Finance for Non Financer

The programme challenges participants to address oversupply, inventory build-up, working capital, cash flow, debt repayment. It also introduces formal exercises in budgeting, cash flow forecasting, and ratios. In this programme, teams decide what prices to set, whether to increase capacity, how much money to borrow, what R&D to pursue, and how to improve prices, cost structure, and cash flow.

It models the real world, enabling learners to see their decisions’ impact on other departments, the ability to make future decisions, and the company’s bottom line results. Understanding cash flow, and the difference between managing for cash flow and profit is one of the most powerful insights achieved by learners.

Learners come away with an enhanced readiness to take initiatives in everyday activities, leading to reductions in costs, inventories, and working capital; and a better understanding of how and why their everyday decisions and actions impact other areas of the company.

Target Audience

• This 2-day program is for individuals, team leaders and supervisors and managers who make decisions that impact sales and operations.
• The program requires a minimum of 12 participants.

Course Outline
The competition consists of four business cycles in which teams have full decision-making power and are accountable for the business results.

In each cycle, team-based companies develop and implement a business strategy which incorporates real-world dynamics such as: production capacity, customers, prices, and financing. Each cycle includes the following activities:

• Competitor and market analysis
• Setting prices in a competitive market
• Monitoring cash flow
• Preparing an Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement and Balance Sheet
• Posting, comparing, and discussion of results

Teams have opportunities to improve their companies with real world business solutions including expansion, quality initiatives, and niche marketing. Finance learning is integrated within the simulation, activity include cash flow forecasting, budgets, and unit cost analysis.

Course Objectives
The program teaches financial tools and concepts including:

• Basic financial statements and their management uses: Income Statement (P&L) and Balance Sheet
• How market conditions impact business decisions
• The difference between cash and profit
• Fixed and variable costs
• Cost structure and capacity utilization
• Budgets and cash flow forecasts
• The impact of inventory build-up
• The need to control working capital
• Ratios as metrics for management (ROA, ROI)
• The specific financial metrics used by your company to gauge performance, and why they are used
• Effects of strategy changes

Participants play all the major roles in an operating company – production, R&D, sales and marketing, management, and finance – so they will get first-hand experience with:

• Team decision-making in each area
• Generating financial statements
• Preparing budgets and forecasting cash flow Calculating basic ratios
• Comparing operating income and ratios to that of competitors
• Implementing change and measuring results
• Using ratios and other measurements to identify the ‘buttons’ which drive company performance and behaviour
• Taking initiative in everyday activities leading to reductions in costs, inventories, and working capital
• Working creatively with customers and suppliers
• Interpreting operating reports and financial reports
• Prioritizing and controlling costs
• Targeting profit opportunities
• Using historical and competitive bench-marking to improve your bottom line
• How to better serve internal and external customers
• Seeing how actions impact other areas of the company