Finance for Non-Finance Managers

2 days

Introduction

Knowing how to finance assets, forecast future cash flows, maintain a budget, determine which operations are profit generators and which are not, and judge the real economic merits of different investment opportunities will help you stay in business and turn a profit. Being able to calculate and assess the overall financial health of your business is an important part of an owners or managers position. This course provides the fundamentals of financial literacy and gives you the smart advice you need to increase your impact on financial planning, budgeting and forecasting. The course will explain what you need to know to be an intelligent consumer of financial information, to plan, and to use financial concepts in making better business decisions.

Programme Objectives

Having completed the programme, participants should be able to:

• Explain the functions of financial management
• Use financial language to communicate more effectively with financial professionals
• Understand the key financial statements and their purpose; balance sheet, income and cash flow
• Interpret an organisation, or profit centre using ratios and breakeven analysis
• Use of budgeting, forecasting and planning to evaluate and control the business
• How to use financial information to help them manage their business
• Demystify financial information and have confidence and control to make financial decisions.

Method & Approach

The programme is designed to give the managers enhanced learning through use of a variety of activities; case studies, individual and group exercises, question and answers opportunities, presentation to each style of participant learning. The sessions will be interactive and optimise the experiential learning process. Each delegate will leave with a personal development plan on how they will use the learnings.

Who should attend?

Nonfinancial managers and anyone who wants to develop their knowledge of financial practices to improve their managerial skills.

Course Content

Day 1

The Need for Financial Intelligence

• Understanding the foundation
• Understanding the art
• Understanding analysis
• Understanding the big picture

Finance within the Organization

• The makeup of the finance function

Concepts and conventions

• 7 Concepts
• 3 Conventions

Importance of Accounts

• Types of organizations
• Why are they needed?

Who needs Accounts

• 11 different users

Managing Money

• Where does money come from?
• Where does it go?

Accounting for Business

• The three key questions
  • How are we doing?
  • How did we do?
  • What are we going to do?
• Financial Accounting and Management Accounting ‰ÛÒ the differences

Annual Report

• The key elements of published reports and accounts.

åÊBalance Sheet

• Classifications
  • Types of assets
  • Types of Liabilities
  • Working capital
  • Shareholder‰Ûªs funds
• Layout

Profit and Loss

• Classifications
  • Revenue
  • Types of Costs
  • Levels of Profit
• Layout

Importance of Liquidity

• Cash is king
• Working Capital management
• Factors affecting liquidity
• Cash flow forecasting

Statement of Cash Flows

• Reconciling profit versus cash

Revenue and Costs

• Relationship between revenue and costs
• Marginal Costs and Marginal Revenue
• Opportunity costs
• Breakeven analysis
• Law of diminishing returns
• Profit maximization

Day Two

Ratio Analysis

• Types of ratios
  • Liquidity
  • Management
  • Leverage
  • Profitability
  • Investment
  • The Dupont System

Responsibility Centres

• Types of centres
  • Revenue
  • Cost
  • Profit
  • Investment

Budgeting

• Definition
• Reasons for budgeting
• Variance analysis
• Evaluation
• Types of budgets
• Human side of budgeting
• Tips for successful budgeting