Finance Essentials

Overview

“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.”

Benjamin Franklin, American politician

Financial information drives all major business decisions: which products to launch, which markets to target, which projects to invest in. At the same time, once you move to a management role, you’ll be expected to understand the financial performance of your team and organisation. You may also need to participate in strategic decisions that need an appreciation of the financial implications of different courses of action. In fact, many of the decisions and actions you already take daily have a financial impact, whether you realise this or not. Many people who are not financially trained find finance confusing and even intimidating.

This course takes you through a number of concepts and frameworks associated with finance. A course can only skim the surface of what is a rich and developing subject area. However, you’ll gain an understanding of the key frameworks and tools that will enhance your understanding of finance. There are plenty of practical exercises and questions as you go through the course to check you understand and to apply what you have learnt.

Common concerns we hear from people who attend this course include:

• I don’t understand finance – how can I learn more?
• How can I learn to ‘speak finance’?
• How does money work in my organisation?

The course includes the core elements of our two-day ‘Finance for Non-Finance Managers’ workshop and will introduce you to the essentials of organisational finance, its jargon and what you need to know to stay financially savvy.

All of our trainers are experts in their field and have many years’ experience in finance.

Objectives

• Identify the role and importance of finance within organisations
• Recognise and describe some of the common terms and jargon that are used
• Identify the elements of the Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet
• Explain the distinction between profit and cash
• Understand key techniques within management accounting, specifically costing, cash flow and break-even.
• Identify how costs are incurred in your organisation and how these can be controlled
• Explain how waste can increase costs and reduce value, and identify options for reducing waste and improving efficiency

Outline

The course will cover:

1. Financial Principles and Terminology

• Financial principles – how finance works in organisations
• Terminology – making sense of the language
• Business cycles – Operational and Capital Investment
• Financial statements – Income and Expenditure (P&L) and Balance sheets

2. Cash and Cash Flow

• Distinction between profit and cash
• Cash flow statement
• Cash flow forecasting

3. Understanding costs

• Importance of managing costs
• Fixed vs variable
• Break-even

Prerequisites

This Form-level course is aimed at anyone who wants to know more about how finance works in organisations, for example when:

• Managing projects
• Running a cost-centre
• Engaging in discussions with a finance department
• Reading financial documents

If you need more comprehensive and in-depth training in finance, try our two-day ‘Finance for Non-Finance Managers’ course (MPDFNFM) or check out other courses in our finance portfolio.