Applied Finance in Business Programme

Module 1 – Reading, Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements under IFRS

 

This training module is addressed to participants without formal education in finance, who, because of their day-to-day needs, are involved in a financial process and are required to apply and interpret information contained in financial statements.

 

This workshop is especially recommended to:

• Owners of companies
• Managers of non-financial functions
• Financial analysts or credit officers
• All persons wishing to broaden their understanding of finance

 

Module 2 – Measuring, Monitoring and Optimizing Performance

 

This training module is addressed to participants without formal education in finance, who, because of their day-to-day needs, are involved in a financial process and are required to identify and interpret information from within the organization and also participate in the monitoring and controlling process of the firm.

 

• Owners of companies
• Managers of finance or non-finance functions
• Internal and External Auditors
• All professionals wishing to broaden and deepen their skills in finance

 

Module 3 – Financial Management: investment appraisal and business valuations

 

This workshop is addressed to participants without formal education in finance, who, as part of their work duties, are required to exhibit an understanding of investment evaluation and valuation of financial instruments.

 

This workshop is especially recommended to:

• Managers of finance or non-finance functions
• Internal and External Auditors
• All professionals wishing to broaden and deepen their skills in finance

 

Module 4 – Financial risk management and derivatives

 

This workshop is addressed to participants without formal education in finance, who, as part of their work duties, are required to exhibit an understanding of methods for hedging financial risks and how the application of derivatives impacts the financial performance of companies.

 

This workshop is especially recommended to:

• Managers of finance or non-finance functions
• Internal and External Auditors
• All professionals wishing to broaden and deepen their skills in finance

Why case studies?

Inspiration and transformation

Carefully chosen case studies aligned with interactive and focused training inspire our clients and transform business education into practical learning and application. They also make learning a lot of fun! Once you go through a real-life business situation you will never forget the tools learned.

Whether you are a manager, financial analyst or business owner looking for real practical skills in areas like IFRS, Budgeting, Valuations or Derivatives, this practical and case study-based course will help unlock your financial skills so that you can focus on growing your business and improving performance.

Real-life decision-making will enable you to learn theory while at the same time developing a range of vital skills, like negotiation, analysis, defending your view and challenging others’ views. Importantly, if you find you are missing information to make a decision, you will know what you need to decide!

You will change your mind once, twice or even three times before you make a final decision, just like you test and try products at a festival of flavours! You don’t have that opportunity during a lecture or presentation.

After this course, your confidence will be enhanced to its maximum. You will then be your own boss!

Course Objectives – by module

Module 1 – Reading, Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements under IFRS

After completing this training module, you will be able to:

• Understand how business decisions made by you impact key elements of your company’s financial statements
• Feel more confident when talking to colleagues from the finance department
• Search the financial statements of your own company, as well as those of your counterparties and competitors in order to find needed information

Module 2 – Measuring, Monitoring and Optimizing Performance

After completing this training module, you will be able to:

• Understand how business decisions should be made based on relevant information and calculations. Identification of the right information is essential.
• Optimize the use of Working Capital.
• Analyze diversions from the plan and take corrective action in both the short-term and the long-term
• Participate in the improvement of the performance of your organization.

Module 3 – Financial Management

After completing this training module, you will:

• Understand why some investment projects are considered by your company as worth initiating, and why some are not.
• Know what the cost of capital of a company is, how to compute it and what use to put it into.
• Feel more confident to take part in discussions with equity analysts with regard to their valuation of shares.

Module 4 – Financial risk management and derivatives

After completing this training module, you will:

• Feel more confident to take part in discussions on current financial and economic issues.
• Apply hedging techniques in real life.
• Be able to identify financial risks to which your company is exposed and propose practical solutions to mitigate them.
• Learn how derivatives are valued in the financial market and in the books
• Understand the concept of hedge accounting

The programme “Applied Finance in Business” consists of 4 modules: Module 1 – Reading, Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements under IFRS, Module 2 – Measuring and Monitoring Performance, Module 3 – Financial Management: Investment Appraisal and Business Valuations, Module 4 – Financial Risk Management and Derivatives.

From this page, you can sign up for the complete package of all 4 modules (choose 4-Module Package), a package of the first 3 modules (choose 3-Module Package) or a package of the first 2 modules (choose 2-Module Package).

If you decide to sign up for a single module, go to the page of the selected course by clicking on the module title below.

Module 1 - Reading, Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements under IFRS

• You present to the Board new attractive ideas but without the numbers, you will not be convincing anyone! How will such decisions impact the financial statements of the organization?
• Do you feel uncomfortable during financial conversations or when you read the financial press? This course will not only give you comfort in understanding what is being said but will also give you the power to challenge financial ideas
• Having obtained the skills to understand the language of finance, you will be able to appreciate how your decisions and actions affect the financial health of your company. Furthermore, you will be able to identify issues that arise because of others in the firm
• Financial statements always tell the true story!

