The Finance Managers’ Masterclass Run 35

Commencing on  Thurs 6 June 2024

(over 8 Tuesday sessions from 7 pm  to 10 pm; CPD of 24 hrs)

Objectives & Contents

The Finance Manager’s position is central to any Finance Department. His or her functions and responsibilities can be wide-ranging from providing and interpreting financial information, monitoring cashflows, performing investment appraisals, designing financial models for decision-making, managing risks, to liaising with auditors, bankers, lawyers and other professionals and keeping abreast with financial standards, regulations and legislation.

Admittedly, not all Finance Managers have exposure to some of these functions and so there are still knowledge and skill gaps to fill, urgently, because such knowledge and skills may be required at a moment’s notice.

This Masterclass is designed to fill these gaps and enable the Finance Manager to function confidently and even deliver performance beyond expectations. It is highly career-enhancing and career-promoting, especially with a WhatsApp community and free life-long mentorship after the end of Masterclass.

At the end of the day, it is about remaining employed and sustaining employability, with greatly enhanced skills and knowledge!

Objectives:

1. To enhance current accounting and finance (A&F) knowledge and skill sets with over 15 significant A&F topics that every Accountant/Finance Manager/CFO must be proficient in.
2. To form a community of like-minded Accountants and other professionals to promote knowledge/skill sharing in a life-long learning corporate environment.
3. To develop and sharpen career-enhancing and career-promoting skill sets through continuing (FOC) mentorship, during and after the Masterclass. This ensures continuing employment and sustainable employability throughout one’s A&F career.

Significant Take-aways

1. Cashflow Statement

• Learn how to analyse Cashflow Statement (CFS) at a glance. Selected public-listed companies CFS will be analysed and discussed.
• Learn the 7-step analysis to fully understand the financial/cashflow health of the company and ask deep-seated, probing questions.
• Learn how to prepare cashflow statement using a template (provided). How to convert from Indirect method to Direct method.Financial limits to growth

• This is the single most important skill to acquire. It will help save a company from impending disaster, which happens to huge public-listed groups in recent times.
• Learn what it is and how to apply it effectively.
• Understand why it is a leading indicator which predicts and prevents business and financial risks.3. Financial modelling

• Financial modelling is always required for business decisions and while they are difficult to create, following a set format and using a step by step approach help tremendously.
• Learn how to create financial models using simple Excel functions for
  1. Finance Dept staffing requirements
  2. Budgetting & forecasting (projected BS and P&L)
  3. Commission payment schemes
  4. Planning for growth (M&A and financing requirements)
  5. Capital structure
  6. Business valuation
  7. Investment appraisals and more…

4.Financial Statement Analysis

• Understand financial ratio analysis and why they are lagging (historical) indicators incapable of predicting and protecting business and financial risks.
• Learn 2 new leading (predictive) indicators (financial limits to growth, and 2-level sales analysis) and their applications

5.Business Valuation

• This is the future of accounting & finance; a topic every accountant must know and be able to perform well.
• Learn what it involves and how to do a business valuation completely and professionally.
• Learn how to apply financial modelling to business valuation projects.

6.Investment Analysis

• Learn/revise concepts such as NPV, IRR, ROI, EBITDA, mutually exclusive projects, capital rationing, etc
• Learn the right concept to apply in any investment appraisal.
• Learn how to convert an investment analysis (to invest or not to invest) to a business valuation project (to subsequently sell off the investment)
• Learn how to apply financial modelling in investment analysis.

7.Group Consolidation

• Gain a thorough understanding of consolidation concepts and application, step by step.
• Learn how to perform group consolidation of companies at basic level, vertical consolidation level and piecemeal consolidation level. Templates will be provided.

8.Capital structure

• Understand why capital structure is critical in determining the financial health of a company
• Learn about operating leverage, financial leverage, business risk and fianncial risk, and how to manage them.
• Fully understand the relationship between capital structure and leverage & risks.
• Learn how to use financial modelling in capital structure issues.

