Financial Strategy & Accounting Skills

Introduction

This LAKESHORE ISL Financial Strategy & Accounting Skills training seminar provides an understanding of the essential fundamentals of corporate finance, strategy, financial management, budgeting and costing. Contemporary practical examples are presented together with the theoretical principles to make the theory come to life. The overriding objective of this LAKESHORE ISL Finance & Budgeting training seminar is to present a number of integrated and powerful principles and best practices to help develop analytical skills and the decision-making capacity of the participants.

This LAKESHORE ISL training course will enable you to:

• Appreciate the importance of using the appropriate financial strategy to create shareholder value above market expectations
• Consider how corporate behavior impacts on achievement of corporate Objectives, and the importance of corporate governance
• Understand financial strategy relating to stages of corporate development and capital structure
• Use and evaluate the various techniques of capital investment appraisal
• Effectively manage cash and working capital to reduce costs and improve cash flow
• Master the finance and accounting jargon to understand business processes
• Cost analysis for budgeting purposes and decision-making
• Financial and operational measures to support the budgeting process
• Best practices to manage organizational performance
• Link strategy to costing and performance evaluation

The training seminar is split into two modules:

MODULE I – Financial Strategy

MODULE II – Business Financial & Accounting Skills

Each module is structured and can be taken as a stand-alone training course; however, delegates will maximise their benefits by taking Module 1 and 2 back-to-back as a two-weeks training course.

Objectives

At the end of this LAKESHORE ISL training seminar, delegates will be able to:

• Use and evaluate the various techniques of capital investment appraisal
• Develop appropriate financial strategies
• Relate financial strategy to business strategy
• Effectively manage cash and working capital to reduce costs and improve cash flow
• Master traditional techniques and recent best practices
• Link finance and operation for budgeting purposes and strategy execution
• Understand and manage an efficient costing system
• Learn how to build a comprehensive performance measurement system

Training Methodology

A mixture of exercises and real life case studies, examples and videos make this a lively and interesting LAKESHORE ISL Finance & Budgeting training seminar. There is a strong emphasis on practical application of the ideas within the delegates’ organisation. Delegates are encouraged to complete a learning and action plan to focus them on and help them to apply their new knowledge and skills.

Organizational Impact

• Implement appropriate measures that can add value to the organisation
• Appreciate the importance of selecting the appropriate financial strategy to maximise shareholder value
• Consider risk and its impact on company financing
• Evaluate the cost of equity and the cost of debt capital
• Look at capital structure and financial strategy in terms of the life cycle of the business, and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
• Consider the appropriate financial strategies for use in mergers, acquisitions, restructuring and reorganizations, and appropriate takeover bid defenses
• Develop a better cost management system
• Design a comprehensive performance measurement system
• Link strategy, budgeting and costing

Personal Impact

Participants will be able to further develop their personal management skills by being able to:

• Make more informed and improved management decisions
• Consider why corporate Objectives may not always be achieved and what may be done to eliminate dysfunctional corporate behaviour and align corporate goals
• Understand how to measure their own contribution to the creation of value for the shareholders of the business
• Appreciate why some financial strategies are more effective than others with regard to value creation
• Use the financial tools available for effective management of working capital
• Provide knowledge that can be shared amongst other departments of the company
• Master cost analysis
• Link costing with budgeting and performance measurement
• Understand the multiple dimension of performance through the balanced scorecard

Who Should Attend?

