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SQL Fundamentals

You may have heard of SQL Server and that it can be an incredibly useful tool, but what exactly is it and how can you utilise it?

Learn what a relational database is and how is the data stored there.

To make sense of the data and manipulate it into useful information.

To write simple SQL statements for data retrieval using variables as inputs for reporting purposes.

To aggregate data and learn to piece it all together in order to unravel the data puzzle.

Duration

1 day

Location

Venue TBC

SQL programming - the next level

Learn to write powerful, customisable SQL queries directly to the database that are lightweight and fast.

Learn the creation of tables and associated data structures.

Obtain a basic understanding of data types and when to use them.

Learn to create repeatable, performant code through functions and stored procedures.

Better understand database access.

Duration

1 day

Location

Venue TBC

Excel planning and modelling – building strategic plans for clients

Use Excel to think strategically for your clients and enable them to raise finance, evaluate investment opportunities or value their business.

Enhance your understanding of the structure of a strategic plan.

Build a robust analysis of the market for a specific product or service.

Document the plan for circulation to stake holders.

Duration

1 day

Location

London, Manchester

Excel FP&A – system data and automating month end reporting

Improve your Excel technique to efficiently extract information from databases and produce monthly management accounts and rolling strategic plans.

A clear understanding of how to use downloaded data from Accounting Systems to create management information.

Capacity to build Data Bridges to consolidate data and transfer results to management reporting tools.

Ability to create dynamic management reports.

Ability to enhance reports with both graphical interpretation and traffic light alerts including a waterfall chart to link budget to actual results.

Duration

1 day

Location

London, Manchester

Excel modelling – investment appraisal, valuation and business cases

Develop your use of Excel to produce robust business models to evaluate investment opportunities.

An enhanced understanding of Excel functions, features and short cuts for wider business application.

Confidence in the model structure for evaluating the financial potential of investments.

Ability to apply techniques to generate assumption profiles for forecasting revenues, costs, assets, working capital and financing.

Capability to employ a range of valuation techniques to determine investment viability.

Duration

1 day

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

Business intelligence part 1: Power Query

How you can design rich and interactive data preparatory tools that take seconds to run, yet look like they have spent weeks in development.

Ability to find and connect to data from a wide variety of sources including performing online searches.

An understanding of how to cleanse data quickly and automatically without the need for tedious task work.

Ability to merge and shape data sources to match your data analysis requirements or prepare it for further analysis and modelling.

Confidence in writing powerful formulae in Power Query’s M language.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Business intelligence part 2: Power Pivot and Power BI

Use Power Pivot to take PivotTables to the next level and create powerful insight into your business using Power BI.

Confidence in current Excel techniques: SUMIF, SUMIFS, SUMPRODUCT, Tables and PivotTables, and on Key DAX functions: e.g. ALL, BLANK, CALCULATE, FILTER, HASONEVALUE, IF.

Ability to construct efficient databases for Power Pivot analysis.

Confidence in using unlinked tables for sophisticated analysis.

Duration

1.5 days

Location

London

How to leverage big data, Artificial Intelligence and analytics in business

An understanding of big data and an appreciation of the key tools needed to analyse business data is becoming an essential skill for everyone in the finance and accounting field.

Knowledge of the implications of analytics and big data for accountants.

Awareness of the key business analytics tools and how to apply them.

Familiarity with how to turn data into improved decision-making.

Knowledge of how leading companies are using analytics and big data to drive business performance.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Communicate with impact - presentations

This course covers the key skills, knowledge and behaviours that will enable you to generate profitable new business for your firm.

What makes a compelling presentation and how to deliver one.

Feel more confident in giving presentations.

How to structure presentations to ensure they land well with the audience.

Practical tips and techniques for managing nerves before and during presentations.

Where your strengths lie and how to work on any development areas.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Communicate with impact - face to face

This course covers the key skills, knowledge and behaviours that will enable you to generate profitable new business for your firm.

How to respond appropriately in the moment, particularly in difficult conversations.

Adapting your communication style for different situations and different audiences.

Which aspects of your communication might strengthen or undermine your impact.

Powerful listening and questioning techniques.

