The Course Content
Day One: The Business Accounting System
Why we need accounting systems
Identification, recording and understanding transactions in the accounting system
The income statement (statement of comprehensive income)
The balance sheet (statement of financial position)
The statement of cash flows
Applying accounting concepts, and financial reporting standards and exercising professional judgment
Day Two: Analysing and Interpreting the Annual Financial Report
Presentation of the financial statements
The differences between assets and expenses
Depreciation of long-term assets
Inventory costs and cost of goods sold (COGS)
Analysis of the financial statements
Interpretation of the financial statements
Day Three: Management Accounting
Management accounting for effective communication and decision-making
Identifying product costs and measuring output
Cost-volume-profit (CVP) and break-even analysis
Preparing and using budgets to plan and control the organisation
Actual to budget performance comparison
Using variance analysis to drive performance improvement
Day Four: Financing and Hedging Financial Risk
An overview of financial institutions and markets
Sourcing and raising finance
Choice of the most appropriate financing
Return on investment and the cost of capital
Foreign currency transactions
Managing foreign currency exchange rate and interest rate risk
Day Five: Maintaining Growth Through Value-Adding Investment
Identifying value-adding capital investment opportunities
Investment appraisal using accounting rate of return (ARR) and payback
Discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques: net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR)
Making investment choices when funds are limited
Risk and uncertainty
Incorporating risk into the investment decision