Techniques of Financial Analysis, Modeling, and Forecasting (Currently Unavailable)

Author: Jae K. Shim

This comprehensive course gives you every sales and financial forecasting formula and modeling techniques you need to analyze your operation both as a whole and by segment.

You'll be provided with proven techniques that help you identify and fix problem areas, analysis techniques that help you evaluate proposals for profit potential, proven methods that improve the accuracy of your short- and long-term forecasting, analysis tools that help you better manage working capital, cash, and accounts receivable, plus much more.

You also receive dozens of worked-out models and modeling techniques that simplify your most difficult business decisions, and are easy to adapt to any computer spreadsheet program.

This course supplies company accountants, treasurers, CFOs with all the forecasting techniques needed to financially analyze a business as a whole or a segment. Includes analysis techniques, methods for improving forecasting accuracy, analysis tools for managing capital, and more.

Publication Date: July 2014

Designed For
Any practitioners that deals with financial forecasting and financial analysis.

Topics Covered

• Break-Even and Contribution Margin Analysis
• Understanding and Applying the Time Value of Money Concept
• How to Assess Capital Expenditure Proposals for Strategic Decision Making
• Analyzing Financial Statements for Financial Fitness
• Analyzing Quality of Earnings
• Analysis of Variance Analysis for Cost Control
• Analysis of Segmental Performance and Profit Variance
• Evaluating Divisional Performance
• Analyzing Working Capital
• Corporate Investments
• Obtaining Funds: Short-Term and Long-Term Financing
• Analyzing Mergers And Acquisitions
• Forecasting And Financial Planning
• Forecasting Methodology
• Forecasting with Regression and Markov Methods
• Financial Forecasting and Budgeting tools
• Forecasting Cash Flows
• How to use Corporate Planning Models
• Financial Modeling For "What-If" Analysis
• Using Optimization Techniques to Build Optimal Budgets
• Financial Modeling Packages and Executive Training

Learning Objectives

• Recognize how costs and revenues affect Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) analysis.
• Compute break-even levels for various scenarios.
• Recognize the margin of safety and cash break-even point.
• Recognize the time value of money and how it affects financial decisions.
• Calculate the present value of future payments.
• Recognize the purpose and use of the capital budget.
• Calculate investment payback periods.
• Recognize the use for the internal rate of return (IRR) calculations.
• Identify the best methods for making long range investment decisions.
• Recognize a comprehensive set of financial ratios and interpret them.
• Recognize the operating cycle of a business.
• Recognize different characteristics relating to a firm's quality of earnings.
• Identify the relationships between auditing and internal controls.
• Recognize why standard costing is important it is for managerial control.
• Distinguish among three types of responsibility centers and how they are evaluated.
• Calculate different types of variances for manufacturing costs.
• Recognize the managerial significance of these variances.
• Identify the need for a flexible budget.
• Recognize how to calculate different variances for price, volume and sale mix.
• Compute return on investment (ROI) by means of the Du Pont formula and show how changes in sales, expenses, and assets affect the investment center's performance.
• Calculate the residual income (RI) and profit margin based on ROI.
• Identify how ROI and RI measures affect the division's investment decision.
• Recognize aspects affecting cash management and working capital.
• Recognize ways to improve profitability by changes to accounts receivable.
• Identify how changes in inventory carrying costs affect the organization.
• Recognize accounting aspects and terms for an investment portfolio.
• Identify ways to compare risk versus return.
• Recognize tools for fundamental and technical analysis.
• Recognize the benefits of portfolio theory with regards to investment decisions.
• Compute cost of capital.
• Distinguish between short-term, intermediate-term and long-term financing sources
• Identify different types of mergers.
• Recognize ways to acquire another business.
• Recognize objectives of forecasts.
• Identify different types of qualitative and quantitative forecasting methods.
• Identify forecasting models and techniques.
• Identify variables of the least-squares method.
• Identify statistics to look for in multiple regressions.
• Recognize assumptions of forecasting with the percent of sales method.
• Identify major steps in budgeting and financial planning.
• Identify requirements of zero-base budgeting.
• Recognize the value of the Lagged Regression Approach and Markov model in evaluating collection and bad debt.
• Identify reasons for corporate modeling
• Recognize components of an integrated planning model
• Define a financial model.
• Recognize application and uses of financial models.
• Recognize techniques for optimization including linear programming
• Differentiate between methods of optimization
• Recognize the disadvantages of optimization models
• Recognize uses and variables for the bankruptcy prediction model
• Identify the purpose for executive management games.

Level
Intermediate

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Finance (14 hours)

Program Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of Financial Analysis

Advance Preparation
None