In today’s world, finance professionals are challenged with providing management a detailed analysis of the impact of the organization's financial decisions. Therefore, finance professionals need to be skilled at reading through the numbers on the financial statements, analyzing the figures, interpreting the various ratios and presenting this analysis in a dynamic manner. This course takes you from the first step of understanding the relationships between the different elements of financial statements, through the process of calculating and analyzing the financial ratios, to the last step of presenting recommendations. While applying Excel tools and techniques, various real life examples of published financial statements will be used throughout the course.
Course Methodology
This course demonstrates theoretical core topics in addition to introducing Excel’s ability to perform various types of financial analysis. The course also features the use of a number of real-life case studies and presentations by participants followed by discussions.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
Apply the framework of financial statements analysis
Use ratio and financial analysis
Interpret company financials and industry position
Appraise the process of company evaluation and analysis
Analyze real-life financial statements from companies traded on the world and 'GCC' stock exchanges
Prepare financial analysis template models
Target Audience
Professionals in the field of finance and accounting, financial analysts, department heads, senior management team members, financial controllers, finance managers, and chief and financial accountants who perform business analysis and provide financial recommendations.
Target Competencies
Understanding audited financials and annual reports
Performing vertical analysis
Practicing horizontal analysis
Understanding and performing liquidity analysis
Understanding and performing activity efficiency analysis
Understanding and performing solvency analysis
Understanding and performing profitability analysis
Note
This is a hands-on training course using laptops which will be made available by Smart for the duration of the training. For courses outside the UAE, participants should bring their own laptops equipped with a fully functional version of MS Excel 2010/2013.
Course Outline
Required components of financial statement analysis
Role of financial reporting and analysis
Core financial statements and the importance of the annual report
The important role of notes and supplementary information
Objectives of financial statements audit
Types of audits
Financial statement analysis framework
The accounting cycle
Financial reporting mechanics
Relationship, elements and classification of financial statements
Financial reporting standards
Importance of reporting standards in security analysis and valuation
The standards setting bodies
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) versus Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
An inside look at financial statements
Income statement components
The three important components of income statements
Revenue and expense recognition
Balance sheet components
Measurement and classification
The five important components of a balance sheet
Statement of changes in owners equity
Cash flow statement:
Operating, investing, and financing activities
Direct versus indirect methods in cash flow preparation
Reading and interpreting cash flow
The cash rich standard
Mechanisms of financial analysis techniques
Vertical analysis and strategy: balance sheet and income statement approaches
Horizontal, trend analysis and growth
Liquidity analysis:
Current, quick, and cash ratios, defensive interval and cash conversion cycle
Asset management and activity ratios:
Total and fixed assets turnover
Solvency analysis:
Debt, equity, and times interest earned ratios
Profitability analysis:
Profit margin, gross margin, return on assets, return on equity
Market and valuation:
Price earnings and earnings-per-share ratios
DuPont analysis: the three-step and five-step models
Limitation of ratio analysis
Financial statement analysis: applications and presentations
Evaluating a company’s past performance
Comprehensive real life analysis of publicly traded companies