Financial Awareness
- Would it help you to be able to approach your work with more of a financial mindset?
- Do you feel somewhat remote from how your work helps make the numbers happen?
- Has ‘finance’ been something of an emotional ‘block’ for you?
- Would it help if you had a better sense of the ‘bigger picture’?
- Would it be of value to be more conversant with core financial terms and principles and their application?
- Would having a better financial appreciation open up new opportunities for you?
- Could you benefit, now or in the future, from being able to make sense of the principal financial reports?
- Would it help to get more practical and specific input than is available from textbooks?
What others have said about our training…
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What this revealing story demonstrates…
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“Balance Sheets: Quite incredible – clearly key to strategy yet for twenty years I’d only ever looked at the P&L.”
Marketing Store, London
“Just wish I’d done this six months ago.”
B. Appleton, Bath
“Never seen the subject approached this way before. These relationships were completely new to me.”
N. Capstick, Gateshead
“Lenders told me I spoke more sense and with more authority about the numbers than most finance directors they dealt with.”
FMG Scaffolding, London
“Lots of food for thought”… “Day just flew by”… “Useful views on tired financial diagnoses that will make my life easier”…. “Easy-to-follow format and good pace”.
Various, Business Link London
“We did the training more than 6 months ago. My wife still carries round extracts of the notes in her handbag.”
G. Curtis Ltd, Dorchester
Course Contents
1. Key Financial Terms And Principles
Never lose sight of the fact that, at its heart, finance is a simple subject. So don’t be intimidated by ‘apparent’ complexity. In this session we ensure you are familiar with the key terms and principles.
- The ONE and ONLY thing that ultimately matters in any organization… but why it often fails to take centre stage.
- The chain of events that leads to cash coming in and going out of an organization and the financial implications.
- Learn which transactions need to be recorded in accounts and where they come from.
- Cash accounting v Invoice (or accruals) accounting… key principles but what do they mean, how do they differ and why does it matter?
- You encounter the terms Capital and Revenue in finance all the time but what is the key distinction?
- Cash items v non-cash items and the concepts of ‘depreciation’ and ‘amortization’ explained.
- Management accounts v statutory accounts -what they comprise and their respective format and purpose.
2. The Fundamentals Of Financial Performance
Discover how the financial performance of an organization over a period of time is presented. Here you will learn how to make sense of the key components and the related terminology.
- We distinguish between 3 seemingly similar reports used to show financial information over a period of time and explain when each is appropriate:
- Receipts & payments Account
- Iincome & Expenditure Account
- Profit & Loss Account.
- With the aid of our little quiz you will learn the items you find in a profit and loss account and those you find elsewhere.
- Follow our simple 5-step sequence to make sense of ANY profit and loss report.
- something called the ”matching‘ principle – what it means and why it matters.
- What you need to understand about how costs are classified and presented.
- The concept of ‘profit margins’ and how these differ to ‘mark-ups’.
- So what is ‘profit’? What does it actually mean? What happens if an organization makes a loss rather than a profit?
- When something is described as having a ‘profit impact’ or indeed ‘no profit impact’ what does this mean in practice?
- What is meant by the term ‘run-rate’ in the context of a profit & loss account?
3. Key Facets Of Financial Strength
Assets and liabilities are fundamental to finance so understanding what they are and where they fit in to the financial jigsaw is vital. You will also discover the part they play in determining an organization’s financial strength.
- We are familiar with the words assets and liabilities in everyday language. We have grown up conditioned to think one is good, the other, bad… right? But is it really that simple in finance?
- Using our ‘household’ analogy, you will find balance sheets easy to relate to and make sense of.
- With the aid of another quiz you will soon learn the key items you find in a balance sheet (and those you’ll find elsewhere).
- We explain what is meant by the somewhat confusing term ‘working capital‘ which is commonly misconstrued.
- Debtors and Creditors – how do you remember what each means without getting them the wrong way round? Plus some user-friendly alternatives.
- Debt and equity – what they mean, where you find them and their importance in determining an organization’s financial strength.
- Accruals and Prepayments – terms commonly heard in financial discussions. What are they and how do they arise?
- If something has a cash impact as opposed to a profit impact (or vice versa) what does this mean?
- ‘Net Worth‘ is another balance sheet term… but does it mean a balance sheet helps you value a business?.
4. Essentials Of Financial Control
Organizations have to put in place specific measures and procedures to safeguard and (ideally) enhance their financial position. From this session you will have an appreciation for the purpose and importance of these tasks.
- What do those running an organization fear most?
- Why do organizations create budgets? And what are the 2 BIG mistakes many continue to make?
- What controls does an organization put in place to ensure it achieve the profit targets (or surplus) it sets?
- Cash flow forecasts – their purpose and format.
- Why does profit differ to cash and how does this difference manifest itself?
- The 3 things anyone running a business must know and keep on top of… constantly.
- The key financial control EVERY business needs to have in place.
5. The Bottom-Line On Financial Improvement
Here we turn our attention to how you might apply your new-found financial understanding to effect a real difference in your organization. You will discover how the way you think about and approach everyday tasks can have an impact.
- It’s easy to understand how to make a difference… financial improvement comes in JUST 2 forms.
- How to improve revenues – probably more options than you think plus a handy tool.
- Reducing costs – our recommended first step… and ONE simple calculation.
- A key non-financial factor that can have a BIG impact on the numbers.
- How to optimize your working capital and how mistakes with basic processes can let you down.
With all courses you get:
FREE Comprehensive Manual & Case Study Pack
- Done-for-you, detailed, session by session notes each complete with key slides you can refer back to;
- So you can spend more time understanding and less time note-taking;
- Designed to help you apply what you learn when you’re back in-the-trenches;
- Includes your company’s numbers (if you choose to include them in your training);
- Separate Case Study pack with calculations we work through during the training.
