‘Finance for non-Finance Professionals’ transforms financial and accounting concepts into decision making tools you can use successfully every day. You learn to apply the fundamentals of finance to improve budget management, increase potential profits, and assess the financial performance of business activities.
You will learn how to
- Define the four key financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, cash flow and changes in owner equity as well as key financial terms such as profit, margins and leverage used in organizations
- Interpret the financial health and condition of a company, division or responsibility center and use financial information for management and evaluation
- Distinguish between accounting and finance and explain the finance role in running businesses
- Prepare a company’s operating budget and relate it to the organization’s strategic objectives
- Apply capital budgeting techniques and cost-volume-profit analysis to enhance decision making
Course Outline
- Understanding the accounting cycle
- The five main accounts in financial statements
- Income statement
- Accrual basis versus cash basis
- Balance sheet
- The balanced status
- Statement of owners’ equity
- Statement of cash flows
- Wrapping-up: the cycle of financial statements
- External and internal auditors’ responsibilities
- Understanding the accounting cycle
- The five main accounts in financial statements
- Income statement
- Accrual basis versus cash basis
- Balance sheet
- The balanced status
- Statement of owners’ equity
- Statement of cash flows
- Wrapping-up: the cycle of financial statements
- External and internal auditors’ responsibilities
Analysis of financial statements
- Why are ratios useful?
- Horizontal and trend analysis
- Vertical analysis: common size statements
- Common size financial statements
- Building blocks analysis and reading through the numbers:
- Liquidity ratios: ability to settle short-term dues
- Solvency ratios: ability to settle long-term dues
- Activity ratios: ability to manage assets efficiently
- Profitability ratios
- Limitations of financial ratio analysis
Working capital management
- Definition of working capital and working capital management
- Working capital management strategies for current assets
- Balancing profitability and liquidity
- Working capital management strategies for current liabilities
- trade-off between profitability and certainty
Recap: concept of financial management
- Accounting versus finance: rules and responsibilities
- Three pillars of finance
- Financing decisions
- Investing decisions
- Operating decisions
