Course Description

(Objectives)           

• Develop strategic thinking, and use the strategic management process to develop missions and objectives and carry out strategic analysis and decision-making
• Understand the relationship between financial planning, forecasting, and budgeting and integration of the strategic management process with the budgeting cycle
• Understand cost behavior, the use of alternative costing systems, and cost/volume/profit (CVP) analysis, and develop and prepare an operating budget and how it may be funded using the alternative sources of finance
• Use various Excel© models to forecast sales pricing, optimal product mix, long- and short-term sales levels, and build financial growth planning models and traditional and activity based budget models, and improve budget accuracy
• Use the techniques of budgetary control: development of product standards, flexed budgets, and variance analysis and use of the results of variance analysis to improve operational performance
• Determine a company’s cost of capital and use the technique of discounted cash flow (DCF) for capital budgeting and evaluation of capital project investment, and risk analysis using the techniques of sensitivity, simulation, and scenario analysis.

(Participants)           

Forecasting and budgeting are essential skills that should be acquired at the appropriate level by all the professionals in an organisation, in particular:

• Financial professionals, finance controllers, treasurers and inventory professionals
• Senior professionals with a direct responsibility for financial management and control
• Accountants, sales and purchasing professionals and those responsible for relationship with banks
• Any professional, at junior or senior level, who is a part of the financial decision- making team
• New interns and trainees with finance-related responsibilities

Department heads, process owners, administrative personnel associated with budget management, financial and technical professionals, sales and marketing professionals,

project professionals, and anyone who needs to understand how to develop cost projections for their department, projects