Finance for Non-Finance Executives(Lawyers, Engineers, e.t.c)

Course Overview:

Program Aim

This intensive training focus on the basics of accounting relevant to the current business needs of non-financial managers. These workshops will benefit non-financial managers who need to read and communicate financial information for planning and controlling financial performance.

Learning Objectives

• Getting Essential Financial Information Strategically
• Understanding Key Accounting Concepts and Update
• Effective Budgeting for Financial Planning
• Controlling Profit, Costs and Cash
• The Role of Non-Finance Executives in Managing Finance

Course Content

MODULE 1: QUICK FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ANALYSIS AND UPDATE

Getting Essential Financial Information Strategically

1. The need for financial information data (Why?)
   

• Managing finance for business success and career success
• Different users, information needs and key financial performance indicators
  

2. Understanding basic financial statements (What? How?)
   

• Balance Sheet & Profit and Loss Accounts: purposes, contents, structure, different presentations, relationships, relationship between statements
• How to extract key financial information strategically?
• Interpreting the main features and risks from key financial information
• Common accounting jargons 

Understanding Key Accounting Concepts and Update

1. Fundamental accounting principles

• Accrual vs cash basis
• Matching and deferral concept: accounting period for taking income and expenses
• Fixed assets, depreciation, capex vs opex
• Prudence concept: : loss provision for assets (eg inventories and trade receivables

2. Highlight of current changes: asset valuation (fair value) and asset impairment review (goodwill, intangible assets, fixed assets) 

MODULE 2: EFFECTIVE FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONTROL

Effective Budgeting for Financial Planning

• Overview of budgeting and forecasting process: Purposes and process of budgeting, types of budget reports, coordination among different departments
• Understanding basic costing concepts: Fixed costs vs variable costs, relevant costs, incremental costs, controllable costs, cost structure and pattern
• How to review the reasonableness of budgets? Review of key performance (profitability and costs), assumptions and key variables, the impact of over-budgeting and hidden costs

Controlling Profit, Costs and Cash

• Budgetary control: Variance analysis, investigation of variance and corrective action
• Flexible budgeting for changing activity level
• Lesson from cases of business success and failure: Financial strategy, practical tips of maximising profit and minimising costs
• Break-even analysis: Relationship among cost/ volume/ price, minimum sales for break-even, the risk of fixed cost with changing sales level
• Managing cash flow: Distinguish between profit and cash, the implication of cash flow forecast