• Finance Executive and Financial Professionals involved in the development and delivery of financial strategy
• Junior Executives and Financial Professionals seeking career advancement and development
• Senior and Experienced Professionals and Finance Professionals seeking either CPD or a valuable and stimulating “refresher”

Seminar Outline

Module I – Financial Strategy: Essential Finance Management Skills

DAY 1

Business and Financial Strategy – The Vital Link 

• The Purpose and Goals of the Firm
• The Aims and Principles of Competitive Strategy
• The Role of Financial Strategy in Business Success
• Tools for Strategic Analysis and Strategy Development
• Building a Winning Business Model
• Implementing an Effective Performance Management System
• Financial Planning: Budgeting and Beyond 

DAY 2

Financial Performance Management 

• Understanding, Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements
• Agency Theory and Its Impact on The Firm’s Goals
• Investor and Stock Market Behaviour: Share Price Drivers
• Key Concepts in Measuring Shareholder Value
• Understanding Cost Behaviour and Profit
• Measuring and Improving Return On Investment
• A Strategic Approach to Cost Reduction
• Managing and Improving Shareholder Value 

DAY 3

Funding Strategy and Liquidity Management 

• Sources of Business Finance: Equity and Debt
• Financial Gearing – Risk and Impact on Profitability
• Calculating Company Cost of Capital and Its Implications
• Optimum Capital Structure: Theory and Practice
• Cash Flow and Liquidity Management
• Designing and Building Financial Models in Excel
• Financial Model Application: Cash Flow Forecasting
• Predicting Corporate Distress and Failure 

DAY 4

Capital Investment Strategy 

• Capital Investment Management
• Using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Tools in Excel
• Tools for Capital Investment Appraisal and Decision-making
• Financial Model Application: Capital Investment Appraisal Analysis

Risk Management Strategy  

• An Integrated Approach to Risk Management
• Tools for Identifying and Analysing Business Risk
• Using Financial Instruments to Manage Financial Risk
• Decision-making under Conditions of Risk 

DAY 5

Corporate Governance: Defending and Growing the Business 

• Purpose and Principles of Corporate Governance
• Long-term Business Growth Strategies
• Why even great companies can fail?
• Understanding Business Model Disruption
• Innovation Killers
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Business Restructuring and Reorganisation

 

Module II – Business Financial & Accounting Skills

DAY 6

Management and Financial Accounting: Key Concepts and Terminology

• Identify the Major Differences and Similarities between Financial and Managerial Accounting
• Understand The Role of Management Accountants in an Organization
• Linking Strategy to Planning and Costing
• The Key Role of Budgeting and Cost Control in Contemporary Organizations
• Towards a Cross-Functional Process-View of the Organization
• Understand Your Processes: Integrating Financial and Non-financial aspects
• Understanding The Financial Statements
• Video, Examples & Discussions

DAY 7

Cost Analysis

• What is Costing?
• Cost Concepts and Terminology
• Different Costs For Different Purposes
• Fixed vs. Variable Costs: The Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis Model
• Contribution Margin Analysis
• Manufacturing vs. Non-manufacturing Costs
• Period vs. Product costs: Inventory Evaluation and Control
• Case Study

 

DAY 8

Traditional vs. Advanced Techniques in Cost-control

• Under-costing and Over-costing: The Consequences for Profitability
• How to refine a Costing System?
• Indirect vs. Direct Costs
• Traditional Cost Allocations Systems vs. Activity-Based Costing
• Cost Hierarchy & Cost Drivers
• Linking Resources, Activities and Management
• Introducing Activity-Based Budgeting and Management
• Video, Case Study and Examples

DAY 9

Budgeting: Flexible Budgets and Variance Analysis

• The Role of Budgeting
• Define the Master Budget and Explain Its Major Benefits to An Organization
• Describe The Difference between A Static Budget and A Flexible Budget
• Compute Flexible-budget Variances and Sales-volume Variances
• Discuss the Behavioral Implication of Budgeting
• The Budgeting Process in Your Organization: How to improve it?
• Which tools shall we use to complement Budgeting and Costing?
• Problems, Case Study and Exercises

DAY 10

Measuring Corporate Performance: The Balanced Scorecards and Six-Sigma

• Broadening Performance Measurement Systems
• The Key Role of Customer Satisfaction and Business Process Re-engineering
• Beyond Budgeting: Integrating Financial and Non-financial Issues
• Introducing The Balanced Scorecard
• The Key Perspectives
• Introducing The Strategy Maps
• Introducing Six-Sigma
• Video, Case Study and Examples