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Course Outline
1. Introduction to Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)
- Role and responsibilities of FP&A professionals
- Importance of FP&A in strategic decision-making
- Difference between accounting, finance, and FP&A functions
- FP&A contribution to business performance management
- Overview of the FP&A process lifecycle
2. Gathering and Interpreting Financial Information
- Sources of financial and operational data
- Understanding financial statements:
- Income Statement
- Balance Sheet
- Cash Flow Statement
- Reading and interpreting financial reports
- Key financial indicators and performance measures
- Understanding business drivers and operational metrics
- Collecting relevant internal and external information
3. Understanding Financial and Microeconomic Concepts
- Fundamental financial concepts
- Time value of money
- Cost behavior and cost structures
- Fixed, variable, and semi-variable costs
- Contribution margin analysis
- Profitability analysis
- Basic economic concepts influencing business decisions
- Market factors and business environment analysis
4. Budgeting Fundamentals and Budget Preparation
- Purpose and role of budgets
- Types of budgets:
- Operating budgets
- Capital budgets
- Cash flow budgets
- Master budgets
- Budgeting approaches:
- Incremental budgeting
- Zero-based budgeting
- Activity-based budgeting
- Budget preparation process
- Coordination between departments
- Common budgeting challenges and solutions
5. Financial Analysis Techniques
- Purpose of financial analysis
- Horizontal and vertical analysis
- Ratio analysis:
- Liquidity ratios
- Profitability ratios
- Efficiency ratios
- Solvency ratios
- Trend analysis
- Benchmarking performance
- Identifying financial strengths and weaknesses
6. Variance Analysis and Performance Management
- Understanding budget versus actual analysis
- Types of variances:
- Revenue variance
- Cost variance
- Volume variance
- Price variance
- Root cause analysis
- Interpreting variance results
- Communicating findings to stakeholders
- Developing corrective actions
7. Building Financial Projections and Forecasts
- Principles of financial forecasting
- Forecasting methods and techniques
- Revenue forecasting
- Expense forecasting
- Cash flow forecasting
- Scenario analysis
- Sensitivity analysis
- Rolling forecasts
- Creating reliable financial models
8. Financial Modeling and Strategic Planning
- Fundamentals of financial modeling
- Model structure and design principles
- Assumptions management
- Linking financial statements
- Creating business scenarios
- Evaluating strategic alternatives
- Supporting management decision-making
9. Capital Expenditure and Investment Analysis
- Understanding capital expenditures (CAPEX)
- Evaluating investment opportunities
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Net Present Value (NPV)
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
- Payback period analysis
- Investment risk assessment
10. Communicating Financial Insights
- Translating financial data into business insights
- Preparing management reports
- Creating executive summaries
- Presenting financial analysis effectively
- Storytelling with financial data
- Working with non-financial stakeholders
11. Using Technology and Software in FP&A
- Role of technology in modern FP&A
- Spreadsheet-based financial analysis
- Advanced Excel techniques:
- Financial formulas
- Pivot tables
- Data analysis tools
- Dashboard creation
- Introduction to Business Intelligence (BI) tools
- Financial planning software overview
- Data automation and reporting
12. FP&A Best Practices and Professional Development
- Building effective FP&A processes
- Data quality and governance
- Improving forecasting accuracy
- Collaboration between finance and business teams
- Ethical considerations in financial analysis
- Preparing for FP&A professional certification exams
13. Hands-on FP&A Workshop
- Preparing a company budget
- Building a financial forecast
- Performing variance analysis
- Creating financial dashboards
- Evaluating business scenarios
- Presenting recommendations based on financial insights
14. Summary and Next Steps
- Review of key FP&A concepts
- Connecting planning, budgeting, forecasting, and analysis
- Common FP&A challenges and solutions
- Career development opportunities in FP&A
- Recommended resources and further learning
Requirements
None.
14 Hours
Testimonials (4)
How to manage business financials
surprise mtileni - Hatima Holdings (Pty) ltd
Course - Learning Xero
Good communication, open for discussion, kept it interesting and engaging
Ahmet Keyman - Keytrade AG
Course - Management Accounting and Finance for Non-Finance Professionals
Experience of the trainer and his way of conveying the content
Roggli Marc - Bechtle Schweiz AG
Course - FinOps
The trainer did not leave a single minute unexploited! He was up a storm throughout every lesson and provided much material for whatever he dealt with.
