Description
Course Summary
Sadly many companies have failed over the years because they could not innovate when the business changed. Your competitors can launch a new product that challenges everything you already have on offer at any moment. Your core business model can be thrown out overnight because of new technologies. In order to survive in an ever-changing world, the ability to innovate is critical, and you have to drive forward with the evaluation and development of new technologies and processes to keep up. Much of this work falls on the project and technical managers and engineers. This means you need to be able to learn, process and apply the principles of financing a project and communicate that in a straightforward way to all involved.
You will learn all about the relevant skills needed for practical finance during the course duration. This includes planning and persuasively presenting your ideas and projects so they can be evaluated and a decision can be made on the proposed investments. You will gain valuable skills in using Excel as a tool to manipulate and assess data and will understanding funding sources, capital funding and capital investment analysis.
Course Objectives
- To be able to provide analysis and interpretation of financial statements
- To be able to show an understanding of the most common costing practices
- To be able to understand cost behaviour
- To be confident in selecting the best technique for estimation
- To be able to implement the chosen technique
- To be able to produce cash flow forecasting with known effective tools
- To be able to use Excel in producing investment appraisal models
- To be confident in the preparation and presentation of capital investment appraisals
Course Content & Outline
1: The Fundamentals of Business Finance
- The fundamentals of financial strategy and competition
- A look at the disruption business models cause
- Capital and project investment in context
- The structure and function of financial statements
- Why measuring the strength of financial performance matters
- What is the difference between cash flow and profit?
2- Interpretation and Analysis of Finances
- The traditional system of financial analysis
- Financial performance – how to analyse then improve
- Asset management efficiency- how to analyse then improve
- Capital structure and risk – Analysing and interpreting
- A financial appraisal from the investor perspective
- What are key cash flow ratios
3- A Pricing, Costs and Profit Masterclass
- Cost behaviour – What is it, and how do we understand it
- The cost-volume-profit relationship analysis
- Break-even and gross margin – mastering the concepts
- Costing concepts including cost classification
- Cost reduction – taking the strategic approach
- Cost and value approaches and pricing – how do they apply
- Use Excel to build your pricing model
4- Investment Projects Forecasting Methods
- What are the fundamentals of forecasting
- Statistical analysis – using Excel as a tool
- Time, series, analysis – the techniques of revenue forecasting
- Reasonable project cost estimations – the quality techniques
- Project cost estimation – the common approaches
- Project cash flows – how to identify relevant factors
- Excel financial modelling – best practice and principles
5- Investment Appraisals: Preparing and Presenting
- Business funding: sources and cost
- The optimal capital structure and funding strategy
- Project finance from the bank perspective
- Capital investment decision-making masterclass
- What is discounted cash flow analysis, and how can we master it?
- Investment appraisal model using Excel
- Investment project appraisal – preparing and presenting
Who is this training for?
- Engineering managers and professionals
- Project managers
- Procurement and supply chain professionals
- Technical team members
- Cost and management accountants
- Investment department staff
- Planning team members
- Anyone looking to upskill for future career advancement
Training Methodology
Teaching takes place in a variety of settings, including face to face in a classroom environment. It will ensure that participants can expand their knowledge of the subject and increase their skillset. The course is delivered via various methods by a specialist tutor. This will include PowerPoint presentations, reviewing articles and other relevant materials, group or individual exercises and discussions. There may be some independent work set, and the course will involve a requirement to submit articles to demonstrate understanding and an end of course test. Note-taking is encouraged, and you are welcome to use electronic devices to do this.
The course manual will form part of the learning but give you references for the future. You are encouraged to ask questions and, if needed, spend time one to one with your tutor to go over any issues. During your time in the classroom, you will network with peers in similar roles.
