Finance for Non-Finance Professionals

The modern corporate environment is extremely challenging. It is so complex, whether you are in the marketing, sales, production, product development or human recourses, any decision you take will have an impact on the financial health of the organization. Anyone who will find it difficult to make an intelligent assessment of financial data will find themselves handicapped and unable to understand the impact of their strategies on the financial bottom-line.

Thus, this three-day Know Your Numbers: Finance for Non-Finance Professionals Programme is designed for the staff members of non-finance divisions to obtain vital financial skills to understand financial documents, manage budgets, analyze financial performance and implement a range of financial controls to meet business objectives to improve business performance.

What You Will Learn

By the end of the programme all participants will have the following:

• Read and analyze basic financial statements

• A greater understanding of accounting and finance systems and the objectives of financial statements

• Be able to understand and interpret financial ratios when evaluating business performance and financial health

• Basic planning and budgeting skills

• An awareness of the role of finance within the larger organisational structure and its contribution to overall business strategy

• Develop a proactive relationship with the finance team

Target Audience

The programme is suitable for,

• Managers/ Executives in sales, marketing, operations, engineering, human resources and other non-finane dicitions

• Entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals

Programme Content

Day 01 - Introduction to Accounting and Finance

• Basics in financial accounting

o Assets, liabilities and equity

o Double entry system

• Accounting equation

• Accounting concepts and principals

• Financial accounting vs management accounting

• Governance and agency problem

• Role of auditors

• Analyzing and Interpreting Financial Statements

• Understanding and evaluating the income statement, balance sheet and cashflow statement

• Horizontal and vertical analysis

o Importance of financial ratios

o Calculating and interpreting financial ratios

o Liquidity ratios: ability to settle short-term dues

o Solvency ratios: ability to settle long-term dues

o Activity ratios: ability to manage assets efficiently

o Profitability ratios · Limitations of financial ratio analysis

• Importance of working capital management

• Working capital management strategies

Day 02 - Cost information for Decision Making and Budgetary Controls

• Introduction to basic cost concepts

• Basics in overhead analysis

• Concept of breakeven analysis (CVP analysis)

• Make or buy decisions / Shut down or continue

• Sensitivity analysis

• Limitations of CVP analysis

• Decision making using limiting factor analysis

• Pricing decisions

• Importance of budgets

• Types of budgets

• Budgeting process/Approaches to budgeting

• Preparing realistic budgets

• Comparing actual performance with budgets

• Importance of understanding and analyzing variances

• Limitations of budgeting

• Alternative approaches to budgeting

Day 03 - Evaluating Investment Options and Financing

• Introduction to financial management and financial management decisions

o Financing decisions

o Investing decisions

o Operating decisions

• Importance of investment decisions types of investment decisions

• Cash inflows and outflows in an investment decision

• Concept of time value of money

• Investment appraisal techniques

o Net present value (NPV)

o Internal rate of return (IRR)

o Payback period

o Profitability index

o Accounting rate of return (ARR)

o Pros and cons of each investment appraisal technique

• The concept of risk and return

• How to finance your investment decision (Equity, debt, retained earnings etc.)

• The concept of cost of capital

• Capital structure of the firm and its impact on financial decision making

• Managing risks in finance

o Importance of risk management

o Types of risks

o Strategies to minimize risks and its impact

Resource Personnel

• Mr. Asanka Ranasinghe, Head of Group Strategic Planning at Antler Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. • Mr. Thilina Ukwatte, Financial Advisor