Before enrolling in this online self-study CPE course, you might find yourself overwhelmed by the complexities of financial reporting, budgeting, and investment analysis. This course serves as a bridge to that gap, leading you to a world where these complexities become clear and manageable. After completing this course, you will transition from uncertainty to confidence in various areas of finance and accounting. You'll go from questioning how to analyze financial statements to mastering the art of financial analysis, and from uncertainty about capital budgeting to confidently evaluating business investments. This course covers a wide range of topics, from the basics of financial reporting to advanced concepts like the Balanced Scorecard and XBRL, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the most crucial aspects of modern accounting and finance. It's tailored to provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of business finance and accounting.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:
Chapter 1
Identify the objectives of financial reporting and the key elements contained within different financial statements.
Recognize the purpose and content of the statement of cash flows.
Identify key sections contained with the annual report.
Recognize issues addressed by the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) act and the groups impacted by it.
Chapter 2
Recognize key financial ratios and how they can be used.
Calculate the value for different financial ratios.
Recognize the relationship between margin and turnover.
Compute ROI and recognize how it can be improved.
Chapter 3
Recognize the concept of Economic Value Added (EVA) and how it can be improved.
Recognize major elements of budgeting process.
Identify different attributes and uses of variance analysis as a control device.
Recognize how accounting systems work, including activity-based costing, life-cycle costing and target costing.
Recognize the value of a balanced scorecard approach.
Chapter 4
Recognize the value of cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis in solving business problems.
Identify some applications of present (discounting) and future (compound) values.
Chapter 5
Recognize the uses of capital budgeting
Identify the different techniques used to evaluate business investments an their applications.
Chapter 6
Recognize key elements that affect working capital and cash management.
Identify how different investment criteria affect managing assets, such as expected returns, risk and diversification.
Recognize the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Arbitrage Pricing Model (APM).
Chapter 7
Identify the process of investment banking.
Recognize issues for venture capital financing.
Recognize examples of types of long-term debt and their usefulness.
Identify examples of equity securities.
Chapter 8
Recognize the components of a forecast and what it predicts.
Identify various forecasting methods
Chapter 9
Identify components of an accounting information system.
Recognize the purpose of extensible business reporting language (XBRL).
Identify the impact of the emerging technologies on the accounting processes.
Major Topics
Financial Statements, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Corporate Governance
How to Evaluate and Improve a Company's Financial Performance
Internal Accounting Applications for Your Company
Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis, Operating Leverage, and Discounting Analysis
Capital Budgeting
Assets Management, Financing Techniques, and Portfolio Theory
Long-Term Debt and Equity Financing
Decision-Making with Forecasting
The Evolving World of Accounting
