Finance for Non-financial Executives

Breakthrough the language of finance Understanding the basic accounting model and its limitations Analyzing and interpreting financial statements within the context of industry analysis and macroeconomic fundamentals Mastering forecasting techniques Providing rigorous tools and approaches to measure the effectiveness of your expenditures Clarifying financial statements and their relationship to strategic decisions Communicating more effectively with financial managers and accountants Understanding different valuation techniques and respective benchmarks

EVA, LIFO, FIFO, do these professional terms of accounting and finance still seem like a foreign language to you? Can you eliminate the mystery behind the numbers of the financial statements? Or, how would you utilize those financial concepts to become a greater asset to your company?
As a business executive, you experience the tide of global change in ways few others do. And you know that to manage this tide, which will only intensify in the years ahead, you need a foundation that is at once timeless and flexible. Higher position means greater responsibility where understanding and talking the language of finance becomes a significant part of the job, executives at all levels need to be adequately equipped.
Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager teaches the basics of financial reports, as well as the fundamentals of business valuation and the creation of shareholder value. The course begins by describing the accounting process and the creation of financial statement, meanwhile, reveals the company’s operation and finance truth behind the data. Once knowing how to read financial statements will be invaluable throughout your career, in analyzing business opportunities, assessing financial risks, communicating your ideas to others, and dealing with the real business situations.

Accounting Information―The Language of Business
What is financial accounting?
Why Financial Accounting is necessary?
Some process, terminology and concepts
Learn how financial data is generated and reported
Users and interpretation of Financial Statements
Managers and Financial Statements
Discussion: Business Ethics
Demystify Financial Statements
Components of Financial Reports
Basic Understanding: How accounting information assists in decision making
Understand how accountants measure income, and show how it is related to a balance sheet
Use financial data to evaluate the performance of department, organization, or division
What limits the levels of relevance and reliability?
Earnings management
Case: Analyzing the effects of price-changes on financial statements
Analysis of Financial Statement―Where do you find useful information?
Revisit the Income Statement
Cash Flow Statement
Distinguishing income from cash flow
Provide a framework which can be applied to analyze and
interpret set of financial accounting statements
Know effects of price-changes on financial statements
Implications of Revenue Recognition
Qualitative Characteristics of Financial Information
Know effects of fair value measurement on financial statement
Case: Analyzing and interpreting a listed company’s annual report
Financial Decision Making
Locate and use sources of information about business performance
Brand as a platform strategy
Linking marketing metrics to financial metrics
Project Evaluation
Preparing a business plan
Case: When Art Meets Science: The Challenge of ROI Marketing
Cash is King!
Produce project cash flow that are more real than wishful
Cash flow forecasts as a planning tool
Model the risk of technical failure
Case: A time to Harvest: This Could Be the Time to Cut R&D and Marketing
Accounting Creates Value
Functions of management accounting
Management accounting compared to financial accounting
Behavioral implications of management accounting information
The balanced scorecard
Introduction to financial reporting and budgeting
Case: An example of the balanced scorecard
Selecting the Best Costing Method for Situation
How the use of cost information defines its focus and form
The costing principles and avoiding costing traps