Board CPD Financial Analysis

Board CPD - Financial Analysis and Controls

- How to interpret financial data

A CPD event for Board members in FSA regulated firms

Briefing Outline and Objectives

Interpreting your Firm's Financial Information
The FSA expects the Board of regulated firms to have a full understanding of the current financial position of the company, the financial risks it faces, the controls that are in place to mitigate those risks and its ultimate exposure to insolvency.

Most Board directors, however, are not accountants or actuaries and do not have a high level of
financial expertise. How then can they meet their increasing obligations to understand the firm's financial position and provide the necessary level of independent scrutiny and challenge?

This concise and practical briefing is specifically designed to help executive and non executive directors (who are not financial experts) develop their understanding of financial data and effectively discharge their prudential oversight responsibilities.

Who will benefit

Attending this event will enable you to:

• Understand the key financial statements of your business: balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement
• Know what the finances of a sound business should look like
• Highlight problem areas and know the right questions to ask
• Look beyond the numbers: recognise the significance of trends and variance
• Effectively assess financial risks and identify potential control measures 

 

The Agenda

1. Understanding the key financial statements and assessing performance

• Looking at the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash Flow Statement
• Being alert to problem areas and knowing the right questions to ask
• Are margins high enough?
• How well are management controlling expenses?
• Is liquidity in question?
• “Cash is King” – is the company‘s cash position strong enough?
• Is the company spending enough on innovation / R&D?
• How fast are sales being converted into cash?
• Is the level of gearing too high?

2. What's going on behind the numbers?

• Looking at trends
• Variance analysis

3. Identifying potential issues/risks

• What might they be?
• What controls can be put in place to counteract them?

Your Speaker: Sarah Barnes

Sarah Barnes is a qualified Chartered Accountant who now specializes in financial and commercial awareness training, leadership and management skills, and executive coaching. Through a rare combination of technical expertise and outstanding communication skills, Sarah makes finance comprehensible and enjoyable to non-specialists. As well as financial skills courses, Sarah works with Boards to facilitate communication and teamwork and increase financial literacy and is an experienced coach at this level. Recent assignments include speaking engagements for the Ministry of Defence and Barclays Bank, focusing on communication issues within large organisations.

Download pdf here...

Booking

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Alternatively call us on: 020 3170 5779

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