Finance for Managers – Simulation Programme

Who Should Attend:

• Managers who analyse, forecast and plan

Course Objectives

• Prepare budgets, targets and forecasts
• Integrate planning of cash flow, sales, costs and profits
• Partner with customers and suppliers
• Optimise the way sales and purchases are structured
• Prepare operating reports and financial reports
• Target profit opportunities
• Prioritize and control costs
• Reduce inventories and working capital
• Use bench-marking to improve the bottom line
• Improve working relationships with others in the organisation.

What will you gain?

The workshop presents key financial tools and concepts:

• Management uses of basic financial statements
• Why market conditions dominate business decisions
• The need to manage separately for cash and profit
• Fixed and variable costs
• The value of budgets and cash flow forecasts
• The impact of inventory build-up
• The need to control working capital
• Break-even analysis
• Unit cost analysis
• Income Statement analysis
• ROA, ROI and other metrics for management
• Financial metrics used by your company.

Course Content

The team competition consists of six business cycles in which teams have full decision-making power and are accountable for the results. In each cycle, teams develop and implement a business strategy for their company, which incorporates real-world dynamics, such as production capacity, customers, prices and financing. Each cycle includes the following activities:

• Examining market drivers: supply and demand, niche marketing, quality

• Competitor awareness, setting prices in a competitive market

• Ongoing strategic analysis, updating the strategic plan in response to changes in the industry and in the marketplace

• Budget and cash flow exercises

• Monitoring cash flow

• Maintaining the books of the operating company (Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement)

• Performance measurement and analysis

• Posting, comparing and discussion of results

• Analysis of competitors, break-even, income statement and cost-benefits.