Business performance, risk and strategy > Business > Analyst

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The commercial accountant

Learn how to think commercially, operate in the grey and sell your ideas. Appropriate for those in business or working in the public sector and are being challenged to operate commercially.

Understand what it means to be commercial in the context of finance.

The number one habit that kills finance’s commercial credibility and influence.

The questions to ask to gain commercial insight.

How to apply the sales process to present your ideas and gain agreement.

Turn negative messages into positives.

Negotiate for win-win outcomes using simple language techniques.

Duration

1 day

Location

London, Manchester

Measuring ROI on commercial activity

Learn powerful techniques to challenge commercial colleagues to get to the core of commercial ROI.

How to appraise the ROI on commercial activities and link to strategy.

Ability to bridge the gap between commercial activities and robust financial analysis.

Appreciate the viewpoint of the commercial teams, and how/why it differs from that of finance.

Confidence in challenging commercial assumptions and assertions.

Duration

1 day

Location

London, Manchester

Understand contractual risk – why the accountant’s perspective is crucial

Demystify legal concepts and terminology and explain how the terms of the contract can accurately and clearly reflect the intentions of the parties.

Understand the process of a contract from heads of terms to execution.

Recognise how a contract will be interpreted.

Identify and manage commercial and legal risks and provide adequate protections and limitations.

Ensure delivery of contractual promises and obligations.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Winning KPIs – using metrics to improve business performance

New and innovative ways to measure business performance and how to link KPIs to strategy and key business goals.

New and innovative ways to measure business performance.

How to link KPIs to strategy and key business goals.

Understanding the role of Balanced Scorecards and performance dashboards.

How to avoid the common pitfalls of performance measures.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Risk management for finance professionals

For finance professionals who want to increase their ability to embed a culture of effective risk management in their organisation.

How to add insight and build a more strategic approach to risk management.

Ability to review and positively challenge the current company process.

How to improve the approach to risk identification, measurement and enterprise–wide profiling.

A better understanding of assurance needs and mapping techniques.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Influencing the strategic planning process

Learn the importance of creating customer-focussed business plans, and how finance should contribute to organisational strategy.

How some of the world’s leading companies leverage different strategic models to achieve competitive advantage.

The seven deadly sins of strategy to avoid being the next Nokia, Woolworths or Kodak.

How as finance professionals we can best contribute to strategic discussions and influence outcomes.

How to use a simple 8-step model to write a compelling, customer-focussed business plan.

The purpose of scenario planning and how you can use it to generate change.

How to write a killer executive summary and ‘elevator pitch’ to deliver a compelling message.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Making and communicating strategic decisions

A masterclass in how to make difficult strategic decisions, and how best to communicate them for maximum impact.

Learn to balance the right amount of emotion and logic to facilitate faster decisions.

How to move from procrastination to a decision.

Learn to convert decisions into action.

Implement a practical framework of the steps to take before, during and after making a decision.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Agile project management - deliver faster and better outcomes

Traditional project management techniques tend to be linear. Our approach in this course is continuous, making projects more agile for today's fast-moving environment.

How to get buy-in, support and the resources you need to successfully deliver the project.

How to set dynamic project outcomes broken into manageable steps.

How to use a four-step approach to managing projects, specifically tailored for finance professionals.

The behaviours required to be successful throughout the project cycle.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Agile Excel - reporting and dashboards

Discover how to present financial information in a clear and concise manner.

Combine formulas to produce dynamic results as underlying data is refreshed.

Design and create interactive graphs and charts that will become an integral part of your monthly reporting.

Develop tailored front-end management information reports.

Hands-on experience with Excel features from conditional formatting to data filtering and form controls.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Quick month-end close

This course is for everyone who wants to improve timelines of month end reporting to management and the board.

Complete your month end reporting requirements within a significantly reduced time frame.

Determine how some reporting tools may be of help to revolutionise board reporting

Focus on the essential reporting requirements in month and determine fleet of foot solutions.

Identify the best practice features to speed up month end routines.

Move the focus to reporting during the month.

Duration

1 day

Location

London

Ethics for business

Take a closer look at how the role of ethics can play in protecting the public, the profession and ourselves.

Case studies to practise

Overview of guidance available.

Understand the psychological and organisational barriers to ethics.

Understanding why ethics is important.

Location

London

Duration

1 day

Lean accounting - make your finance function more efficient

Explore the growing trend for using lean tools to streamline and enhance productivity and effectiveness within the finance function.

Effectively manage your time to deal with reporting more efficiently.

How to reduce your reporting by 80%.

See the benefits of lean reporting, including an executive summary that drives decision making.

Ways to reduce the volume of accounts payable by 60%.

Location

London

Duration

1 day