Accounting & Financial Analysis

Course Overview

This training course is designed to equip participants with a deep understanding of the critical elements of accounting and financial analysis. Starting with the fundamentals, it covers the significance of accounting, the statutory framework, and the mechanics of financial statements including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements, alongside the use of financial ratios for comparative and trend analysis.

Tailored for non-finance professionals, it elucidates how companies are financed, the nuances between statutory and management accounting, and the interpretation of financial statements. The programme further delves into identifying signs of financial distress through early warning signals, liquidity, and solvency ratios.

The course offers an in-depth comparison of IFRS, UK GAAP, and US GAAP, including their harmonisations and convergence roadmaps. Advanced topics include consolidated group accounting, accounting for corporate finance and M&A activities, off-balance sheet financing, leasing arrangements, pension accounting, deferred taxation, stock option schemes, and sector-specific accounting considerations.

Each module is designed to provide a holistic understanding of financial analysis, ensuring participants can navigate and analyse financial reports effectively, recognise signs of financial distress, and understand the accounting treatments across different jurisdictions and sectors.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the foundational principles of accounting and financial analysis, including the significance of accounting in business, the legal and statutory framework governing financial reporting, and the role of financial statements in assessing a company’s financial health.
• Gain proficiency in analysing and interpreting financial statements, including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, and apply ratio analysis and other financial analysis techniques to compare a company’s performance against its peers or industry standards.
• Develop insights into the financial reporting framework differences between IFRS, UK GAAP, and US GAAP, including the impact of these differences on financial statements and the ongoing efforts towards harmonisation and convergence.
• Acquire the skills to identify early signs of financial distress in a company through financial and non-financial indicators, understanding key liquidity and solvency ratios, and analysing financial statements for symptoms of distress.
• Learn the accounting and financial considerations in corporate finance transactions, including business combinations, mergers and acquisitions, off-balance sheet financing, lease accounting, and pension accounting, alongside their implications on financial statements.
• Explore sector-specific accounting practices and principles across various industries such as Oil and Gas, Real Estate, Financial Institutions, Retail and Leisure, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare, Technology and Communications, Transport and Automotive, with a focus on understanding unique accounting policies, conventions, and the analysis of sector-specific case studies.