This practical course gives non-financial people the tools and understanding to interpret and use the company's financial information, accounts and budgets in straight-forward and non-threatening way.

No prior knowledge is needed.

• Understand the accounting framework and basic concepts
• Analyse and interpret financial information so that you know how well your business is performing
• Be able to use your budgets and forecasts on a daily basis as a management tool
• Understanding variance analysis
• Utilising the cash flow forecast and understanding what steps to take
• Understand break-even points and graphs

The Purpose of Accounting

• Understanding accounts
• Recognising the basic framework for accounting

Basic Concepts in Finance

• Managing Money
• Asking yourself three questions

The Financial Picture

• How well is your business performing? 
• Analysing and interpreting financial information

Budgets & Forecasts

• Using your budgets and forecasts as a day-to-day management tool
• What management information do they provide? 
• “Where on earth do we start?”

Variance Analysis

• What is variance analysis?
• Monitoring Variances
• Management by exception

The Cash-Flow Forecast

• What is the difference between the timing of the Profit & Loss and the Cash-flow forecast? 

Using the Cash Flow Forecast

• How do you use the cash-flow forecast on an on-going basis?  
• What steps do we take when things don’t go according to plan

What is Break-Even?

• What is a break-even point, and what impact does it have on your overall profits?
• What do you need to include when calculating your break-even point?
• How do you price your products correctly?

Break-Even Graphs

• Learning how to create and read a break-even graph
• Appreciating the relationship of cost to volume & economy of scale

The course runs from 9:30am through to 4:30pm.

You will learn in a relaxed environment with a small group of people. A specialist tutor will guide and encourage you through all the learning necessary to develop your skills and questions are always welcome.

Included with your course
We provide the following with online and training centre delivered courses.

• Course notes
• Certificate of attendance

Online Delivery
A link to the online training platform will be sent before the course, simply click the link and follow the instructions.

• See Virtual / Remote training information for more details
• Contact us if you'd like to test the platform before the morning of the course
• You can be located anywhere in the world with an internet connection and your computer

Our Training Centres
For training courses run at one of our training centres we include.

• Free onsite parking
• Lunch and refreshments
• Notepad, pen and Polos

Our Norwich on-site parking (NR3 1UB) is free and situated 5 minutes walk along the river to our training centre at St James Mill. If you arrive by train it is about 20 minutes on the Riverside walk or a short taxi ride to get to us. View full directions for Norwich and all our other venues.