15-07-2024 - 19-07-2024	3300	Istanbul

Course Introduction:

Most managers are educated and trained for their functions, not for finance. Yet every manager is expected to understand finances well enough to make realistic budgets, manage cash, and hit his or her targets. This workshop will provide you with the skills and tools to do this, with the aim of achieving your organization’s overall goals.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the program, participants will be able to:

Pinpoint the key drivers of financial performance in your unit
Prepare a realistic budget and gain approval from senior management
Communicate progress on your goals to key stakeholders
Apply tools and methods to improve your financial performance
Base your business decisions on solid analysis of financial drivers
Prepare a financial investment case for projects and initiatives

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is designed for senior managers of operational units, general managers, or department heads with budget responsibility. Managers are expected by their key stakeholders to be able to forecast into the future, make the right analyses, and then make the right decisions, even in an environment of uncertainty. They need managerial finance skills, but not all managers received this as part of their professional education. The workshop is also for finance people who want to better understand the realities of the non-finance colleagues.

Course Outline:

Before the workshop, you will gather information and bring it with you to work on during the workshop

Your organization’s mission, vision and values

Key financial statements, including performance on your key ratios

Your own department’s budget, and any project budgets that you are dealing with

You will not have to share this information with any of the other participants, but you will have time to work on, understand and analyze your own individual finances.

During the workshop, you will benefit from the experience of managers with a strong background in business re-engineering and turnaround management. This workshop will not dwell on academic concepts and theories, but provide hands-on advice and best practice on business finance.

Budgets and Forecasting

This module covers how to build and manage a realistic budget in line with your strategic plan.

Preparing and presenting annual plans

Getting approval from senior management

Rolling forecasts – what are they and how to prepare /manage them

Re-forecasting when there are changes in the environment

Variance analysis and reporting

Actions required to get back on track and achieve the goals

Sources of Finance and Cash Flow

Money is the juice that keeps your business going, both in commercial businesses and non-commercial organizations. As a manager, you have to know where the money comes from. You have to know how money is needed to keep your business running, and how much you need to invest to grow your business.

Clients, customers, investors, donors, investments, bank loans, etc.

Raising new finance – different methods

Managing cash flow (when credit and cash are tight)

Short term vs long term – taking care of today while planning for the future.

Customers, Clients & Key Activities

Your activities are either directly or indirectly connected to providing value for an end customer, client, or important stakeholder. A focus on the “value creation” aspect of your activity is a must for any successful manager.

Who are our customers or clients and why should they prefer us?

Segmenting customers by their real needs – identifying the profitable segments

Which products or services are bringing the profits which are not?

Managing customer loyalty as a driver of future revenues

Implications of going for growth vs going for profit

Marginal costing and pricing decisions

New product development and launch

All organizations must continually refresh their offering to their clients. Product lifecycles are getting shorter and the speed of new product/service introduction is increasingly critical to success. But where to invest? Managers need to be able to predict which investments will bring the most return and should therefore be pursued.

Product life cycles

Growth and profit matrix for managing a portfolio of products/services/activities

Buy or build decisions

R&D costs

Time-to-launch / time-to-market assumptions

Future predictions of growth and profit for new activities

Capital expenditure decisions

Before making investments to maintain today’s business or for new activities, managers need to be able to prepare and present a “capex” analysis, and get it approved by a formal committee. A typical capex shows the future returns the company is expected to receive on an investment made today. It is a trade-off of costs and benefits over time. You will learn to how to prepare:

Benefits of the proposed investment and impact on cash flows

Total costs of the proposed investment

Asset depreciation rates and how to calculate them

Payback period

Internal rate of return

Risk analysis

Putting it all together and presenting your argument

Insourcing and Outsourcing

Deciding whether to do an activity in-house, or to outsource it to someone who can do it externally is a key management decision. It can be a source of value when you do it right, and a big drain on value when you do it wrong.

Core vs non-core activities

When to do it

How to do it

Preparing a business case including costs, people, physical assets, emotions, strategic considerations, etc

Profit Improvement Programs

On a regular basis, you are involved in or managing projects which are intended to improve the overall profitability of the organization (restructuring, process change, cost control, new sources of revenues and profit, etc)

Setting up a plan for improvement

Setting must-win goals, must-do activities, milestones, measurements and reporting mechanisms

Allocating resources and responsibility

Achieving quick wins while keep an eye on the big picture

Dealing with Finance Departments

The relationship between finance and other functions is a two-way street. Non-finance managers need to understand finance basics and the financial implications of their decisions and actions. Finance managers need to understand the realities of doing business that other managers face and the strategic value of some benefits which cannot be directly monetized.

Understanding finance basics – P&L, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow statements

Key financial ratios that drive the business

Non-tangible benefits – can they be measured?

Managing the mutual relationship between finance and the rest of the organization