No doubt about it, the more you know the language of business, the more you will be able to contribute to your organization’s success. Understanding the ins-and-outs of business finance, budgeting, and costs leads to wise and profitable decisions.
This fun and interactive course starts with a humorous DVD starring John Cleese, of Monty Python fame, and includes a competitive board game called Profit & Cash where participants simulate running a business.
Leita Hart-Fanta, CPA, the author of the McGraw-Hill book, Accounting Demystified is your guide.
Course objectives include:
- How profits are made and why profit can’t be your only focus
- How to use the three key financial statements to tell a story about the financial health of an organization
- What key financial metrics mean and how you impact them
- How the concepts of liquidity, solvency, and profitability impact a business
- How to scrutinize a P&L statement
- How to use cost terminology including variable, fixed, indirect, and direct costs
- How to develop revenue, expense, and capital projections
- How to determine the true cost of new hires
- How to increase cash flow
- How to best manage working capital
- How to determine a decision’s impact on profit and cash
- How to extract the information you need to manage from the organization’s financial reports
- How to link your strategic plan to your budget and performance metrics
Topics:
- The three key financial statements
– The balance sheet
– The income statement (P&L)
– The cash flow statement
- The concepts of liquidity, profitability, and solvency
- The common metrics used to determine the health of a business and the viability of a proposal
- The principles of cash flow and work flow management
- The terminology accountants used to discuss costs
- The line item budget and performance based budget
- The balanced scorecard and strategic plan and how to link them to the budget
- The family of performance metrics that keeps you on track with your budget
- The evidence necessary to back up budget projections
- The reports used by your organization to report on budget performance and financial results
Benefits:
- Professionals understand how to manage their departments using financial information
- Professionals become more confident in discussions with executive, customers, suppliers, employees, budget analysts, and controllers
- Professionals realize the tradeoffs between liquidity, profitability, solvency, and growth
Methods:
Financial Acumen is designed to be interactive and engaging for participants. Self-discovery is aided by numerous self-checks and discussions. The methods of training include:
- Terminology quiz
- Small group exercises
- Group discussions and questions
- John Cleese DVD
- Profit & Cash board game
Who should attend: Professionals
Program level: Beginning
Prerequisites: No prerequisites or advance preparation required
Delivery method: Group live
Recommended CPE credit: 16 hours
Questions? You can find our FAQ here.
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