Program Overview

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Accounting and Finance Fundamentals - Virtual

About the program

Accounting is everywhere in business management, functioning as both a decision support tool and also as the ultimate performance measurement framework. This program is aimed at non-accountants and is designed to provide a foundation for deeper engagement with financial management.

Leveraging many years of practical business experience, our faculty will focus on the way accounting is used to measure and create value in business. You'll acquire the tools to make sense of financial reports, use accounting information to optimise decision making and see how financial performance influences business valuation.

The material and course delivery are together designed to be practical, pragmatic and accessible to all, regardless of prior learning and background.

In this program you will:

• Learn how financial reports are constructed and how to interpret them
• Employ techniques to optimise the financial consequences of business decisions
• Gain an understanding of the elements of business valuation
• Acquire knowledge, skills and language to facilitate the drive for the creation of financial value in business

Dynamic virtual classroom

Participate in the program from anywhere. Our online learning platform combines live, interactive video instruction with breakout sessions, panel discussions, and expert Q&A.

Who should attend

This program is designed for managers and business professionals from non-accounting
on-finance backgrounds who want to become more financially literate, better understand budgets and financial statements, and improve their data-driven decision-making skills.

Discounts Available

Volume Discounts

Queen's Executive Education is pleased to offer a 15% discount for organizations that pre-pay for five or more seats on any of our programs within a 12-month period.

Registered Charities

Queen's Executive Education is pleased to offer a limited number of discounted seats in every program to employees of Canadian registered charities.

Personal Benefits

• The opportunity to learn practical skills with unnecessary complexity stripped away
• A toolkit of techniques to use in financial value measurement and creation
• Increased confidence in dealing with accounting and finance specialists
• A foundation for future skills and knowledge acquisition

Organizational Benefits

• A short, focused program delivering essential accounting skills and knowledge to non-accounting team members
• The facilitation of better financial decision making
• Improved interaction between non-accounting team members and members of the accounting or finance function
• The development of foundational competence for continued development of talent

Module 1

Measuring performance

• Derivation of the basic accounting equation
• Simple transaction accounting
• Measurement basis of assets and liabilities
• Accruals basis of accounting
• Introduction of the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity and cash flow statement examining how they fit together
• Consideration of the key financial statements for a selected public company

Deciphering performance

• Ratio analysis and same-sizing for comparative purposes
• Ratio analysis applied to selected public company financial statements to support a discussion of strengths and weaknesses and steps to improve
• Discussion of some key non-GAAP measures used in Management Discussion & Analysis reports and in media releases
• Discussion of limitations inherent in the measurement of value in financial statements

Module 2

Measuring value

• Overview of different approaches to determining value
• Introduction to the time value of money (compounding and discounting)
• Use of project evaluation tools (such as payback, NPV, and IRR)
• Estimating corporate valuation using observable multiples for selected public companies
• Use of discounted Cash Flow techniques to arrive at a valuation (illustrated for a private company), including approaches to establishing Free Cash Flow and determining an appropriate discount rate

Enhancing value

• Introduction to cost behaviour and the contribution statement
• Application of Cost-Volume-Profit analysis, breakeven and target profit determination
• Illustration of Economies of scale and operating leverage
• Overview of approaches to costing and their use in decision making – job cost and process cost systems; absorption and variable costing; standard costing; activity based costing

Session Leaders

Session leaders include senior professors from Smith School of Business and knowledgeable experts from industry. These outstanding teachers are constantly in touch with today's business world through real-world business experience, Board memberships and their own consulting practices.

Program Fees

$3,000 CAD (plus applicable taxes)