174 Courses in Cardiff

In today's competitive business world firms are under unprecedented pressure to deliver value to their shareholders and other key stakeholders. Senior executives in all parts of the organisation are finding that they need some degree of financial know how to cope with the responsibility placed on them as business managers and key decision-makers; monitoring and improving business performance, investing in capital projects, mergers and acquisitions: all require some degree of financial knowledge. The key financial skills are not as difficult to learn as many people believe and in the hands of an experienced senior executive they can provide a formidable competitive advantage. After completing this course delegates will be able to: Understand fundamental business finance concepts; understand, analyse and interpret financial statements: Profit Statement, Balance Sheet and Cashflow Statement Understand the vital difference between profit and cashflow; identify the key components of working capital and how they can be managed to generate strong cashflow Evaluate pricing decisions based on an understanding of the nature of business costs and their impact on gross margin and break-even sales; managing pricing, discounts and costs to generate strong business profits; understand how lean manufacturing methods improve profit Use powerful analytical tools to measure and improve the performance of their own company and assess the effectiveness of their competitors Apply and interpret techniques for assessing and comparing investment opportunities in capital projects, business acquisitions and other ventures; understand and apply common methods of business valuation Understand the role of business finance in formulating and implementing competitive business strategy; the role of budgeting as part of the planning process and the various approaches to budgeting and performance measurement 1 Basic principles Delivering value to key stakeholders Accounting concepts, GAAP, IFRS and common terms Understanding and using the balance sheet Understanding and using the profit statement Recognising the vital difference between profit and cashflow Understanding and using the cashflow statement What financial statements can and cannot tell us 2 Managing and improving cashflow Sources of finance and their advantages and disadvantages What is working capital and why is it so important? Managing stocks, debtors and creditors Understanding how working capital drives business growth Understanding and avoiding the over-trading trap Unlocking the funds tied up in fixed assets: asset backed loans and leasing 3 Managing and improving profit Understanding how profits generate cashflow The fundamental nature of costs: fixed and variable business costs Understanding gross margin and break-even How common pricing methods affect gross margin and profit Effective strategies to improve gross margin Using value chain analysis to reduce costs Lean manufacturing methodsUnderstanding Just-in-time, 6 Sigma and Kaizen methods Improving profitEffective and defective strategies 4 Measuring and managing business performance Measures of financial performance and strength Investor behaviour: the risk and reward relationship Return on investment (ROI): the ultimate measure of business performance How profit margin and net asset turnover drive return on net assets Why some companies are more profitable that others Understanding competitive advantage: cost and differentiation advantage Why great companies failWhat happened to Kodak? Using a 'Pyramid of Ratios' to improve business performance Using Critical Success Factors to develop Key Performance Indicators 5 Budgeting and forecasting methods Using budgets to support strategy Objectives and methods for effective budgets Using budgets to monitor and manage business performance Alternative approaches to budgeting Developing and implementing Balanced Scorecards Beyond Budgeting Forecasting methods and techniques Identifying key business drivers Using rolling forecasts and 'what-if' models to aid decision-making

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Overview This training course will give participants a developed knowledge of credit analysis. Through a mix of lectures and interactive case studies, participants will be able to perform detailed credit analysis, including analysing market and environment, computing key financial ratios, interpreting cash flows and analysing financing needs. Key Topics Financial needs and the business operating cycle Review of financial statements Financial ratio analysis Corporate cash flow analysis Cash flow projections for debt service Key lending policy guidelines

Overview Having a detailed understanding of financial statements is critical to assessing financial risk, and the rate of change in financial statement standards makes this a continuing challenge for users. This course brings together the key elements of financial statement analysis to help participants develop their skills in this area and enable them to ask the right questions to really get under the skin and see the real risks facing businesses and investors in these challenging times. The reference reporting framework used will be IFS. 

Overview With the major responsibility of managing finances, managers have also responsibilities to write and control budgets. They face a number of decisions that need planning and forecasting, especially preparing budgets. Using examples and exercises from the gas and oil industry, this course is designed to break down all sorts of financial restrictions in an informative yet engaging style. It will provide the necessary skills to develop efficient strategic planning, forecasting and budgeting processes. The main aim of the training is to enable the participants to understand the framework that builds strategies for annual budgets targeting efficient management and organisational performance. Our course will explain financial terms and budgeting tools in such a way that a financial professional or even a non-financial profession will be able to understand and relate to in their working environment. It will include a lot of examples, a budgeting format and case studies.

