Business Finance & Accounting For The Non Financial Manager

Managers, especially those new to management positions, need to not only be adept at their specific area of expertise, but also to be able to confidently and competently manage the financial health of their business unit. 

A firm grasp of key finance and accounting concepts is seen as essential for career progression and your effective participation in the strategic and financial decision-making and analysis required of you by your Executive Leadership Team.

This in-depth and intensive 2-day course is designed specifically for you. It gives you the knowledge and confidence so that you understand:

• Why accounting, finance & the numbers matter
• The key building blocks of financial control
• Cash flow – your lifeblood
• Managing a profit or cost centre
• Your new manager’s guide to budgeting
• How to draw it all together for effective decision making

Key Learning Outcomes:

• Clarity and confidence in your knowledge of business finance & accounting principles and terms
• The ability to connect facts with figures and communicate with your Executive Leadership Team in financial terms
• Understanding of the building blocks of the financial control of your business unit
• Insight into how cash flow must be managed
• The building blocks to assist you in budgeting
• Knowledge of how to deploy your new understanding of finance & accounting in your business decision making

Outline:

• Why Finance, Accounting & The Numbers Matter
• Financial jargon demystified
• Accounting records, ledgers and trial balance
• P&L account and balance sheet
• Debits vs credits
• Income vs expenditure
• Assets vs liabilities
• Capital vs revenue expenditure
• The importance of timing: when a sale becomes a sale
• Accountability and responsibility
• Accounting & report requirements
• Accounting standards, requirements & business size
• IRD requirements
• Private vs public companies
• The Key Building Blocks Giving You Control
• The Financial Statements decoded
• Differentiating income, operating & capital expense items
• Sales & cost recognition - timing
• How you can put the pieces together to measure your profit & business success
• Analysing your balance sheet
• How the Balance Sheet reveals the worth of an established business
• Current & non- current assets vs liabilities
• Understanding depreciation and amortisation
• Linking the Financial Statements to the balance sheet
• Business worth – understanding shareholder equity
• Exercise: Analyse the financial statements of two companies in order to understand and evaluate their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities
•  Managing Your Cash For Business Success
• How Your Business Activity Drives Cash Flow
• Pulling apart the concepts of cash flow and profit
• The importance of fully understanding cash flow drivers and the levers to manage them
• How cash flow statements indicate the stability, adaptability and long-term potential of a company
• Credit and cash flow
• Quantifying your cash needs over time – cash flow forecasts
• Depreciation and amortisation
• How depreciation impacts budgets over time
• Depreciation calculation
• Understanding working capital management
• Return on capital employed
• Profit margin
• Efficiency measures (asset/stock turnover)
• Debtor/creditor days
• Gearing & liquidity
• Exercise: Cash flow identification
• Managing a profit centre
• Which cost method is best for your business?
• Understanding the differences between direct and indirect costs, overheads etc
• Fixed & variable costs
• Break-even analysis to ensure fixed costs are covered
• How discounting can easily make you a Winner or a Loser
• How discounting may energise sales
• The corrosive impact on margin
• Exercise: Study examples that reveal the impacts on margin of various pricing and discount decisions.
• A New Manager’s Guide To Budgeting
• Budgets are more than numbers
• Revealing the purpose of budgets – how to understand your organisation’s strategy and link your business unit’s goals through a budget
• Your budget as a motivator
• Goal setting – striking the right balance between stretch and realism
• The relationship between your budget and how your Executive Leadership Team is measuring your performance
• Types of budgets
• Cost-plus
• Zero-based
• Rolling Budgets
• Using your budgeting as a planning & control tool
• The budget isn’t an annual chore, it’s how you control your business
• Key budgeting techniques and approaches
• How to forecast sales revenues and expenses
• The budget and reality
• Post-budget review
• The importance of not leaving the budget in the top draw
• Uncovering & investigating budget variance
• Variance reporting and analysis
• Exercise: "Budgeting Setting"
• Bringing It All Together
• Applying financial tools and concepts in the real world
• The Annual Report – what does it tell us about company health?
• Recognising traps in reporting and how the numbers are presented