About

Where do we stand financially? Are we tracking to budget? Can we rely on the numbers? Where are we going and how do we plan to get there? Is this business opportunity worth undertaking?

This comprehensive two-day programme has been designed to demystify financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting and decision making. Participants will find out how to utilise financial information to manage their areas, prepare meaningful budgets and forecasts of future performance, and evaluate new business opportunities.

Put an end to the uncertainty, grey areas and lack of confidence when it comes to managing the numbers.

Key learning objectives
• Understand the role of finance within your organisation
• Interpret financial statements
• Understand the workings of your organisation’s financial systems
• Apply key financial principles and understand financial terminology
• Effectively manage budgets for projects, cost centres or profit centres
• Identify the full cost of a business decision and how costs build up
• Prepare accurate and meaningful budgets
• Understand how to get the most from your accountant or business analyst, and ask the right questions to get what you need
• Find out what the non financial manager needs to know about taxation
• Understand financial indicators and performance measures
Who should attend?
All Managers and Executives who need to better understand the financials of their organisations, and all those who are responsible for a cost centre, profit centre or project.
This seminar assumes no prior financial knowledge

Outline

Introduction: The purpose and rules of finance
• Understanding the role of finance in your organisation
• Why are there accounting rules and why should you follow them?
• Golden financial rules for managers
Practical exercise: Determining whether the accounting rules have been followed

Examining the financial systems of your organisation
• How does the budget link into the other aspects of finance?
• Long term planning
• Monthly reporting
• Daily transactions
• Examining the key components of your organisation's financial systems
Practical exercise: Determining the major components of financial systems
• Accounts payable and accounts receivable
• Examining the functions of the treasury
• Fixed asset register
• Understanding the difference between Capex and Opex
• What is depreciation and what methods are used to calculate it?
Practical exercise: Determining whether purchases are Capex or Opex
• Payroll and petty cash
• General ledger

Understanding the types of financial statements
• Examining the main financial statements
• Profit and loss accounts/Statements of financial performance
• Balance sheets/Statements of financial position
• Cash flow statements/Statements of cash flows
Practical exercise: Determining the main financial terms in financial statements
Practical exercise: The consultancy case study

Compliance and taxation issues
• The role of internal and external auditors
• Taxation for the non-financial manager:
• Ensuring that tax records are up to date and complete
• Income tax requirements for organisation and employers
• Goods and Services Tax (GST)
Practical exercise: Completing a GST return
• Fringe benefit tax (FBT)
Practical exercise: Determining whether FBT applies to specific transactions

Understanding different types of cost
• Identifying costs
• Fixed vs variable
• Controllable vs non controllable
• Shared and allocated costs
• The importance of organisational cost structure
Practical exercise: Determining whether costs are fixed or variable
Practical exercise: Identifying the full cost of a decision and how costs build up

How to manage budgets for projects, cost centres or profit centres
• The role of project, cost centre and profit centre reporting
• The importance of good cut offs at the end of the month
Practical exercise: How to make accruals
• The advantages of variance reporting
• How to interpret and act on the variances within your cost centre statements
• Common reasons for incorrect variances
Practical exercise: Using cost benefit analysis to determine what action to take

How to prepare accurate and meaningful budgets
• What is the purpose of budgeting?
• Understanding the budgetary control process
• The interrelation between different budgets
• What are the methods for preparing cost centre budgets?
Practical exercise: Preparing a budget using zero based and incremental methods
• How to correctly phase / seasonalise your budget across the year
Practical exercise: Determining how to spread the budget
• Tips for effective budgeting
• Defending your budget from cuts
• Examining how finance people can help you prepare a budget

Examining the sources of financial information and how to interpret annual reports
• Identifying the types of financial reports
Practical exercise: Determining how to obtain the financial information you require
• How to analyse annual reports
• Identifying the information contained in annual reports
• How to interpret the financial statements
Practical exercise: Interpreting the financial statements
• The importance of non financial performance measures
• Statements of service performance
• Balanced scorecard
• Triple bottom line reporting
• What financial reports don't tell you

Facilitator

Kevin Lee, Director, Business Skills Training

Kevin Lee BA (Hons), Pg Dip, MBA, ACMA runs a consultancy for business skills development.  He is a Chartered Management Accountant with 20 years experience of Government Agencies, Corporates and SME’s.  Kevin is a member of the New Zealand Association for Training and Development, the Human Resources Institute for New Zealand and accredited as a Belbin Team Role facilitator.  His post-graduate qualifications include a post-graduate diploma in business administration with distinction and an MBA in which he majored in finance.  

Kevin specialises in helping managers and staff to develop practical financial skills and knowledge.  He is passionate about making finance relevant, understandable and fun.  He enables people to develop their business acumen and to apply financial management practices that suit their organisation’s needs and circumstances. 

Kevin’s clients include: Ministry of Justice, Department of Internal Affairs, ANZ National Bank, Meridian Energy, Auckland District Health Board and Auckland City Council.   

Kevin’s approach is highly practical, using only the financial theory that people need to know, and then building skills and knowledge through case studies, examples and small group work.  He is able to provide “real life” advice based on his experience in CFO roles and his experience of managing major Capex projects, implementing financial systems, improving financial processes and procedures and achieving ongoing efficiency savings.   

Kevin’s passion, enthusiasm and commitment result in excellent feedback from participants at all levels: Directors, General Managers, Accountants, Senior Managers, Middle Managers, Supervisors and Support Staff.     

Kevin Lee is also facilitating:

• Budgeting and Cost Control for Non Financial Managers
• Cash Flow and Liquidity Management for improved performance
• Commercial Approaches for Government Agencies
• Effectively Managing & Organising Accounts Payable
• Effectively Managing and Organising Accounts Payable
• Essential Finance Skills for EAs, PAs & Administrators
• Finance & Accounting Skills for Managers in the Health Sector
• Financial Machinery of Government
• Managing Credit, Accounts Receivable and Debt Recovery
• Practical Budgeting and Forecasting for Accountants and Senior Managers
• The Effective Accounts Assistant

In-house Training