Finance for Non-Financial Professionals

For non-financial professionals, as you progress in your career, there is an increasing need to read, understand and analyse financial statements to make various decisions. Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash flow Statement are all important statements that provide basic financial information of the company. Being able to understand financial statements will give you an edge in performing in your work place and business.

This course is designed for managers and executives with little or no knowledge of accounting and finance. Its aim is to introduce the accounting concepts and help participants to make sense of financial statements in a simple way, thereby enhancing their decision-making process.

This will be an interactive programme engaging participants to learn the basics of accounting and the importance of financial statements through games and group works. Besides being able to read financial statements, you will be introduced to financial analysis, cash flow management and investment decision making tools such as pay-out period, Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Returns.

After the workshop, you will be able to:

• interpret the financial statements to help in decision-making
• monitor business cash flow to ensure healthy cash position
• analyse company’s performance by using financial ratios
• appraisal short term project and investment
• understand the common financial terms and concepts

Outline

• Value Creation Chain
  – How business create value
  – What are financial statements?
  – Singapore Financial Reporting Standards
  – Areas of interest for stakeholders
• Fundamental accounting terminology and concepts
  – Accounting terminology and concepts
  – Process flow of accounting
  – Characteristics of good financial statements
• Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements
  – How to read income statements
  – What is a balance sheet?
  – Understanding Income Statement and Balance Sheet of a public listed company’s Annual Report
  – Cash flow statement – profit vs cash flow
  – How to improve cash flow?
  – Direct and indirect cash flow statements
• Analysis of financial statements
  – Analyse financial statements of some listed companies
  – Go through income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement
  – Uses and limitations of financial statements
• Interpretation of financial statements using Ratios Analysis
  – Profitability ratios
  – Liquidity ratios
  – Efficiency ratios
  – Financial structure
  – Investment ratios
• Understanding time value of money
  – Time cost of money
  – Compound interest and future values
• Appraisal evaluation of projects using various tools
  – Payback Period
  – Net Present Value
  – Internal Rate of Returns
  – Advantages and limitations of each technique