Sample Programme
MODULE 1 – The world of finance and financial data
- Business and telecoms in the 21st century
- The ‘business person’ approach to management
- A demand driven world
- Seeking to add value
- The role of the financial manager
The Business Finance Cycle Applied to the Telecoms Industry
- Sources and characteristics of finance
- Equity debt and capital leverage measurement
- Factors influencing the levels of leverage chosen
- Relating financial risk to operational risk
- The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) as a criteria rate
- Risk and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
- Matching finance and investment
- Rewarding investors
The major accounting statements used by telecoms companies – Their contents and layout
- Accounting concepts and the formulation of standards
- Telecoms industry standards
- Capex or Opex?
- The balance sheet – A summarizing picture at a point of time
- Depreciation, Depletion and Amortisation (DD&A)
- The operating statement (profit account) for a period of operation
- Cost and revenue recognition in the world of telecoms
- Accounting for R&D, licensing, JV’s and mergers
- Creating financial reserves and provisions
- Relating the major accounting statements together
- Published accounts and management accounts
- Where can it go wrong?
- International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS’s)
MODULE 2 – Financial analysis-Reading the figures
Comprehensive Financial Analysis Based on a Leading Telecom Company’s Accounts
- What do the City analysts look for?
- An intensive working analysis exercise analysing a telecom company’s published accounts
- Profitability; liquidity; structure; operational performance and Investor’s returns
- Analysing the cash flows
- Checking corporate viability in cash terms
- Absolute v relative measures
- Measuring Economic Value Added (EVA)
- Specialist measures and ratios applied to telecom operations
MODULE 3 – Understanding costs and costing
- Alternative views of costs – absorbed – marginal
- Costing for cost control and costing for decision-making
- A quick look at break-even
- Contribution management – The vital significance of volume
- Case work on contribution and volume analysis
MODULE 4 – Planning and budgeting to exercise control
Corporate Planning and Budgeting
- Techniques and models for business planning
- The planning role of managers at all levels in the company
- Defining the financial objectives
- Quantifying the funds required for the plan
- Checking the overall viability of the plan and assessing the risks
Budgetary Control
- What goes wrong with budgeting and why does it?
- Making it work for you and your company
- Things you should never do and things you must always do with budgets
- Is budgeting more about psychology than about finance?
- Forming a Business Profit Plan
Continuing professional development
This course qualifies for the following CPD programmes: