Financial Analysis for Non-Financial Executives
We know you are successful in your career. You are on the fast track of advancement and promotion. But you haven't had the time to acquire financial skills crucial to future success.
We offer a unique opportunity to build your strategic and financial literacy. First, we focus only on financial topics that you, the non-financial executive, will use day-to-day. Second, instead of being highly technical, we build your "intuitive" understanding of financial terminology and concepts. Finally, we go beyond the "mechanics" of finance to show you how to apply it strategically and practically in your daily management.
In the current economic environment, financial discipline is more urgent than ever. Now is the critical time to invest in your financial acumen.
"For many executives, finance and accounting is a mystifying
foreign language. Our program is your Rosetta Stone."
-Dr. Toshi Shibano, Program Director
Program Description
The Financial Analysis for Non-Financial Executives (FANFE) program will improve your ability to use financial information strategically and practically in your day-to-day management and to communicate persuasively and confidently about financial issues.
At the end of the program, participants will be awarded a certificate of completion by the UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education.
Methodology
Our approach to developing your financial literacy emphasizes the following:
- We distill complex financial issues into actionable insights and practical applications.
- We apply the program content to your own business realities.
- We build your confidence to discuss financial trade-offs and to ask the right questions.
- We offer you insights drawn from our experience as researchers, teachers, and consultants for world-class global companies.
- We provide comprehensive program materials, readings and glossaries that will serve as helpful resources in the future.
"If finance can be stimulating, this was. Invaluable
information
for
any person in a managerial position without a financial
background."
-Director of Marketing, Eastman Kodak Company
Program Topics
The Director's View:
"I want to demystify the numbers. So I've distilled everything you need for financial literacy into three distinct skill sets: insight into the past, foresight about the future, and oversight over the present.
- "Financial insight into past results requires analysis of financial reports to understand the drivers of past profitability.
- "Financial foresight involves deciding among alternative choices by forecasting their future financial results.
- "Financial oversight depends on financial measurements that track current performance and identifies needed operational improvements."
-Dr. Toshi Shibano, Program Director
Here are some of the topics covered in each area of financial literacy:
Financial Insight: What past financial results reveal about your firm and your competitors
- How are business decisions and strategy reflected in your numbers?
- How do financial statements capture operational, financing and investment decisions?
- What can be learned from analyzing your financial statements?
- How does your company compare with your competitors?
- How do investors interpret your numbers?
Financial Foresight: How to make decisions that maximize your firm's future profitability
- How is your firm's value created and how is it measured?
- How do you forecast future financial performance?
- What is cost allocation and what problems does it cause?
- How should you choose among alternative projects and business opportunities?
- How should you make decisions such as outsourcing, product mix, pricing, and capital budgeting?
- How do you value acquisitions and companies?
Financial Oversight: How to use financial tools to control operations and track your firm's current financial results
- How do you evaluate business unit results and managerial performance?
- What are ways to track customer and product line profitability?
- How do you analyze budget results to identify opportunities and adjust operations?
- What is the Balanced Scorecard and how can it improve oversight?
- How can you manage your firm's growth, productivity, and risk?
Who Should Attend
- Executives who have little or no training in accounting or finance
- Mid- to senior-level managers in all industries
- Non-financial executives in areas such as marketing, sales, legal, manufacturing, research and development, and human resources
- Applicable and accessible to executives whos backgrounds are in creative, scientific, technical, or legal fields
"Learning to trust my financial judgment as a line business leader was a key outcome of the program. My confidence about collaborating with Finance has increased enormously."
-Consulting Practice Leader, Hewitt Associates
Advantages
- You will become comfortable with interpreting and using financial information.
- Your new financial skills will improve your decisions and make you a greater asset to your company.
- You will be more confident and persuasive when participating in financial discussions, justifying your decisions, and presenting your financial results.
- You will see your role in the "big picture" of financial value creation at your company.
- You will know what financial data is important to request from your firm's accounting and finance departments.
"Executives leave the FANFE program with the awareness that their non-financial expertise is absolutely essential in validating the numbers. They begin to see financial professionals as their partners."
- Dr. Toshi Shibano, Program Director
