Advanced Financial Analysis

Managers and executives from all sectors who want to be able to assess investment opportunities and/or the performance of their own organisation or that of competitors, including:

• Those who are non-specialists in finance
• Budget holders who want to identify trends in expenditure
• Operations managers who want to know more about how they compare with competitors
• Senior managers who require greater financial literacy skills
• Managers facing financial decisions or expect to make a contribution to a wider planning process
• Increased probability of investing in successful organisation

• Calculate and interpret key information
• Interpret trends shown in each financial statement
• Comment on their own and competitor’s liquidity, efficiency and funding
• Explain the links between cash flow and other statements
• Describe the framework and purpose of analysing financial statements – the importance and drawbacks

Introduction to Financial Analysis and Financial Statements

• Short quiz exploring participant’s knowledge
• What is financial analysis and who uses it for what
• Sources of information
• Efficient markets theory
• International Financial reporting standards – the key statements explained
• Financial performance in the public sector use of ratios

What Financial Analysis Can and Cannot tell you

• Comparison of analysis techniques
• Evaluation of performance – comparisons
• Income statement ratios, common size, profit margin, return on equity etc
• Balance sheet ratios, quick ratio, current ratio, debt to equity and more
• Use of notes to the accounts

Return on Investments and Making Sense of Trends

• The building blocks of ROI
• Payback method
• Net present value method (NPV)
• Internal rate of return (IRR)
• Historical comparisons and industry benchmarks

Technical Analysis

• What is technical analysis and why it works
• Crowd behaviour concepts
• Behaviour economics
• Types of technical indicators
• Drawing and interpreting trend lines

More Ratios and Practical Exercises

• Price to earnings ratio, dividend yield, dividend pay-out ratio
• The importance of cash flow – how to measure and improve it
• Gross profit, operating profit, net profit margin
• Key investor ratios
• End of course quiz to reinforce learning