Welcome to the Budgets and Financial Reports workshop. Everyday businesses deal with budgets and financial reports in some form or fashion. At minimum, business managers review budget numbers and run financial reports for decision-making and reporting to shareholders and Federal regulators once a month. Many companies devote the last few months of the calendar year to creating budgets for the next calendar year. In addition, organizations create and disseminate year-end financial reports to investors.

The goal of this workshop is to give the participant a basic understanding of budgets and financial reports so they can hold relevant discussions and render decisions based on financial data. This course will define key terms like ROI, EBIT, GAAP, and extrapolation. Furthermore, this one-day course will discuss commonly used financial terms, financial statements, budgets, forecasting, purchasing decisions, and laws that regulate the handling of financial information.

INTRODUCTION
Course Objectives

MODULE 1
Glossary
What is Finance?
Commonly Used Terms
Key Players
Important Financial Organizations
Understanding GAAP
Knowledge Check

MODULE 2
Understanding Financial Statements
Balance Sheets
Income Statements (AKA Profit & Loss Statements)
Statement of Retained Earnings
Statement of Cash Flow
Annual Reports
Knowledge Check

MODULE 3
Analyzing Financial Statements (I)
Income Ratios
Profitability Ratios
Liquidity Ratios
Working Capital Ratios
Bankruptcy Ratios
Knowledge Check

MODULE 4
Analyzing Financial Statements (II)
Long-Term Analysis Ratios
Coverage Ratios
Leverage Ratios
Calculating Return on Investment (ROI)
Knowledge Check

MODULE 5
Understanding Budgets
Common Types of Budgets
What Information Do I Need?
Who Should Be Involved?
What Should a Budget Look Like?
Knowledge Check

MODULE 6
Budgeting Made Easy
Factoring in Historical Data
Gathering Related Information
Adjusting for Special Circumstances
Putting It All Together
Computer Based Methods
Knowledge Check

MODULE 7
Advanced Forecasting Techniques
Using the Average
Regression Analysis
Extrapolation
Formal Financial Models
Knowledge Check

MODULE 8
Managing the Budget
How to Tell If You’re on Track
Should Your Budget be Updated
Keeping a Diary of Lessons Learned
When to Panic
Knowledge Check

MODULE 9
Making Smart Purchasing Decisions
10 Questions You Must Ask
Determining the Payback Period
Deciding Whether to Lease or Buy
Thinking Outside the Box
Knowledge Check

MODULE 10
A Glimpse into the Legal World
A Brief History
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
CEO/CFO Certification
8th Company Law Directive
Knowledge Check

ASSESSMENT
Post-Test

WRAPPING UP
Course Summary