Understanding financial statements

In the current credit crunch environment it has never been more important to understand the financial statements of a business. This programme will enable you to understand the components of financial statements and how they inter-link to provide the full financial picture of a business. You'll understand the purpose of accounting rules and how their application may differ between public and private companies. You'll be able to identify different balance sheet presentations, poor balance sheet structures and identify the differences between profitability and cash flow.

You'll be able to define the full range of financial ratios as a means of fully interpreting financial statements. You'll find out which ratios to compare to reveal the true financial health of a business. You'll identify trends within a business over time and understand the reasons why ratios are expected to vary across different industrial segments.

What our participants say:

'The course provided a good explanation of ratios and how they link together' - Andrew Pette, Business Manager, ANZ National Bank.

Objectives:

After completing this course you will be able to:

Apply financial concepts, define common financial terms and structures
Explain the structure of a balance sheet, the accounting equation and the statement of financial position
Identify different balance sheet formats
Explain what profit is and how it is calculated
Identify the elements of a cash flow statement
Explain the differences between cash flow and profit
Understand the purpose and rationale of ratios:
- Liquidity ratios
- Management efficiency ratios
- Capital structure ratios
- Profitability ratios
- Market performance ratios
How to identify business trends

Our training is:

Competency based: we enable participants to apply what they have learned when they return to work
Professionally designed to cater for all learning styles, with a mix of activities
Based on accelerated learning techniques to engage participants
Fully evaluated for continuous improvement
Customised for an organisation's specific needs and issues and financial systems and processes

Participant feedback from understanding financial statements