This programme is designed for managers who are not accountants but need to have an understanding of how finance works. It demystifies finance and explains simply and clearly what they key financial statements mean, how they work and relate to each other and how the actions of managers affect them and the business

Objectives

At the end of the course participants will:

• Be at ease with financial language and get to grips with financial statements
• Understand cash flow and cash management
• Be able to radically improve planning and budgeting skills
• Know what management accounting is and costing on a relevant and accurate basis
• Know what figures reveal – understanding and interpreting accounts
• Be more aware of the impact of decisions on the profitability of the business
• Have a greater awareness of the finance function within the organisation 

Content

Topics to include:

• Accounting records – assets/liabilities, income/expenditure, the balance sheet and P & L
• Accounting terms – going concern, accruals, prudence, consistency an depreciation
• Cash flow and cash management – working capital, flow of funds and cash flow statements, gearing, current and liquidity ratios
• Budgets – the budget cycle, zero/priority based budgets, reviewing budgets
• Costing methods – cost definitions, full/absorption costing, activity based costing, marginal /break even costing and standard costing
• Interpreting accounts – ratio analysis, return on capital employed, assets turnover, fixed assets, debtor and stock turn
• Accounting policies and company valuations

Training Methods and Duration

The programme will be a highly interactive combination of formal content, workshop activities and individual exercises. The course is led by a marketer, not an accountant, who takes a practical, pragmatic approach to financial matters and translates the jargon, conventions and formats of accounting so that they become useful decisions making tools.