The course will teach you several tools, including target costing and constraint analysis, which can be used to improve upon business decisions. In short, this course is the ideal toolkits for understanding how accounting information can be used to drive business decisions.

The objective of this course is to teach you how to speak the language of accounting. It will not train you to become an accountant, but it will provide you with enough knowledge in understanding how accounting is done within a business. This will complement your core business skills and other talents.

Upon completion of 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.

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.

Day 1

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

Day 2

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

Day 3

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

Day 4

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

Day 5

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

Day 6

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

Day 7

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

Day 8

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
• The economist’s perspective
• The marketer’s perspective
• Combining the three perspectives: establishing an appropriate pricing strategy
• Pricing strategies
• Target pricing and target costing

Day 9

Investment Decisions

• Investment appraisal – the basics
• Traditional evaluation techniques
• Incorporating real-world complexities into investment appraisal
• Investment appraisal within context
• Taking a broader strategic view

Day 10

Operational Decisions

• Operational decision making
• Cost-volume-profit analysis (CVP)
• Relevant costing

RECTUS attendance certificate will be issued to all attendees completing minimum of 80% of the total course duration