9.Budgetting & forecasting

The budgeting process is always fraught with difficulties, especially when sales projection over the next 3 years is required.

• Learn how to use a statistical approach to project sales
• Learn how to monitor performance variances (actual vs budget) effectively
• Understand how “financial limits to growth” test can be used to curb “runaway” budgeting.

10.Corporate funding

• Learn the different ways of raising funds for short-term and longer-term requirements.
• Understand the IPO process, rights issue, bond issue, and placement requirements

11. Business Plan

•  Learn step-by-step how a business plan is prepared.
• Illustrative examples of Executive Summary will be discussed
• Learn corporate planning tools and the right way to prepare a detailed SWOT analysis that makes sense, practically and strategically

12.Financial management for growth of company

• Learn a step-by-step approach to growing a company.
• Certain management tools such as “Fish-bone diagram”, Porters 5-forces, BCG matrix, and Ansoff matrix will be taught.

13. Mergers & acquisition

• Learn the M&A process and how to perform a proper due diligence.
• A real-life illustration of an M&A will be discussed.

14. Selected IFRS

• IFRS 110, 111, 112 and 115 will be covered.
• A summary paper and/or schematic diagram will be provided to grasp the key points at a glance.
  

15. Board/management paper preparation

• Learn how to prepare Board/Management papers using a proper format, for effect.
• Real-life examples of Board and Management papers will be circulated and discussed.

16. Shareholder Value

• Understand the concepts and components of shareholder value.
• Learn how shareholder value can be created, developed and sustained.
• Appreciate the accountant’s role in shareholder value creation.

Who should attend?

• Newly-appointed Finance Managers
• Finance Managers who want to widen their scope of knowledge and skill sets
• CFO-aspirants
• Finance Managers who seek a refresher course
• Heads of Finance Department
• Finance Manager aspirants
• Finance Managers who want to fill knowledge and experience gaps.
• Relationship Managers (banks)
• Staff of public accounting firms
• Financial consultants

 

Methodology

This Masterclass will be conducted in an environment conducive to learning where facilitator sharing of practical examples/illustrations reinforces application and the learning experience.

Duration of Course (commencement date): Thurs 6 June 2024

8-week course, 3 hours per week, every Tuesday from 7 to 10 pm  (CPD of 24 hrs)

Registration through Michael M Lee at mtclee@singnet.com.sg or ACCA Singapore Tel:+65  67348110

Course Fee

$1,100 per participant (Relevant discounts to be granted)

Venue    

Online Zoom facility

Principal Trainer Profile

Michael Matthew Lee is a trained teacher, lecturer, coach and facilitator, and is himself a life-long learner. He is currently pursuing the Chartered Valuer & Appraiser Programme at Nanyang Business School.

Being trained, he is skilful in explaining difficult concepts in a simple and understandable manner. With his more than 40 years of corporate working experience, which include serving as Group CFO of 3 Main Board public-listed groups, and as MD/CEO/COO of various companies across industries, he specialises in Finance and Strategic Marketing and is exposed to senior executive management practices, issues and challenges. He adopts a practical approach to his training and facilitation.

 

Michael Matthew Lee’s credentials are:

MBA (Finance, NUS Business School)

MBA (Strategic Marketing, University of Hull)

BAcc (NUS); DipM (UK);; PDipM (APAC); ACTA; PMC

ASEAN CPA; FCA(Singapore); FCPA(Aust); FCCA(UK); FCIM(UK); MSID.

 

Note:

Michael has written 14 accounting & finance articles to-date and they can be accessed through

Website: www.cfodesk.com.sg;

LinkedIn: “Michael M Lee”; and

Facebook: “Michael M Lee”

