Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager

Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager is a course for functional managers in every areas of responsibility in all industries.  Are you able to interpret financial reports and make decisions based on the data they provide?  Can you draft an accurate budget?  Can you justify your ideas in dollars and cents?

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will understand:

  • Accounting Principles and Methods
  • General understanding of financial statements
  • The types of CPA Assurance Reports
  • Financial Ratios and the importance of them for internal analysis
  • Budgeting

Welcome/Introductions/Review of course objectives and session

What is Accounting & Finance

  • Definition of Accounting and Finance
  • Purpose of Accounting & Finance
  • Types of Accounting
  • Management Accounting – Concentrates on reporting to people “inside” the business. It is more fluid and customized.
  • Financial Accounting – Concentrates on reporting to people “outside” the business. It is more formal and structured.

Financial Statements – How are they used, what to look for, what are some practical applications?

Balance sheet

  • Learn each of the balance sheet sections (assets, liabilities & equity) and components of each section (cash, accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable, debt, equity, etc.)
  • Snapshot of the company’s financial picture at one point in time.
  • Summarizes financial strength

Income statement

  • Learn the income statement sections (revenues, cost of sales, operating expenses, other income/expenses) and the components that are included in each section
  • Encompasses whole periods (monthly, quarterly, annually) of financial information
  • Shows how the company is performing and maintaining profitability on a short-term basis
  • Summarizes significant components of the earning process
    – Statement of equity
  • Purpose is to show changes in retained earnings and capital stock accounts for the period
  • Separate statement not needed if included in the footnotes or if combined with the income statement

Statement of cash flows

  • Purpose is to show sources and uses of cash during given financial period
  • Broken down into three categories:
    Operating
    Investing
    Financing
    – Footnotes
  • Provide support for the amounts in the financial statements
  • Describe company’s operations
  • Describe company’s accounting policies
  • Highlights items not recorded in the financial statements, but are important to the reader

Sample Company Financial Statement Review (use your own data)

Review financial statements of your company as well as statements to review the various parts of the financial statements discussed.

The Types of CPA Assurance Reports

Discuss the various types of reports that are issued by CPA’s and the differences in those reports and how they are used by stakeholders

  • Compilations
    Reviews
  • Audits
    – Generally accepted auditing standards
    – Opinions
  • Unqualified
  • Qualified
  • Other types of reports
    – Forecasts and projections
    – Agreed-upon procedures

Financial Statement Ratio Analysis
Review financial statement ratios used by accounting departments, management and stakeholders to analyze the financial statements of an company and practice calculating these ratios based on Sample Company financial
statements.

Budgeting & Internal Control
Discuss the budgeting process, why they are important, and who uses a budget? Group discussion includes tips and tricks that can used in department budgeting and suggestions for improving internal budgets at participant
organizations. Since budgets are used for monitoring internal controls,  will discuss internal controls within an organization and how they can help to detect and prevent fraud. Study top frauds and determine where there may
have been an internal control breakdown.

Course Information
  • Course Level:Introductory
  • Prerequisite:None
  • Credit:8 hours
  • Fee:$395
  • Length:1 day
  • Date:Group Training Only
  • Hours:8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
  • Delivery:Live on-site, Virtual Live

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