Course Description

This course is a one-stop problem-solver for today’s busy accounting executive. The course is a working guide to help you quickly pinpoint in the complex world of business:

•                     What to look for

•                     What to do

•                     What to watch out for

•                     How to do it

You’ll find ratios, formulas, guidelines, and rules of thumb to help analyze and evaluate any business-related problem. Throughout, you’ll find this course practical, quick, and useful.

Learning Objectives:

Chapters 1, 2, and 3 take you through accounting principles and guidelines for evaluating a company’s financial health. You will have an increased understanding of various financial statements and their implications. You will be exposed to Corporate Responsibility Law, better known as the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act. You’ll learn techniques for analyzing another company’s financial position should you wish to invest, extend credit, or compare. You will also learn how to improve a company’s corporate profitability and shareholder value. We present internal managerial accounting applications to help you evaluate your own company’s performance, profitability, marketing effectiveness, and budgeting process. You’ll learn how to highlight problem areas with variance analysis. You will also learn some valuable new tools, such as activity-based costing (ABC), life-cycle costing, target costing, and corporate balanced scorecard.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 take a look at financial analysis tools, financial metrics, and financing methods for decision making. Through break-even and sensitivity analysis, you’ll be able to move your company toward greater profits. For investment purposes, this part presents guidelines for evaluating proposals, whether they are short or long term, for profit potential and risk-return comparisons. You’ll learn management and financing techniques to ensure the best possible strategies for maximizing and acquiring cash. Also covered are basic financial tenets of portfolio theory, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), and the Arbitrage Pricing Model (APM).

Chapter 7 provides you with a deeper understanding of the financing of your company.  A comparison of public versus private placement of securities is provided. You’ll learn the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of long-term debt financing. In addition to the various types of debt instruments, the circumstances in which a particular type of debt is most appropriate are considered. The advantages and disadvantages of issuing preferred and common are discussed, along with the various circumstances in which either financing source is most suited. Stock rights are also described.

Chapter 8 discusses how a forecast relates to financial planning. You’ll learn the components of a forecast and what it predicts. Various forecasting techniques with examples are identified to help you select the right method.

Chapter 9 covers what every accounting professional should know about accounting information systems. The components of an accounting information system, the factors in selecting accounting software, the purpose of extensible business reporting language, and the concepts of web-based software packages are discussed. It also discusses how accounting professionals leverage technology to enable operational improvement and control costs (e.g. the Big Data, robotic process automation, and cloud computing).

This course has been designed in question-and-answer format in order to address the pertinent issues that come up during the course of business. The questions are typical of those asked by persons like you. The answers are clear, concise, and to the point. In short, this is a veritable cookbook of guidelines, illustrations, and “how-to’s” for you, the modern decision maker.

Additional Contents : Complete, no additional material needed
Advance Preparation : None
Intended Participants : Any CPA looking to maintain or enhance their professional competence
Course Declaration : Participants must complete the final examination within one year of purchase. A minimum passing grade of 70% or better is required to receive CPE
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