6 Advanced Financial Management (AFM) courses delivered Live Online

Move from Beginner to Professional Level in Financial Modelling and Analysis with this detailed Advanced Financial Modeler Certificate Course.

This course is intended to the most ambitious modellers in the property industry who would like to be fully proficient in building complex real estate models.

Learn the fundamentals of project finance modeling following best practices.

Learn the fundamentals of Oil and Gas modeling following best practices. This course will break down the important concepts of modeling allowing you to implement them in the Oil and Gas industry.

In today's competitive business world firms are under unprecedented pressure to deliver value to their shareholders and other key stakeholders. Senior executives in all parts of the organisation are finding that they need some degree of financial know how to cope with the responsibility placed on them as business managers and key decision-makers; monitoring and improving business performance, investing in capital projects, mergers and acquisitions: all require some degree of financial knowledge. The key financial skills are not as difficult to learn as many people believe and in the hands of an experienced senior executive they can provide a formidable competitive advantage. After completing this course delegates will be able to: * Understand fundamental business finance concepts; understand, analyse and interpret financial statements: Profit Statement, Balance Sheet and Cashflow Statement * Understand the vital difference between profit and cashflow; identify the key components of working capital and how they can be managed to generate strong cashflow * Evaluate pricing decisions based on an understanding of the nature of business costs and their impact on gross margin and break-even sales; managing pricing, discounts and costs to generate strong business profits; understand how lean manufacturing methods improve profit * Use powerful analytical tools to measure and improve the performance of their own company and assess the effectiveness of their competitors * Apply and interpret techniques for assessing and comparing investment opportunities in capital projects, business acquisitions and other ventures; understand and apply common methods of business valuation * Understand the role of business finance in formulating and implementing competitive business strategy; the role of budgeting as part of the planning process and the various approaches to budgeting and performance measurement 1 BASIC PRINCIPLES * Delivering value to key stakeholders * Accounting concepts, GAAP, IFRS and common terms * Understanding and using the balance sheet * Understanding and using the profit statement * Recognising the vital difference between profit and cashflow * Understanding and using the cashflow statement * What financial statements can and cannot tell us 2 MANAGING AND IMPROVING CASHFLOW * Sources of finance and their advantages and disadvantages * What is working capital and why is it so important? * Managing stocks, debtors and creditors * Understanding how working capital drives business growth * Understanding and avoiding the over-trading trap * Unlocking the funds tied up in fixed assets: asset backed loans and leasing 3 MANAGING AND IMPROVING PROFIT * Understanding how profits generate cashflow * The fundamental nature of costs: fixed and variable business costs * Understanding gross margin and break-even * How common pricing methods affect gross margin and profit * Effective strategies to improve gross margin * Using value chain analysis to reduce costs * Lean manufacturing methods * Understanding Just-in-time, 6 Sigma and Kaizen methods * Improving profit * Effective and defective strategies 4 MEASURING AND MANAGING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE * Measures of financial performance and strength * Investor behaviour: the risk and reward relationship * Return on investment (ROI): the ultimate measure of business performance * How profit margin and net asset turnover drive return on net assets * Why some companies are more profitable that others * Understanding competitive advantage: cost and differentiation advantage * Why great companies fail * What happened to Kodak? * Using a 'Pyramid of Ratios' to improve business performance * Using Critical Success Factors to develop Key Performance Indicators 5 BUDGETING AND FORECASTING METHODS * Using budgets to support strategy * Objectives and methods for effective budgets * Using budgets to monitor and manage business performance * Alternative approaches to budgeting * Developing and implementing Balanced Scorecards * Beyond Budgeting * Forecasting methods and techniques * Identifying key business drivers * Using rolling forecasts and 'what-if' models to aid decision-making

Use some of the hidden statistical analysis tools within Excel to build complex data models. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COURSE OVERVIEW Duration: 1 day (6.5 hours) This advanced Excel course looks at some of the statistical analysis tools available and gives examples of when they might be used. This course is aimed at advanced users of Excel who work with statistical data often and have a good knowledge of Maths. OBJECTIVES By the end of the course you will be able to: * Use Goal Seek * Create and view scenarios * Use Forecast Sheet * Create single and double input data tables * Create models using the solver * Install and use the Analysis Toolpak * Create and use array formulas * Use a range of advanced Financial and Statistical Excel functions  CONTENT USING WHAT IF ANALYSIS OPTIONS   * Using Goal Seek * Creating, saving and viewing scenarios * Generating a Forecast sheet SOLVER   * Creating models * Projecting scenarios with Solver USING DATA TABLES  * Creating single input data tables * Creating double input data tables * Projecting with data tables FINANCIAL FUNCTIONS  * PMT * FV * NPV ANALYSING DATA WITH ANALYSIS TOOLPAK  * Installing the Analysis Toolpak * Generating statistical analysis * Visualising data using Histograms ARRAY FORMULAS  * Using embedded Excel Array formulas * Create an Array formula * Multi and single cell Array formula * Using TRANSPOSE to flip rows or columns * Use the FREQUENCY Function * Use an array to count unique entries in a range DYNAMIC ARRAYS * Spilling data * Using the new dynamic array functions ADVANCE FUNCTIONS IN FORMULAS * Statistical functions: * MEAN, MEDIAN and MODE * RANK * LARGE and SMALL * MOD * PERCENTILE * Use the AGGREGATE function to sum data in ranges with errors