Commercial instinct (In-House)

1 The commercial environment

• What do shareholders and investors want?
• What do managers want?
• Profit v non-profit organisations
• Investor expectations

2 Financial and non-financial information

• Risk and reward considerations
• Drivers of commercial decisions

3 Running a business

• A practical exercise to bring financial statements to life
• Different stakeholder interests in a business
• The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements

4 Where do I make a difference to the organisation?

• How can I contribute to an improved business performance?
• Key performance indicators - measuring the right things
• A 'balanced scorecard' approach - it's not all about money!

5 A 'balanced scorecard' approach

• Analysing and reviewing my contribution to the business direction
• What is the current focus of my commercial decisions?
• Developing the business in the right way - getting the balance right!
• Where should/could it be in the future?
• Do my decisions support the overall vision and strategy?

6 Making commercial decisions

• Left-brain and right-brain thinking
• Convergent and divergent thinking
• Analysis and instinct
• Interactive case study exercise - emotional and rational decisions
• Reflection - what is my style of making decisions

7 Let's consider the customer!

• Identifying target markets
• Differentiating propositions and products
• Customer service considerations
• Marketing considerations and initiatives
• Pricing strategies and considerations

8 Strategic analysis

• The external environment
• The internal environment
• LEPEST analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Forecasting
• Group activity - analysing markets and the competition
• How do these improve your decisions?

9 Comparing performance

• Analysing key financial ratios
• Ways to compare performance and results
• Break-even analysis

10 Profit and loss accounts and budgeting

• Managing income and expenditure
• The budgeting process
• How does this link to the profit and loss account?
• Managing and controlling a cost centre/budget
• The role of the finance department
• Different ways of budgeting
• Incremental budgeting
• Zero-based budgeting

11 Understanding the balance sheet

• Purpose of balance sheets
• Understanding and navigating the content
• What does a balance sheet tell you?
• How do you affect your balance sheet?
• Links to the profit and loss account
• A practical team exercise that brings financial statements to life

12 Business decisions exercise

• How does this improve your decisions?
• A practical exercise to apply new knowledge and bring commercial thinking to to life
• The impact and consequences of decisions on financial statements

13 Working capital

• Why is this important?
• The importance of keeping cash flowing
• Business decisions that affect cash
• Calculating profit

14 Capital investment appraisal

• Capex v Opex
• Payback
• Return on investment
• The future value of money
• The concept of hurdle rate

15 Lessons learned and action planning

• So what?
• Recap and consolidation of learning
• The decisions that I need to consider
• Actions to achieve my plan