Accounting and Finance for Managers
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Accounting and Finance for Managers Course
Introduction:
The Accounting for Managers course is designed to equip managers with the necessary knowledge of accounting for interpreting financial statements and making informed business decisions. It explores how accounting transactions are compiled into financial statements and how performance information can be extracted from them. The course also addresses the impact of accounting information on decision-making in areas such as sales, marketing, human resources, and acquisitions.
Throughout the course, you will learn various tools, including target costing and constraint analysis, that can enhance your ability to make effective business decisions. While the course does not aim to train you as an accountant, it provides a solid understanding of how accounting functions within a business. This knowledge will complement your core business skills and other talents, enabling you to effectively communicate and collaborate with accounting professionals.
Course Objectives:
At the end of this Accounting and Finance for Managers Course, you will learn:
- Integrate financial concepts and policies into the management decision and budgeting process
- Evaluate the financial performance of companies.
- Control business operations through effective budget management
- The relevance of finance to operational decision-making.
- The relationship between operational and financial measures.
- Why a deeper understanding of cost and cost behaviour can help operational staff.
- The role of finance in project delivery.
- The role of stakeholders and their impact on an organization’s financial performance.
- The processes involved in deciding prices.
- A practical perspective into contemporary work practices in your field.
- How to implement an Action Plan at your workplace using the knowledge and skills acquired through the course.
Who Should Attend?
This Accounting and Finance for Managers Course Ideal for:
- Managers who wish to improve their analytical skills and use accounting and finance tools for managerial advantage.
- Those who wish to understand and use accounting knowledge for operational and management decision making.
Course Outlines:
Introduction to Accounting
- The two forms of accounting: financial accounting and management accounting
- The regulatory and conceptual framework
- Qualitative characteristics of useful financial information
- Types of business entity
- The annual report and financial statements
Accounting Concepts and Systems
- Statement of comprehensive income (income statement)
- Statement of financial position (balance sheet)
- Statement of cash flows
- Preparing a set of financial statements
- The income statement: cost of sales working
- Underlying concepts: measurement rules and fundamental accounting concepts
- Three further property, plant and equipment issues
- Recording accounting information
Financial Analysis: Part 1
- Financial statement analysis for investment purposes
- Other users and their needs
- Horizontal analysis and trend analysis
- Vertical analysis
- Ratio analysis
- Weaknesses and limitations
Financial Analysis: Part 2
- The drive for information
- Stakeholder management
- Corporate social responsibility reporting
- Earnings announcements, conference calls and investor presentations
- Media relations: press releases and newspaper coverage
- Social media and internet bulletins
Business Planning
- Business planning and control: the role of budgets
- The budget-setting process
- Basic steps of preparing a budget
- Budgeting in different types of organisation
- Limitations and problems with budgeting
- Improving business planning and budgeting
Budgets and Performance Management
- Responsibility centres
- The controllability principle
- Profit-related performance measurement
- Standard costing and variance analysis
- Performance management in investment centres
- Non-financial performance indicators
- The balanced scorecard
- Performance measurement in not-for-profit organisations
- External influences on performance
Cash Flow
- How much cash does a business need?
- Methods of establishing cash balances
- Cash forecasting: the cash budget
- Cash management: strategies for improving cash flow
- Interpreting and analysing a cash-flow forecast
Pricing Decisions
The accountant’s perspective – costing and pricing
- Absorption costing and full-cost-plus pricing
- Marginal-cost-plus pricing
- Activity-based costing (ABC) pricing
- Life-cycle costing and pricing