Several of the coaching techniques increasingly demanded of finance managers today.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Digital transformation technologies that are changing our profession

A non-technical introduction to the scale of the change that big data, AI and IoT will bring, as well as to the opportunities and challenges that will come with it.

The implications of big data, AI and IoT for business (as well as jobs in finance and accountancy).

How to identify the most strategic big data, AI and IoT applications in your business.

How to get started with big data, AI and IoT.

The key ethical and societal challenges.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

An introduction to statistical data analysis

Explore the concepts that underlie all statistical thinking and analysis, and answer one of the big questions in businesses: what is going to happen next.

Introduction to statistics.

Learn the six key concepts that underlie all statistical thinking and analysis.

Apply new concepts using Microsoft Excel.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Finance business partnering

This course will give you a practical understanding of the skills required to be a great business partner and how to apply them in the workplace.

Gain a practical understanding of what soft and hard skills are required to be a great business partner.

A personalised skills-development plan and solutions to barriers stopping us from being better business partners.

How to apply a stakeholder engagement plan and adapt behaviours to influence each one.

How to present one's value proposition in a compelling way to gain influence and buy-in.

Duration

1 day / 2 days

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

Advanced storytelling

In this practical course you’ll learn how to transform your numbers into compelling narratives that inspire and motivate action.

An understanding of the power of stories in bridging the gap between data and decisions.

An enhanced ability to influence decision making by becoming clearer in your written and spoken communication when engaging with colleagues and superiors.

An understanding of when to use storytelling techniques in written and verbal communication to impact key decisions.

Knowledge of how to apply storytelling techniques to suit an audiences’ preference to take in information.

Duration

1 day

Location

London, Manchester

Leadership in a digital world

Understand how the role of leadership is changing and what you can do to be more confident and committed in leading digital transformation.

An appreciation of how disruptive technology is influencing future leadership requirements.

An initial, simple framework for leading in a disruptive environment.

Feeling even more committed and confident to leading in digital transformation.

Having added some practical tools to my leadership tool kit that I can apply immediately.

An opportunity to learn from, and stay connect with, other participants who are facing similar challenges but in different contexts.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Excel modelling – decision support, Monte Carlo analysis and using Visual Basic

Best practice Excel and Visual Basic techniques to produce enhanced business models with Monte Carlo analysis and dependency ranking of assumptions.

Learn practical Macro and Visual Basic programming techniques.

To complete Monte Carlo evaluation with 10,000 scenarios.

Create an assumption dependency ranking and present the findings in a tornado diagram.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Data preparation and ethics

Explore a range of different data sources and formats as well as the legal and ethical issues related to data-handling.

Describe the legal and ethical issues relating to data-handling and how they may be addressed.

Explore a range of different data sources and formats

Understand how to: prepare, clean, validate, convert, manipulate, integrate and consolidate data.

Location

London

Duration

1 Day

Advanced data analytics: distribution, sampling, classification and regression

Advanced analytics can help businesses predict outcomes and answer key business questions.

How to undertake regression analysis using appropriate software and to avoid common pitfalls in its application.

Know what regression analysis is and when it might be applied.

Understand the assumptions behind basic sampling theory, and suggest what to do when they are not met.

Understand the Normal Distribution, and how to apply it to apply it to real-world situations.

Location

London

Duration

1 day

Introduction to Python

Discover the high-level programming language for general-purpose programming, an introduction to Python.

Functions and Classes.

Introducing the Python ecosystem

Lists, tuples and dictionaries.

Loops and conditional statements.

Plotting in Python.

Duration

2 days

Location

London

Introduction to R

Build up the skills needed to perform data analysis using R.

Functions.

Group, loops and conditional statements.

Introducing the R ecosystem.

Objects and attributes.

Reading and writing data.

Types and variables.

Location

London

Duration

2 Days

Data visualisation

Use your data to communicate a story and insights to your audience.

Deploy best practices and concepts of design in data visualisation and data storytelling.

Effective colour selection, and why it matters.

How can you choose which chart to choose and when.

How should dashboards be structured, and why.

Understand the importance of context and audience.

Location

London

Duration

1 Day