Financial Analysis Evaluation, Budgeting and Decision Making

Day 1 - Getting started with Financial Analysis

•   The role & responsibilities of financial management 
•   The relationship between accounting & finance in analysis 
•   A review of the basic financial statements and their roles 
•   Why ROI is still a good place to start 
•   Identifying key success factors in your industry sector 
•   Ratios: what they are, which ones to use, & why 
•   Financial review compared to targets and expectations 
•   Financial performance measurement systems 
•   Key accounting assumptions 
•   Case study – Beginning to analyse example 

Day 2 – Moving beyond the basics in financial analysis 

•   The two kinds of Free cash flow (FCF) 
•   Altman’s Z-Score and what it really means 
•   Du Pont analysis and what it tells us 
•   Scenario analysis: how to calculate it & what it tells us 
•   Sensitivity analysis: how to calculate it & what it tells us 
•   Trend analysis: when is a trend a trend? What to do? 
•   Improving Return on Equity (ROE) 
•   Case study – Continue the example analysis 

Day 3 – Evaluation of the information

•   How do I interpret these details? 
•   What are the important metrics & why? 
•   Annual reports, footnotes and beyond; what can they signal? 
•   Short-term success evaluations process and measures 
•   Industry data, sources, & uses 
•   Benchmarking for evaluation purposes 
•   EVA, RONA, EBITDA, etc.: what do they mean & how to use them? 
•   Calculating the results of analysis 
•   Case study – Complete the example analysis 

Day 4 – Budgeting and the Management Process

•   Strategy - direction and vision 
•   Implementing strategy - the operational planning process 
•   Budgets - the financial expression of the operating plan 
•   The purpose of budgets - control 
•   The human side of budgeting 
•   Elements of the budget framework 
•   Advantages and limitations of budgets 
•   Reporting - the key to control 
•   Case study – Beginning to prepare the budget 

Day 5 – Completing the budget using the tools we have learned 

•   Assumptions 
•   Master budget 
•   Proforma financial statements: Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement 
•   Capital expenditure (CapEx) budget 
•   Sales & marketing budget 
•   Production budget 
•   General & Administrative budgets 
•   Case study: Complete the budget