Overview This training will give you the platform to learn everything you need to carry out effective cost-benefit analyses, the risk and uncertainty involved, and how to handle the various different types of information available. The skills you will gain will allow the administration of more accurate and reflective cost-benefit analyses through improved methods and processes. 

Overview The most significant network between the organisation and their investors is Financial Statements and annual reports. It is very important to understand the role of these factors to have better communication channels. This course will give you intense knowledge to prepare financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards. IFRS regulates financial reporting standards and according to it the company's financial reporting should be transparent. Thus, if it is as per IFRS rules, its credibility can be trusted. It will also help to analyse the financial statement and annual reports. It will enable you to evaluate corporate accounts and make strong decisions and judgements about the company's status.

Businesses that don't control their costs don't stay in business. How well are you doing? Is everyone in your organisation sufficiently aware of costs, managing them effectively and maximising opportunities to reduce them? If there is scope for improvement, this course will help get you back on track. It will demonstrate that cost reduction is so much more than cost control and cost cutting. True cost management is about being aware of costs, seeking to reduce them through good design and efficient operating practices whilst taking continuing action on overspending. This course will develop the participants' skills in: Being aware of costs at all times Seeking cost reduction from the start (including life-cycle costing) Appraising projects / production to identify and take out risk Understanding real budgeting Using techniques such as ZBB and ABC where appropriate Ensuring cost reports lead to action Managing a cost reduction process that delivers Benefits to the organisation will include: Identification of cost reduction and business improvement opportunities Better reporting and ownership of costs Greater awareness and control of everyday costs 1 Introduction - the cost management process The risks of poor cost control Capital and revenue costs The importance of cost awareness The importance of cost reduction Cost management - the key aspects How to build a cost management and control process checklist for your areas of responsibility 2 Cost removal - taking out costs Cost awareness Costs of poor design / poor processes Value engineering Removing redundant costs 3 The need for commercial, technical and financial appraisals Understand the problems before cash is committed and costs incurred Making the effort to identify commercial and technical risk The time value of money - DCF techniques for long term projects Cost models for production processes and projects Costing models - project appraisals The use of spreadsheets to identify sensitivity and risk How to focus on risk management 4 Budgeting - proper budgeting challenges costs The philosophy of the business - are costs an issue? The importance of having the right culture The need for detailed business objectives Budgetary control measures Designing budget reports - for action 5 Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) - the principles Much more than starting with a clean sheet of paper What ZBB can achieve The concept of decision packages - to challenge business methods and costs Only necessary costs should be incurred A review of an operating budget - demonstrating what ZBB challenges and the costs it may lead to being taken out 6 Awareness of overheads and other costs Definitions of cost - direct and indirect Dealing with overheads - what is meant by allocation, absorption or apportionment? The apparent and real problems with overheads Different ways of dealing with overheads Review of overhead allocation methods and accounting and reporting issues 7 Overheads and product costing Activity-based costing (ABC) - the principles Where and how the ABC approach may be helpful Know the 'true' cost of a product or a project Should you be in business? Will you stay in business? Identifying weaknesses in a traditional overhead allocation How ABC will help improve product or service costing Identifying which products and activities should be developed and which abandoned 8 Cost reduction culture The need for cost reports What measures can be used to identify over-spends as early as possible Cost control performance measures and ratios 9 Design of cost control reports Reports should lead to action and deliver Selecting cost control measures which can be acted upon Practice in designing action reports 10 Course summary - developing your own cost action plan Group and individual action plans will be prepared with a view to participants identifying their cost risks areas and the techniques which can be immediately applied to improve costing and reduce costs

Overview Budgeting is the core activity of financial management used to make organisations effective and efficient in service delivery. Organisations deliberately strengthen their acts of budgeting, as part of their financial management, in order to enhance their effectiveness. This course has been designed to educate participants on how to prepare and use budgets in their organisations.

Overview This is particularly important for PPP projects where long-term commitments are made now based on bankability, value for money and risk allocation. During the course, participants will gain knowledge and skills on the frameworks, tools, and methodologies necessary to build quantitative models for financial decision-making in order to improve the financial viability and bankability of PPP projects. Participants will master modelling frameworks on capital budgeting, risk measurement, regression analysis and Monte Carlo Simulation among others.