AMA's Finance Workshop for Non-Financial Executives

Get a complete financial education in just four days. . .and be prepared to make more powerful, informed business decisions. From understanding the essence of cash flow to learning how to create value on a corporate level, this comprehensive program covers all the principles of corporate finance.

Through the effective use of actual case studies and annual reports of major U.S. public companies, you’ll come away better equipped to speak and interact intelligently with finance colleagues…make more informed business decisions...analyze financial statements with new clarity...know the workings of the financial markets…and understand that the core purpose of your firm is to increase shareholder value.

• Become grounded in all the principles of corporate finance
• Reduce the risk of financial errors in managerial decision making
• Learn how accounting and bookkeeping work
• Discover the ins and outs of financial statements and what can and cannot be learned from them
• Understand how budgeting fits into the world of accounting and the primacy of cash flow
• Gain greater insight into all the principles of corporate finance, including interest and ROI
• Find out how a firm allocates its funds to investment opportunities
• Gain the skills that will help you make the right buy/lease decisions
• Learn how to take advantage of cash discounts offered by vendors
• Make more profitable sales by understanding fixed vs. variable costs
• Monitor operating results to achieve long-term financial goals

• Accounting essentials: booking transactions…cash and accrual methods…assets, liabilities and capital
• Reading annual reports: reading and understanding financial statements...SEC requirements...forms and meanings of the Auditor's Opinion...the importance of footnotes in financial statements
• Seeing your firm from a finance perspective: the organization as an investment tool...classes of investors...WACC and EVA...the importance of cash and flow timing...leverage and risk
• Evaluating financial statements: computing financial ratios to assess liquidity, profitability, leverage and risk...the DuPont formula...merits and pitfalls of financial ratios
• Operational budgeting: constructing and using budgets...avoiding pitfalls...budgeting techniques, variances and hierarchies
• Time value of money: computing time value for money and applying the mathematics of compound interest and present value
• Capital budgeting: preparing and using capital budgets...applying time value of money...using various mathematical techniques
• How financial markets value a business: value models and financial concepts to enhance shareholder value
• Cost analysis, profit planning and exposures to volume/price risks: categorizing costs to make better decisions...determining break-even levels of quantity, price and cost...understanding "operating leverage"

Risk and Return

• Understand the Meaning of Risk and Return
• Understand How Risk Affects Demanded Return
• Understand the Difference Between Finance and Accounting

Bookkeeping and Accounting

• Read and Understand a Company’s Financial Statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement)
• Discuss Terms Like Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Accruals, Gross Margin, Current Ratio, Profit, Earnings, EBITDA, and Cash Flow

Bookkeeping and Accounting: Advance Topics

• Understand How Dividends Are Treated and What a Stock Split Means
• Understand How and Why Companies Buy Back Their Own Stock
• Understand the Special Reliability of Cash Flow

Cost Analysis and Profit Planning—Variable Costs, Fixed Costs, and Breakeven

• Identify Costs as Being Variable vs. Fixed
• Utilize a Model That Determines Breakeven Levels of Quantity, Price, and Cost

Operating Leverage

• Understand and Discuss the Meaning of the Term “Operating Leverage”
• Structure Costs When Your Market Has Volume Risk vs. When Your Market Has Price Level Risk and Variable Cost Risk

The Firm from a Finance Perspective and the WACC

•  View the Organization from the Finance Perspective
• Discuss the Concept of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
• Understand the Importance of Cash and the Timing of Cash Flow

Financial Leverage

• Understand the Meaning of the Term “Financial Leverage” and How It Adds to Risk

Financial Statement Analysis

• Understand Why Financial Statement Analysis Is Done
• Compute the Financial Ratios Financial Analysts Use to Assess the Liquidity, Profitability, and Risk of a Business
• Judge and Discuss the Merits and Pitfalls of Each Ratio

The Time Value of Money and Capital Budgeting

• Understand Capital Budgeting
• Understand the Time Value of Money and the Time Cost of Money
• Understand a Compound Annual Growth Rate
• Understand How Finance Professionals Put a Present Value on Cash Coming in the Future
• Understand How Finance Professionals Make Investment Decisions Involving Outlays of Cash Today in Expectation of Returns of Cash in the Future (the Net Present Value and the Internal Rate of Return)

Operational Budgeting

• Understand What Budgeting Is and Why Budgets Are Used
• Construct a Budget Properly
• Work with Different Budgeting Techniques

How to Read an Annual Report

• Read and Understand the Financial Statements of a Fortune 500 Company
• Recognize and Interpret the Portions of the Annual Report Required By the Securities and Exchange Commission
• Recognize the Form(s) and Meaning of the Auditor’s Opinion
• Read and Understand the Importance of Footnotes in Evaluating Financial Statements

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Understand the Basics Behind Merger and Acquisition Strategies

Download Extended Seminar Outline PDF