This Finance & Budgeting training course, The Effective Finance Professional, will provide you with the essential knowledge and skills needed to navigate the evolving challenges in the finance sector. Led by experts, the course will focus on optimizing core finance processes to achieve operational excellence. The time saved through these efficiencies can then be reinvested into advanced techniques for cost management, business analytics, and enhanced planning, forecasting, and reporting—skills crucial for fostering Data-Driven Decision-Making (DDDM).
The 21st century has already witnessed considerable disruption in business processes and models, driven by rapid advancements in digital technology and data management. Leading organizations are leveraging these developments to refine traditional finance processes, allowing the finance team to dedicate more time to providing better business support for key decision-makers. The ultimate aim is to transform finance professionals from mere analysts into Strategic Finance Business Partners.
Key aspects of this Energy training course include:
- How the digital revolution is reshaping both business operations and the finance function
- Approaches to streamline and enhance finance processes for operational excellence
- The role of Business Intelligence and Business Analytics in driving decision-making
- Using “Big Data” to create impactful dashboards and reports
- Developing advanced skills in planning, forecasting, and reporting
- Understanding the finance professional’s evolving role as a Strategic Business Partner
Upon completing this The Effective Finance Professional training course, participants will be able to:
- Comprehend how business processes and models are being disrupted
- Enhance and streamline essential finance processes to achieve time savings
- Implement strategies to manage and reduce operational costs
- Utilize predictive data analytics to enhance planning and forecasting
- Apply advanced Excel techniques to create business dashboards
- Cultivate the skills required to become a Strategic Finance Business Partner
This Energy Finance & Budgeting training course on The Effective Finance Professional will be structured as a highly participative workshop with formal seminars and interactive practical examples. Relevant case studies and recent research findings will facilitate a thorough understanding of each of the key topics.
The organization will experience significant benefits from time savings and system enhancements resulting from the optimization of finance processes. Additional advantages will arise from advancements in data-driven planning, forecasting, and reporting within the finance function.
Key organizational benefits will include participants' increased awareness of the disruptive impact of digital advancements on business models and the need for more effective finance operations, particularly in the following areas:
- Enhanced productivity in the finance function through process excellence
- Improved data-driven business insights through advanced analytics
- Better support for strategic decision-making with more refined cost analysis
- Increased support from high-quality financial reporting
- Valuable insights from tactical dashboards powered by data
- Development of skills required to be a Strategic Finance Business Partner
Participants will directly benefit from the advancement and refinement of their professional financial skills in several crucial areas:
- Recognizing opportunities for improvement in finance processes
- Advancements in Business Intelligence (BI)
- Utilizing Excel for both descriptive and predictive analytics
- Enhanced abilities in planning, forecasting, and reporting
- Developing the competencies of a Strategic Finance Business Partner
- Practical approaches to managing change within the finance function
Managers facing the challenges for today’s finance function whose focus is on improving key processes, applying digital techniques in Business Intelligence and transforming the finance team to keep up with the needs of the organisation.
This Energy training course is a suitably wide range of professionals but will significantly benefit:
- Budgeting Managers
- Forecasting Managers
- Accounts Payables Team
- Customer Receivables Team
- Work-in-Progress Project Team
- Strategic Planning Team Managers
- Treasury and Investment Managers
- Cost and Management Accountants
- Financial Accounting Team Members
- Finance Professionals in all organisational functions
Day One: 21st Century Digital Challenges
- The Opportunities and Threats of the Digital Century
- 21st Century Challenges for the Finance Function
- Understanding Business Models and their Disruption
- Building an Effective Performance Management Framework
- Defining Measures for Effective Strategic Management
- Key Capabilities for the Effective Finance Professional
Day Two: Streamlining Finance Processes to Achieve Operational Excellence
- Operational Excellence as the Route to Transformation
- The Impact of Finance Processes on Business Performance
- Improving and Streamlining Key Finance Processes:
- Receivables
- Inventory
- Payables
- Accelerating the “Customer to Cash” Cycle
- Improving Key Finance Processes: Period Close
Day Three: Key Finance Capabilities: Cost Analysis and Management
- Understanding Cost Behaviour, Profit and Cash Generation
- Developments in Cost Analysis and Management
- Advanced Costing Methods – Kaizen and Target Costing
- Activity-Based Management and Decision-making
- Strategic Cost Reduction
- Value-Based Pricing Techniques
Day Four: Key Finance Capabilities – Data Analysis, Forecasting, and Reporting
- Understanding Business Intelligence and Business Analytics
- Excel Techniques for Predictive Analytics and Forecasting
- Budgeting and Beyond
- Data Visualisation Techniques for Financial Reporting
- Designing and Using Scorecards and Dashboards
- Designing Effective Financial Reports
- Principles of Integrated Reporting (IR)
Day Five: Transforming the Finance Function to Meet the Challenge
- Transforming the Finance Function for the Digital Age
- Applying Agile Management to the Finance Function
- The Finance Professional as a Strategic Business Partner
- Leading Transformational Change in Finance
- The Importance of Urgency
- Managing Change in the Finance Functions