• 8 Oct 2018: “Debit & Credit” – Upon this Rock, the House of Accountancy was built!
• 17 Oct 2018: Financial Statement Analysis (an overview) – moving from lagging (historical) indicators to leading (predictive) indicators.
• 26 Nov 2018: Traditional Financial Statement Analysis –using lagging indicators (Part 1)
• 17 Dec 2018: Financial Statement Analysis – using leading indicators (Part 2)
• 24 Jan 2019: Financial Statement Analysis –Is there an optimal capital structure? (Part 3)
• 24 Feb 19: Financial Statement Analysis – What is V.I.S.A.? (Part 4)
• 7 Apr 19: Financial Statement Analysis – The V.I.S.A. Approach (Part 5)
• 26 Apr 19: Cashflow Statement – an enhanced presentation
• 28 Jun 20: – Cashflow Statement – Period & Trend Analysis
• 3 Feb 21: The Economic Resources Approach to Accounting (ERAA)
• 30 Apr 22: Business Valuation – A primer
• 7 May 22: Business Valuation – Income Approach
• 24 Sept 22: Corporate Cashflow Sustainability – The foundation for corporate growth.
• 4 Dec 22: Stock options trading & investment; An introduction
• 9 Nov 23: Stock options trading & investment – The Greeks

My 2nd book entitled “Corporate Growth and Cashflow Sustainability” was launched on 6 Jan 2024. This book is a sequel to “The Essence of Corporate Cashflow Sustainability” and is targeted for C-suite officers and Finance Leaders, locally and internationally.

 

THE FINANCE MANAGERS’ MASTERCLASS

Course Content

1. The role of the Finance Manager
   – functions & responsibilities

2. The Accounting Framework

– assumptions, principles & conventions; interrelationships among financial statements; integrated framework of Accounting & Finance.

-the economic resources approach to accounting framework (ERAA)

3. Corporate Reporting Regime

– monthly, quarterly, yearly; template design

4. Working capital management

– management of cash, receivables, inventory, and payables.

5. Group Consolidation of accounts

– mechanics, FRS 110 requirements, NCI treatment, consolidation adjustments, vertical group consolidation and piecemeal consolidation.

6. Cashflow Statement

– preparation and analysis, treatment of items, quick comprehension of cashflow elements. Learn the 7-step analysis that will uncover fully the financial/cashflow health of a company.

7. Financial Statement analysis and interpretation

– trend analysis, ratio analysis, Dupont method, operating & financial leverages, business & financial risks, a systematic and integrated approach will be introduced. Traditional analyses are based on lagging indicators. This course covers leading indicators such as “Financial Limits to Growth” tests and the 2-level sales analysis.

8. Budgetting & forecasting

– with Linear regression (statistical) model to project sales over the budget period, rolling forecasts.    

9. Management and Board papers preparation & presentation

– factors to be considered in preparation & presentation, how to prepare & present.

– practical illustrations will be shown.

10. Financial modelling

– how to prepare base model, financial model, sensitivity analysis, selection of variables, for breakeven analysis, sales force headcount analysis, sales commission schemes, proforma financial statements, M&A, corporate planning, capital structure optimisation, business valuation, etc.

11. Selected IFRSs

-FRS 110, 111 & 112, 15

12. Shareholder Value

-Understand the concepts and components of shareholder value

-Learn how shareholder value can be created, developed and sustained

-Appreciate the accountant’s role in shareholder value creation and how it ties in to cost of equity.

13.Blockchain and Bitcoin

-what is Blockchain (Web 3: decentralised web) and how is Bitcoin featured in Blockchain?

– How will Blockchain affect the future of bookkeeping, accounting & finance, besides other industries?

– How must accountants prepare for this disruptive megatrend?

14.Investment appraisal

– steps in appraisal process, appraisal methods discount rate, weighted average cost of capital, terminal value computation.

15.Business valuation

-Valuations methods and application.

-Use of Financial Modelling to determine range of values.

16.Mergers & acquisitions / Due diligence

-process, how to manage, difficulties involved, valuation, due diligence work, negotiation, etc

17.Corporate funding
– placements, rights issues, convertible bonds, etc

18. Business plans
    -Establish objectives, target audience, obtain data and reports, preparation of paper, etc
19. Financial limits to growth (FLTG)

– FLTG formula, how to track sustainability of company’s growth, danger signals, going concern assessment.

 

——————————————Updated 26Apr24————————————