Financial Analysis, Planning & Controlling Budgets

Program description and objectives

Program description and objectives This program is designed and focused on bringing together important areas of Financial Management, Planning, and Forecasts. The program would specifically be geared towards helping Finance professionals: - Plan more effectively for the future - Use the financial techniques of planning and control - Improve performance from the use of the tools of financial analysis - Link planning and budgeting with costing and performance measurement - Master the skills of budgetary and cost control Amongst its objectives, the program would address the following: - Which specific variables, relationships, and trends are likely to be helpful in analyzing problems? - How reliable are available financial data, and how is uncertainty and risk likely to impact on the outcomes of decisions? - In economic and financial analysis what are the implications and relative importance of cash flow as distinct from accounting profit? - What limitations are inherent in financial data and the key financial statements, and how will these affect the financial analysis?

Venues, Dates & Cost

Venues	Dublin	London	Dubai	Edmonton (CAN)	Lagos/Abuja
Dates	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Cost	$4,000 per participant (USD)				(=N=)

For Whom

Finance Managers & Accountants in treasury functions
Officers responsible for cash management
Financial Analysis and Budgeting Managers and Supervisors
Other interested business professionals.

Snapshot of Course Content

Module I: Financial Analysis, Planning, and Control

Financial Economic Decision-Making
The practice of financial economic analysis
Corporate value and shareholder value
A dynamic perspective of business Benchmarking your own strategic position/competitor analysis
The agency problem and corporate governance
What information and data to use?
The nature of financial statements
The context of financial analysis and decision-making
Assessment of Business Performance
Ratio analysis and business performance
Management’s point of view
Owners’ point of view
Lenders’ point of view
Ratios as a system – pyramids of ratios
Integration of financial performance analysis the DuPont system
Economic Value Added (EVA)
Predicting financial distress
Projection of Financial Requirements
Interrelationship of financial projections
Operating Budgets
Standard costing and variance analysis
Cash forecasts and cash budgets
Sensitivity analysis
Dynamics and growth of the business system
Operating leverage
Financial growth plans
Financial modeling
Analysis of Investment Decisions
Applying time-adjusted measures
Net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR)
Strategic perspective
EVA and NPV
Refinements of investment analysis
Equivalent annual cost (EAC)
Modified internal rate of return (MIRR)
Sensitivity analysis, scenario analysis, simulation, and NPV break-even
Dealing with risk and changing circumstances
Valuation and Business Performance
Managing for shareholder value
Shareholder value creation in perspective
Evolution of value-based methodologies
Creating value in restructuring and combinations
Financial strategy in acquisitions
Business valuation
Business restructuring and reorganizations
Management Buy-Outs (MBOs) and Management Buy-Ins (MBIs)

Module 2: Forecasting, Setting, and Controlling Budgets

Strategic and Financial Planning
Financial vs. managerial Accounting
Exploring the linkages between strategy, budgeting, costing and performance measurement
Understanding what strategic planning is and why it is important
Mission; Vision; Strategy; Goals and Objectives
The outside environment and the internal context: SWOT and PESTEL analysis
What is happening in your company
Looking for the drivers of value creation
Examples and cases
The Framework for Budgeting
What is a budget – why create a budget?
The budgeting framework
Various types of budgets
The budgeting process and the human side of budgeting
Sales forecasting and budgeting schedules
What is the budgeting process in your company?
Top-down vs. bottom-up budget; incremental vs. zero-based
Examples of budgetary schedules
Cost Analysis for Budgeting
What is costing? Defining costs
Cost behavior – Fixed and variable
Breakeven models – The Equation Method
The contribution margin concept
Direct and indirect costs
Traditional vs. Activity-Based Costing
Product vs. period costs
Case study and examples
Budgeting: case study day – Controlling the budget variances
What is the situation in your organization?
Is budgeting organized by department and/or projects?
Budget variance analysis
Describe the difference between a static budget and a flexible budget
Compute flexible-budget variances and sales-volume variances
Explain why standard costs are often used in variance analysis
Integrate continuous improvement into variance analysis
Case study, examples and exercises
Beyond Budgeting: Broadening Performance Measurement Systems
Advantages and disadvantages of budgeting
How to improve budgeting in your organization
What next? Beyond the Budget
The Balanced Scorecard: Linking Strategy to budgeting to Performance Measurement
Financial perspective, Customer perspective
Internal Business Process perspective, Learning and growth perspective
Developing and adapting the scorecard
Case study illustration