Case studies used in this module:

• Harvard Business School – The Accounting Framework and Financial Statements
• Harvard Business School – Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis

Programme

• Constructing the balance sheet and income statement (case study)
• Key balance sheet and income statement positions – rules for recognition and measurement (exercises), including:
  • Property, plant and equipment
  • Intangible assets
  • Financial instruments
  • Provisions
• Constructing the cash flow statement and the statement of changes in equity – what they show and how to link them to information presented in the balance sheet and income statement (exercises)
• Financial ratios – construction, interpretation, advantages and disadvantages of principal ratios (exercises)
• Major case study – just by looking at the numbers and the ratios you will be able to:
  • Identify problems and their root causes
  • Link the various strategies together
  • Come up with solutions to improve the health of the company in the medium as well as the long term
• Major financial accounting regulations in the EU and abroad (International Financial Reporting Standards and US GAAP) – what they are and who applies them
• What you can find out by reading the auditor’s opinion
• Creative accounting – what to look out for when reading financial statements (exercises)

Module 2 - Measuring, Monitoring and Optimizing Performance

• The orientation of the course is more towards management accounting than just accounting — the audience will acquire skills in participating in key strategic decisions like costing and pricing as well as in any efforts to improve the performance of the organization
• Advanced topics like Activity Based Budgeting, Relevant Costing, Variance Analysis and Pricing Methods will also be introduced through case studies
• The entire course is case–study based. Real-life case studies from the Harvard Business School and Yonsei University will be used during the course. This module includes a case study from Yonsei University: Assessing a service provider by applying Activity Based Costing

Key features of this course:

• This is an intensive, interactive workshop based on case studies
• Although you can attend this part of the course without any prior knowledge of finance, we recommend attending Part 1 of the course before registering for Module 2

Programme

• Budgeting and Control: Purposes; systems and types of budgets; preparation – including cash forecasts and expected values; (exercises)
• Costing and Management Accounting: Fixed and Flexible Budgets; Activity Based Costing (ABC) versus traditional methods of costing – (exercises and case studies)
• Decision-making Techniques – Relevant/Economic Cost Analysis; Identifying and calculating Relevant Costs from given data and for specific situations in the decision-making process; Application of the concept of Opportunity Costs; Pricing Decisions; Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty (case studies)
• Variance Analysis – From Standard Costing to Variances; Sales and Quantity Variances; Planning and Operating Variances; Performance Analysis (case studies)
• Cost-Volume Analysis: Calculation and interpretation of the Break-Even Point and the Margin of safety; Relevance to the operational as well as financial gearing of the entity; The importance of Contribution in decision-making (case studies)

Module 3 - Financial Management: Investment Appraisal and Business Valuations

• How do you assess whether an investment project is worth the while? And how do you choose between projects that seem to give the same future cash flows? Having taken all factors involved, does the chosen project finally add value to the firm? And what exactly is Value?
• How do financial markets determine interest rates, foreign exchange rates and other financial variables affecting your company?
• Are derivatives useful or only for gamblers? How can you make use of derivatives to protect your company from risks and add value to it? Learn how to hedge the financial risk of your firm, whether it is the price you are hedging against or interest rates or currency fluctuations

Key features of this course:

• This is an intensive, interactive workshop based on case studies
• Zero prior knowledge of finance is required. What seemed impossible to comprehend will now appear easy and obvious

Programme

• Time Value of Money: Present Value, Future Value, Discounting Techniques (practical exercises)
• Methods of evaluating investment decisions – net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), payback period, real options (case study)
• Cost of capital – Weighted Average Cost of Capital, adjusting for risk, decisions on project financing (case study)
• Sensitivity analysis in situations of uncertainty (practical exercises)
• Valuations in business: Review of various approaches to pricing and valuation of equity and debt financial instruments
• Valuation of companies

Module 4 - Financial Risk Management and Derivatives

• How do financial markets determine interest rates, foreign exchange rates and other financial variables affecting your company?
• Are derivatives useful or only for gamblers? How can you make use of derivatives to protect your company from risks and add value to it?
• Learn how to hedge the financial risk of your firm, whether it is the price you are hedging against or interest rates or currency fluctuations
• How are derivatives presented in the accounts of a company, and how do they impact the financial statements? What is “Hedge Accounting” and what are its benefits?

Key features of this course:

• This is an intensive, interactive workshop based on case studies
• After this module, you will understand how derivatives work and how to practically apply key financial risk management techniques

Programme

• Interest rates – what they are, how they are determined, why they change. (practical exercises)
• Foreign exchange rates – analysis of current trends in major currency pairs (case study)
• Financial markets structure – segments, markets and players
• Derivative instruments as tools for financial risk hedging (exercises):
  • Forward and futures contracts
  • Options
  • Swaps
• Valuation and presentation of derivatives in the Financial Statements of a company
• Introduction to Hedge Accounting
• Correct and incorrect uses of multiple derivative strategies (case study)
• Lessons learnt from the “options crisis” of 2008 in Poland from the perspective of corporations and financial institutions