The Course Content
Day One: Introduction to Accounting
The importance of accounting information
The role of the Finance Function
The accounting equation and financial accounting systems
Recording facts and applying judgement
Preparing the Income Statement and Balance Sheet
Accounting principles and accounting standards
Day Two: Accounting Reports
The format and contents of the Income Statement
The format and contents of the Balance Sheet
The effect of depreciation and impairment on profit
Identifying and valuing inventory
Preparing the Cash flow Statement
The importance of cash flow in business
Day Three: Management Accounting for Control and Decision-Making
Collecting and analyzing costs
The structure of direct and indirect costs
Dealing with overheads – absorption costing or ABC?
Cost-Volume-Profit and break even analysis
Decision making – make or buy
Decision making – the effect of limiting factors
Day Four: Communicating the Plan through Budgeting
Corporate planning and corporate objectives implemented through budgeting
The budgeting process and timescale
Sales budget forecasting techniques
Cascading the budgets across the whole business
Preparing functional budgets and the cash budget
Budgeting principles, methodologies and applications
Day Five: Measuring Performance to Inform Decision Making
Monthly management reporting
Setting and using standards
Identifying and calculating variances
Operating and planning variances – who is responsible?
Measuring responsibility centre performance, ROI, RI, and EVA
Non-financial performance – the Balanced Scorecard