ACCOUNTING & FINANCE BEST PRACTICES

TRAINING OVERVIEW

Welcome to DixonTech's comprehensive training course designed to elevate your financial knowledge and empower you with the skills necessary for strategic decision-making. Over five days, this course aims to equip delegates with a profound understanding of financial concepts, from income statements to cash flow statements, enabling them to interpret and utilize accounting information effectively.

The training focuses on essential modules tailored for operational and middle managers, including members of the operational management team, those overseeing divisional performance, managers responsible for support functions, consultants advising on systems and operations, and senior staff from any department. This course caters to diverse professionals seeking career progress through an enriched financial skill set.

TRAINING TOPICS

By attending this DixonTech training course, delegates will be able to:

• Understand income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
• Interpret cost behaviour and its impact on product costing.
• Understand the process of budgeting.
• Manage financial risks.
• Understand corporate governance mechanisms.

Training is tailored to

Tailored for diverse professionals seeking career advancement through enhanced financial expertise, this DixonTech training course is particularly well-suited for operational and middle managers. These individuals aspire to gain a deeper comprehension of financial information and leverage it effectively within their managerial responsibilities. For instance:

• Members of the operational management team
• Managers who have responsibility for divisional performance
• Managers who have responsibility for support functions
• Consultants who provide advice on systems and operations
• Senior staff members of any department

DAY ONE:

 INTRODUCTION TO ACCOUNTING

• The importance of accounting information
• The role of the Finance Function
• The accounting equation and financial, accounting systems
• Recording facts and applying judgement
• Preparing the Income Statement and Balance Sheet
• Accounting principles and accounting standards                  

DAY TWO: 

ACCOUNTING REPORTS

• The format and contents of the Income Statement
• The format and contents of the Balance Sheet
• The effect of depreciation and impairment on profit
• Identifying and valuing inventory
• Preparing the Cash flow Statement
• The importance of cash flow in business

DAY THREE:

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING FOR CONTROL AND DECISION-MAKING

• Collecting and analyzing costs
• The structure of direct and indirect costs
• Dealing with overheads – absorption costing or ABC?
• Cost-Volume-Profit and break even analysis
• Decision-making – make or buy
• Decision-making – the effect of limiting factors

DAY FOUR:

COMMUNICATING THE PLAN THROUGH BUDGETING

• Corporate planning and corporate objectives implemented through budgeting
• The budgeting process and timescale
• Sales budget forecasting techniques
• Cascading the budgets across the whole business
• Preparing functional budgets and the cash budget
• Budgeting principles, methodologies, and applications

DAY FIVE:

MEASURING PERFORMANCE TO INFORM DECISION-MAKING

• Monthly management reporting
• Setting and using standards
• Identifying and calculating variances
• Operating and planning variances – who is responsible?
• Measuring responsibility centre performance, ROI, RI and EVA
• Non-financial performance – the Balanced Scorecard