Finance for the Non-Financial Manager  Short Courses

The Finance for the Non-Financial Manager short course teaches business finance and is aimed at managers from disciplines other than finance who wish to understand financial management principles and practice. Emphasis is placed on understanding financial concepts and how they are put to use in small, medium and large enterprises. About a third of the content is learning personal finance. The Finance for the Non-Financial Manager course starts with explaning the basics of finance, moves into gaining a good understanding of the basic financial statements and then the applications of sales, pricing, costing, interest and borrowings and taxation. This finance course finishes with investment, performance measurements, risk mitigation and hedge fund operations. Students are encouraged to start using what they learnt as soon as possible in their work and at home.

Course Information

Start DateStart TimeDurationCostCourse CodeApply
Monday 1 October 2012 18:30 - 20:30 10 weekly classes £350.00 CE1762 Course Full
Monday 21 January 2013 18:30 - 20:30 10 weekly classes £350.00 CE1762 Apply Now
Monday 29 April 2013 18:30 - 20:30 10 weekly classes £350.00 CE1762 Apply Now

Tutor Info

Kulan Mills FCA, FCMA A Chartered and Chartered Management Accountant with Ernst & Young & KPMG background with over 35 years hands-on business finance and senior management roles in large multinational PLC's covering a wide variety of sectors including manufacturing, engineering, trading, chemicals, shipping, hotels, leisure, public sector, charities and Hedge Funds. He has been a director of an international consultancy and uses his experience in team working with and training non-financial management colleagues to make the technically complex issues easy to understand, down to earth, practical and immediately useful. His SME (Small & Medium Sized Enterprise) clients include business start-ups and family businesses. He enjoys providing business development support for growth and profitability as well as for survival in tough times.

Eligibility

Keenness to learn new concepts and how they are used in business is an essential requirement. The maths needed is knowledge of simple calculations such as percentages and ratios at a level not more than GCSE maths. Knowledge of Microsoft Excel at a basic level is useful. Classroom exercises require only simple calculations using a calculator. Those with 10+ years working experience will already be exposed to many of the concepts and will find that they gain a lot of usable knowledge.

English Requirements

Good written and spoken English.

What will I learn?

  • To understand the basic principles, terminology and building blocks of financial control.
  • To understand the main financial statements, how they relate to one another and how they can be manipulated as useful management data.
  • To appreciate budgeting as a planning and control too.
  • To recognise different types of cost and how costs can be controlled.
  • To differentiate between cash flow, profit and net worth.
  • Appreciate the financial implications of plans and decisions.

Topics Covered


   

CLASS 1

Finance Function
What, Why & How

 Control needs
Competitive Advantage needs
Performance & Outlook health check; Easyjet - (H'work)
CLASS 2 P&L, B/Sheet, C/Flow The contents & what, why, how & when
How they link up (Trace example in classroom)
CLASS 3 P&L, B/Sheet, C/Flow Understanding messages from figures; Influencing operations
Jeanette's Café (Exercise - H'work) An Excel Model is given to participants to keep & use
CLASS 4

Sales
Costs & types
Costing Systems
VAT

Pricing, quantity, margins & mix
Fixed & Variable costs, B/even (Classroom Exercise)
Use of different Costing Systems; ABC/ABM, Kanban/Kaizan/Six Sigma
What, Why & How;  Fill in a return (Classroom Exercise)
CLASS 5 Interest - APR / AER
Managing Capital & Gearing
Funding		 What, Why & How; Use of Excel Model (Classroom Exercise) & a model given to keep & use
Efficient Capital Management; Risk, Inflation & Reward factors
Sources of Finance & Factors influencing cost of finance (WACC)
CLASS 6 Investment Returns & Risk
Errors & Fraud		 DCF/IRR/Payback/Risk (Classroom Exercise) & an Excel model given to keep & use
Types, Prevention & Detection; Internal Control; Internal/External Audit
CLASS 7 Budgets & Plans
Personal Tax		 The Processes; Effectiveness; Perspectives; Target setting & rewarding
Calculate tax (Classroom Exercise); Check your own tax (H'work)
CLASS 8 Business Valuation
Project Evaluation		 Basis of valuation; use in buying & selling businesses; Due Diligence
Aspects & use of a more complex Excel Model (H'Work) & a model to keep & use
CLASS 9 Performance Measurement
Personal Investment Portfolio		 Financial & Non-Financial; balancing Scorecard; Ratios and their relative importance
Construction & Risk balancing; Hedging & Hedge Fund Operations
CLASS 10 Revision Revise all topics covered before; How to keep knowledge warm & add to learning in future
Classroom Discussion & Feedback

 

 

 

Teaching and Assessment

As the course is gradually built up from foundation knowledge in early sessions to applications in later classes students should ensure that they do not miss a class. At least 70% attendance is needed as a minimum. Classroom exercises and home work should be attempted as it reinforces learning and when it is checked against answers provided later.

Recommended Reading

Dyson, J.R. (2003) 6th Ed. Accounting for Non-Accounting Students, Pearson

Harrison, J. (1989) Finance for the Non-financial Manager, HarperCollins

Siciliano, G. (2002) Finance for the Non-financial Manager, McGraw Hill Education

Those who wish to learn or brush up on business maths may find the workbook: 'Understanding Business Maths', Kaplan Publishing, ISBN978-1-84710-706-0 a useful aid.

Leads To...

The knowledge gained and useful models given are for use in workplaces and home. As the course attendees come from a wide variety of functional backgrounds and disciplines further learning may lead them to take on an MBA course. It is designed as a cross-learning course; it is not set out as a stepping stone course for those who wish to become accountants or financial analysts.

Career Outcome

Those who are progressed to a middle management level in a medium to large organisation will find that they have a better understanding of corporate finance and can express views on performance and question and challenge financial presentations in team meetings with confidence, address planning and budgeting issues and risk/reward balancing of decisions. Those managing smaller organisations and own/family businesses will learn what is most important to keep an eye on and how to manage growth in size and profit/efficiency in a more informed way. All will find personal finance topics useful for everyday life applications.

Application Deadline: