Interpreting Financial Statements

Course Overview

The aim of this one-day course is to provide a practical introduction to financial statements with an emphasis on relevant interpretation and evaluation techniques. It is intended for professionals who have little or no training in finance and who use company accounts and publicly available financial information to aid marketing, credit, procurement or other business decisions.

Audience

Marketing managers, analysts, lenders, credit controllers, procurement specialists, administrators and other professionals who need to develop the important life skill' of evaluating financial statements.'

Skills Gained

• An understanding of the purpose and content of the three financial statements and how they relate to one another.
• Knowledge of ratios and other evaluation techniques
• The steps necessary to make an assessment of the financial performance and health of a business.

Course Outline

• Course Objectives
• Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet (Structure, content, terminology, purpose and inter-relationship)
• Key Accounting Issues (Accruals, measurement issues, accounting concepts, accounting standards, groups, shortcomings of financial information)
• Working Capital (The working capital cycle, management of working capital, variations from company to company)
• Cash Flow (Cash flow statement, cash versus profit, importance of cash flow)
• Evaluation Techniques (Liquidity, efficiency, risk, profitability, ratio analysis, limitations of ratios,Ten Steps to Assessing Financial Health).
• Action Plans Agreed