Plus! Access To 5 FREE Calculation Tools
Using Even ONE Of These Tools Just ONCE Could Instantly Recoup Your Investment in This Course!
Key calculations that have helped clients we have worked with solve real day-to-day problems and reproduced for you as a series of fill-in-the-blanks online templates including:
- How changes in price impact the volume you need to sell – often surprising!
- Handy % Mark-Up to Gross Margin % convertor – avoid a classic pricing mistake!
- Extra sales needed to mitigate the impact of rising costs – and more!
Plus! Our Invaluable Post-Course Support
When you’re back at the office you can contact us by telephone or e-mail…
- If you encounter practical difficulties when you try to apply what you have learned; or
- If something that made sense at the time we covered it, subsequently doesn’t; and
- We can schedule a specific support call to ensure you get what you need from the training.
- should you need longer-term or specialist support & advice, we will assist or signpost you as best we can.
Course Prices
| Business Turnover | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| up to £1m | £1m to £10m | over £10m | |
| Financial Awareness 1-day course | £595 | £645 | £695 |
| To review & reference the numbers from your organization | £55 | £65 | £75 |
We guarantee…
“… to enhance your confidence and practical understanding of finance. If, with our training and support (and a diligent effort on your part), we can’t demonstrate adding anything of practical financial value to you or your organization over and above the cost of the course in the 12 months following the training, we will refund your tuition costs.” Quite simply, you have nothing to lose!Colin Fittall FCA Managing Director
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Great value deals for smaller businesses with typically 10% OFF |
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Fantastic value with each additional person on the same course YOU SAVE 80%. And potentially even more for larger groups. |
MAINTAINED FOR 2013 … Even More Bottom Line Impact
If you secure dates by booking now, for a limited time only, we will throw in access to 5 additional calculation tools absolutely FREE!
More calculation tools that past clients have benefitted from made available to you in a series of online templates:
- What to do if a customer offers you more business but wants cheaper prices
- Find out the difference it would make if customers paid what they owed one day quicker
- Among others…
Let us put your mind at rest…
Don’t worry about any lack of prior financial experience. We are committed to you getting the core financial understanding you need – in fact we fully guarantee it. (Scroll down to the ‘Course Prices’ section for further details).
We train individuals (1 to 1) or groups of people from the same organisation. And at a competitive price. Our experience from training groups of people suggests that a commonality of purpose is essential.With us there are NONE of the compromises implicit in courses that throw together lots of people in a room who have nothing in common. The latter approach too often translates into a modest training experience.
It’s all very well sitting in the course itself and thinking that things make sense. But, even with comprehensive notes, it can be very different back in the office.So you can call us if you get stuck putting the training into practice. We’ll happily schedule a call with you. Unlike some training providers reliant on sub-contract trainers, rest assured, you can always get in touch.
Hit the ground running after the course – you can include your own organisation’s numbers in key parts of the training. See them applied in new formats and new calculations. It’s an option most take up. Always illuminating and, of course, completely confidential.
If you had wanted to be a finance specialist you would have pursued an accountancy qualification – right? Most of our clients could think of little worse. So don’t worry, we understanmd.Ideally you probably want this to be a one-time investment and as pain-free as possible. So our focus is on practical know-how that will build your confidence and enhance your credibility.
Scroll down the page on any of our courses and you’ll see we are completely open about our pricing. There are HUGE discounts for more than one person attending the same course and further discounts for smaller organisations.And don’t forget our Free calculation tools should you need them (scroll down for details).
Complete flexibility on dates – a real benefit if you need to find dates that will work for a number of people. You could choose to come to us in Haslemere, Surrey (a pleasant location) or more typically, at modest extra cost, we come to you. Don’t worry; we need little more than a table, power and a blank wall.Where feasible we can start a little later in the morning to allow for extended travel time (which works for some of the home counties) which can save on accommodation costs. But set against what you’ll get from the training, clients find any such costs, small.If you simply can’t afford to lose time out of the working week we can hold one training day on a weekend (£60 additional cost.) Not an option with universal appeal of course! But bottom-line please don’t compromise on something so important based on what’s available on your doorstep.
Our training draws on extensive financial turnaround work and experience advising on financial strategy and resolving financial issues. What we teach has been thoroughly road-tested and there is not a lot we’ve not seen.We specialise solely in finance-related training and financial support and don’t pretend to be experts at anything else.It takes nothing to make finance complex and confusing. It takes little more to make it overly-simplistic so that you leave thinking you understand something that in reality you’ll find you don’t. It takes rather more to make ‘Finance’ simple enough for you to truly make sense of it and see how it fits together.
We are a small training provider. The personal touch matters to us. Our No.1 concern is the impact of our training on your organisation.Unlike some, we have no interest in collecting brand names like trophies to generate some implied credibility. Judge our course on its own merit.So in terms of scale, wherever your needs sit on the spectrum, whether you are a one-man band or commissioning training for 100+ delegates, you can count on us to make your training experience special.
So a final reminder:
This approach to finance training is not for everyone but if you want more from this training than to simply tick the financial training box in a development plan, you will probably also be:
- someone who appreciates how practical financial know-how can enhance your work, organisation and career.
- keen to put this understanding into practice to achieve better results.
- attracted by a customised approach that offers you the option to see your numbers from a different perspective.
- conscious of the benefits of inviting others to take part in this training and the savings available to help facilitate this.
- reassured by our risk-free guarantee. This means we work hard to ensure the course works for you. It’s worth asking other providers about their refund policies.
- looking forward to applying the calculation tools and the content of the training in your organisation to see just how quickly you can recoup the cost and time invested in the course!