective communication with internal and external stakeholders

Personal Impact

Delegates will learn the principles and practical skills to improve communication with non-financial managers and make effective financial presentations to them; specific capabilities and skills include:

• How to link financial measures to strategic organisational goals
• Using Excel and Powerpoint to produce professional standard presentations
• How to communicate effectively with non-financial managers
• Designing and writing business reports with impact
• Planning and making confident presentations
• Understanding audiences and dealing with difficult questions

## Agenda

Day1 - Financial analysis and interpretation

• A practical approach to financial analysis
• Understanding the strategic context for financial information
• Calculating and interpreting financial ratios
• Using Excel to produce reports and graphics with impact
• Why non-financial managers find finance difficult

Day2 - Integrating financial and non-financial performance measures

• Using an effective performance management framework
• Identifying organisational key performance indicators (KPI’s)
• Understanding and using a balanced scorecard
• The principles of integrated reporting Designing and using dashboards

Day3 - Preparing for a financial presentation

• How to communicate key finance concepts effectively
• Principles of financial interpretation and business insight
• Using Excel to produce graphics with impact
• Designing Excel reports for non-financial readers
• Avoiding common mistakes in presenting financial information

Day4 - Planning a financial presentation

• The principles of effective communication
• Understanding your audience and their needs
• Using Powerpoint to produce professional quality presentations
• Designing a winning financial presentation
• Avoiding common mistakes in presentations

Day5 - Delivering a winning financial presentation

• How to write an effective financial report
• Tips for delivering a knock-out presentation
• Managing nerves and presenting like a professional
• Handling difficult questions
• Managing meetings and audiences