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Financial Intelligence for Leaders

Developing Leaders' Business Acumen with a Finance for Non-Financial Leaders Course

Develop Strong Financial Intelligence in Your Leaders

Your leaders make key decisions that affect the financial performance of your company. But are these decisions grounded in a thorough knowledge of the financial situation and goals of your company? Are your leaders able to analyze financial reports, manage working capital, and understand cash flow?

This program covers what your non-financial leaders need to know, from the foundational elements of finance to understanding your cost of capital. Because the focus is on your own company's financials, key measures, and strategies, your leaders will walk away better equipped to speak and interact with finance colleagues, analyze your financial statements, and understand the public marketplace. Their new financial intelligence will enable them to make the kind of decisions that lead to long-term health for your company.

Because the focus is on your own company's financials, key measures, and strategies, your leaders will walk away better equipped to speak and interact with finance colleagues, analyze your financial statements, and understand the public marketplace.

Vital Skills Your Leaders Will Take Away From This Class

• Strong decision-making. A thorough understanding of the key financial concepts needed to make more effective decisions.
• Effective communication. The ability to communicate effectively with financial executives and the marketplace.
• Balanced perspective. Understanding the art of finance so that the bias in the numbers is known and can be taken into account.
• Solid understanding. A strong understanding of financial terms, concepts, and statements.
• Financial analysis. Understanding how to use ratios to assess liquidity, profitability, leverage, and efficiency.
• Data integration. The ability to tell any company's story (your own, a client's, or a competitor's) through a reading and analysis of its financial statements.
• Creating shareholder value. The ability to make ROI decisions that have a positive impact on shareholder value.
• Financial transparency. Speaking clearly and confidently with managers and employees in small and large settings about the financial side of the business.

Topics to Consider for "Financial Intelligence for Leaders" Courses

• Income statement, revenue recognition, matching principle, expensing vs. capitalizing, EBIT, and EBITDA
• Balance sheet, depreciation, goodwill
• Cash flow statement, free cash flow
• The relationship of the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement
• Financial ratio analysis, yours and competitor's
• Time value of money, future value, present value
• Cash vs. cash flow, cash vs. profit
• Return on investment/capital budgeting methodologies and cost of capital
• Working capital management
• Operating leverage and breakeven analysis
• Contribution margin
• Financial leverage
• The marketplace, including obligations of a public company, Sarbanes-Oxley, shareholder value, and financial expectations and measures used on Wall Street

Recommended Customization

• Presentation of and discussion about your strategy and financial goals
• Teaching and calculating your key measures
• Reading and analyzing your income statement
• Discussing how you recognize revenue
• Reviewing your capitalization policy
• Reading and analyzing your balance sheet
• Reading and analyzing your cash flow statement
• Calculating your profitability, leverage, liquidity, and efficiency ratios
• Calculating your competitor's profitability, leverage, liquidity, and efficiency ratios
• Discussing the meaning of the analysis results
• Your return on investment approach
• Your cost of capital
• Your working capital measures
• Your approach to operating leverage, breakeven, and financial leverage
• The measures the marketplace uses to assess your company

Where to Start

Call us and we can help you think through the appropriate content for your needs and target audience. Think about the following questions:

• What results do you want to achieve with this financial intelligence course?
• What is the current level of understanding and use of the concepts by the target audience?
• What are the measures that the leadership team studies?
• What financial terms and concepts are used by leadership?

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