Key Financial Concepts and Principles

• Bookkeeping versus accounting
• Cash accounting versus accrual accounting and use in private and public sectors
• Types of accounts in the General Ledger, their purpose and the chart of accounts
• Double-entry bookkeeping concepts and implications
• Depreciation and amortisation

Reading Financial Statements, Public and Private Sector

• International standards in the private and public sectors, IFRS and IPSAS
• Format and content of the statement of financial position (balance sheet)
• Format and content of the statement of profit or loss
• IPSAS principles of financial statements presentation for the public sector
• Investor ratios

Management Accounting

• Financial accounting and management accounting compared
• Types of management information prepared for internal consumption
• Financial information managers need to manage – the power of comparisons
• Analysing costs, key ratio calculations for management and variance analysis, including ROE, ROA and liquidity ratios

Managing the Finances and Costs of Projects.

• Financial aspects of building the business case and getting approval for funding
• Estimating project costs – different estimating techniques, expert, analogous, parametric, bottom up etc.
• Project forecasts, cost variances and cost control
• Project risks and financial implications

Building an Effective Budget

• Public sector v. Private sector budgeting differences in purpose, processes and motive.
• Budgetary methodologies, incremental and zero-based
• Budget and variance analysis
• End of week quiz to appraise learning achieved.