175 Courses in Edinburgh

About this Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT)  This 4 half-day Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) course will address a variety of contract and loan structuring issues associated with geothermal energy projects as well as comparison with solar, wind and battery storage. The course is designed to investigate how various project finance techniques and contract structures can be used to achieve a competitive power prices while maintaining a satisfactory equity return. Distinctive project finance features of power facilities that depend on geothermal, wind, hydro or solar resources will be evaluated with financial models. The course will cover economic analysis of exploration and development of geothermal facilities and how to incorporate probability of failure and success into an IRR framework. Subsequent sessions will address the theory underlying liquidated damages for delay, and performance as well as design of other incentives that is inherent in different contract structures. Nuanced project finance issues associated with structuring debt for renewable projects will be discussed including under what conditions the DSCR drives debt capacity and when the debt to capital ratio is instrumental. The course will be taught with a combination of theoretical discussions, term sheet review and focused financial models. Training Objectives Evaluation of the economic risks that arise from uncertainty associated with drilling exploration wells and development wells for geothermal projects. Analyse the theoretical issues with computing LCOE for geothermal projects compared to other renewable and non-renewable resources and the importance of cost of capital for renewable projects; Understand differences in contract structures for renewable projects and dispatchable projects and how a single price structure can distort incentives for efficient construction and operation; Understand components of financing that influence the bid price required to meet a required rate of return on equity and can result in relatively low prices with reasonable returns. Understand the importance of debt sizing constraints and what strategies are relevant when the debt to capital constraint applies relative to when the debt service coverage ratio drives the debt size; Understand how to compute P50, P90 and P99 for different projects driven by resource risk; Understand the difference between mean reverting resource variation and estimation mistakes that do not correct as the basis for 1-year P90 and 10-year P90. Understand under what conditions debt sculpting can affect returns and how synthetic sculpting can be used to increase returns when the DSCR constraint applies. Understand the theory of credit spreads, variable rate debt and interest rates in different currencies and compute the implied probability of default that in inherent in credit spreads. Understand how to evaluate the costs to equity investors and the benefits to lenders for various credit enhancements including DSRA accounts, cash flow sweeps and covenants. Course Level Basic or Foundation Training Methods The VILT will be delivered online in 4 sessions comprising 4 hours per day, with 2 breaks of 10 minutes per day, including time for lectures, discussion, quizzes and short classroom exercises. Trainer Your expert course leader provides financial and economic consulting services to a variety of clients, he teaches professional development courses in an assortment of modelling topics (project finance, M&A, and energy). He is passionate about teaching in Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. Many of the unique analytical concepts and modelling techniques he has developed have arisen from discussion with participants in his courses. He has taught customized courses for MIT's Sloan Business School, Bank Paribas, Shell Oil, Society General, General Electric, HSBC, GDF Suez, Citibank, CIMB, Lind Lakers, Saudi Aramco and many other energy and industrial clients. His consulting activities include developing complex project finance, corporate and simulation models, providing expert testimony on financial and economic issues before energy regulatory agencies, and advisory services to support merger and acquisition projects. Our key course expert has written a textbook titled Corporate and Project Finance Modelling, Theory and Practice published by Wiley Finance. The book introduces unique modelling techniques that address many complex issues that are not typically used by even the most experienced financial analysts. For example, it describes how to build user-defined functions to solve circular logic without cumbersome copy and paste macros; how to write function that derives the ratio of EV/EBITDA accounting for asset life, historical growth, taxes, return on investment, and cost of capital; and how to efficiently solve many project finance issues related to debt structuring. He is in the process of writing a second book that describes a series of valuation and analytical mistakes made in finance. This book uses many case studies from Harvard Business School that were thought to represent effective business strategies and later turned into valuation nightmares. Over the course of his career our key course expert has been involved in formulating significant government policy related to electricity deregulation; he has prepared models and analyses for many clients around the world; he has evaluated energy purchasing decisions for many corporations; and, he has provided advice on corporate strategy. His projects include development of a biomass plant, analysis and advisory work for purchase of electricity generation, distribution and transmission assets by the City of Chicago, formulation of rate policy for major metro systems and street lighting networks, advocacy testimony on behalf of low income consumers, risk analysis for toll roads, and evaluation of solar and wind projects. He has constructed many advisory analyses for project finance and merger and acquisition transactions. Lastly, our key course expert was formerly Vice President at the First National Bank of Chicago where he directed analysis of energy loans and also created financial modelling techniques used in advisory projects. He received an MBA specializing in econometrics (with honours) from the University of Chicago and a BSc in Finance from the University of Illinois (with highest university honours). POST TRAINING COACHING SUPPORT (OPTIONAL) To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized 'One to One' coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster. Request for further information about post training coaching support and fees applicable for this. Accreditions And Affliations

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

Develop a deep understanding of electricity pricing and marginal cost analysis with EnergyEdge's virtual instructor-led training course. Enroll now for a rewarding learning journey!

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.