The Overall Objective:

is to increase knowledge and confidence, by developing finance skills, contributing towards improving gross margins, EBITDA & reducing debtor days.

Training Objectives:

by the end of this training the delegates will be able to...

    • Describe the differences between mark up and margins, and how additional volume can affect profitability
    • Consider the profitability of each customer and how to manage the financial return as part of the overall relationship
    • Define the nature of the costs of the business, and the cost base of customers and suppliers
    • Select and apply appropriate financial measures to financial statements to assess profitability and viability
    • Examine methods of budgetary management and their contribution to long term financial stability
    • Be better equipped to analyse and manage variance to budget on both sales and GP

Day One

Sessions​​ 

Outline Content

Your People will be able to…

 

Pre Training

 

  • Individual briefing

  • Option: pre training quiz/customer evaluation exercise

 

  • Consider their individual learning objectives

  • Assess their own current knowledge level​​ 

 

Introduction & Learning Objectives

 

  • Outline Agenda

  • Overall Objectives

  • Personal Learning Objectives

 

  • Describe their individual learning objectives

 

 

Finance & Strategy

 

  • Team Question: how do you grow an organisation?

  • The Balanced Scorecard

 

  • Define how finance fits with strategy and vision

  • Describe where KPIs come from, and which are most relevant to their role

  • Describe the company strategy and Vision, and how this connects with their responsibilities

 

The Language of Finance

 

  • Income Statements

  • Cakes and slices

  • Balance Sheets

  • 5 Levers Model

  • Relevant customer/supplier example*

 

  • Describe the purpose of the main financial statements

  • Define the components of each

  • Understand financial terminology – especially gross margins, operating margins & EBITDA

  • Describe a Sales/Account Manager’s contribution to the overall financial performance of the business

 

 

 

 

The Nature of Revenue & Profit

 

  • Gross & Operating Margins

  • Mark up vs. Margin – including tailored examples*

  • The effect of selling at a lower price

  • Volume and pricing

  • Product Mix – the effect on overall margins

  • Product Mix Exercise – across the range

  • Pricing Strategies

 

  • Describe the difference between mark up and margin

  • Calculate gross margins and consider the effect on EBITDA

  • Calculate the effect of selling at a lower price

  • Calculate the increased volume required to cover lower prices

  • Calculate the effect of differing product mixes

 

Managing Variances & your performance

 

  • Forecasting, Estimating, Guesswork

  • Standard Costing Example

  • Variance Analysis – actual vs. budget, sales & GP

  • Application to product/customer examples*

 

  • Conduct a variance analysis on an example customer

  • Variance analysis points on sales, margin, product mix​​ 

 

Financial Key Performance Indicators - Profitability

 

  • Analysis of Company A

  • Profitability Ratios

  • Profitability in different relevant segments – customers & suppliers

 

  • Define the relevant ratios

  • Demonstrate how to calculate measure of profitability from financial statements

  • Discussion and analysis of industry​​ 

 

Learning Review

 

  • Action Planning

  • Start. Stop, Continue

  • Link to development plans/objectives

 

  • Apply learning to sales situations

  • Agree actions points for implementation & coaching

 

 

Day Two

Sessions​​ 

Outline Content

Your People will be able to…

 

Progress Review

 

  • Revisit of key themes from Day 1

 

  • Track progress

  • Ask questions, connect to new material

 

Financial Key Performance Indicators - Liquidity

 

  • Further analysis of Company A

  • Liquidity Ratios – especially debtor days

  • Relationship between Debtor & Creditor Days

  • Cash flow forecast – application of variances

  • Relevant customer supplier examples*

 

  • Define the importance of working capital

  • Demonstrate calculation of liquidity ratios

  • Describe how to reduce debtor days

  • Demonstrate the impact of debtor days on working capital

  • Demonstrate actions to be taken to manage cash flow & components of working capital

  •  

 

 

Account Management

 

  • Managing profitability across different customers

  • Lifetime customer value

  • Managing “Wallet Share”

  • Managing a customer group

  • Manage product mix

 

  • Define the value of different customers

  • Demonstrate how to analyse customer value

  • Describe methods of analysing customer needs

  • Demonstrate application of margin management & debtor days to customer examples

  • Demonstrate how to manage product mix​​ 

 

 

Case Study

  • Relevant Portfolio examples*

  • Consider cost base, revenue drivers, cash flow position, future value

  • Demonstrate application of learning

  • Make connections with their future targets

  • Consider other opportunities to apply learning

 

 

 

Learning Review

 

  • Action Planning

  • Start. Stop, Continue

  • Link to development plans/objectives

  • Key messages from Day 1

 

  • Apply learning to sales situations

  • Agree actions points for implementation & coaching

 

  • Apply lessons so far

 

 

Coaching

The approach to the training would be to potentially intersperse the two days of training with a day of coaching per day for each of day of the two days of training.
We feel this is the best way to truly embed knowledge, and maximises the impact of the training.

Evaluation of Learning

We can provide three multiple choice assessments, one as a pre-training questionnaire prior to the course to ascertain pre-existing knowledge, followed by one during day one, and one during day two.

OR

To record the individuals’ average gross margin and/or average debtor days, or A N Other key performance indicator.