Towards the end of many of finance training sessions, a frequent question – how can I keep learning?
The question comes, generally speaking, from two underlying emotions: firstly a realisation of the amount that has just been learned, which for some seems like a huge amount. Secondly, a thought that not everything in the subject has been covered, even though everything on the agenda was.
So here are 10 ways to keep learning about finance, long after the training has ended.
As you can guess, this is not just about learning finance – many of these tips can be applied to other new knowledge and skills areas.
- The day after your training, record (write down, paper or device of choice) your key learning points – the things you will want to remember again in say 6 months’ time.
- Revisist your notes for a few minutes every day for a few weeks. Repetition works.
- Do it: with finance this means looking at financial reports and discussing them and drawing conclusions from them.
- Do it some more – this could involve actually calculating some ratios too – get your calculator out.
- Read around the topic. For finance I recommend the Financial Times – there are versions for different geographies. You can usually read a few articles for free. See if your business can go the whole way and subscribe? Try the business pages of ‘serious’ news: some of the business channels like Bloomberg or CNBC help you get familiar with the language too.
- Talk to your colleagues from the Finance Department – the more senior the better.
- In your next management meeting, ask questions about the financials. Target yourself – 1 at the next meeting, 2 at the one following that, and so on. Listen carefully to the answers too – but you do that anyway – don’t you?
- Watch Dragon’s Den/Shark Tank as if you are a Dragon/Shark. A pile of Monopoly Money in front of you may help the ambience here, if you cannot run to £50,000 or so in cash. (Cash?? It’s 2022!!)
- Try a finance text book. No need to read the whole thing, but find a part you are familiar with, and review that part. It gives you a different point of view, while also reinforcing what you have learned.
- Review your own financial handling. Keep your own cash flow forecast for your personal finances. Remember that feeling of running out of money – that is what your CFO/Finance Director is seeking to avoid.
I restrict myself to 10 things here for this week. What else can you come up with?
And with a little adjustment – which of these tips can you apply to any training or learning experience?
Buzzword of the Week – Equity
Definition – In balance sheet, the sum of your initial investment in the company (share capital) and any reserves or profit you have reinvested in subsequent years (retained profit). Also known as Shareholders’ Funds.
Alternate View – Works the same as the equity if you own a house: value of the asset less liabilities. For a company, value of the assets less liabilities. In larger companies may include other accounting oddities like Capital reserves and share premium: don’t worry about those, they all count as a part of the bit of the company the shareholders own, and the lenders do not.
Coming Up…CIPD HR Hot Topics is on Friday January 14th an informal free flowing discussion about what’s hot in HR right now. This week it is about handling the absence caused by the omicron wave – what is working and what can we manage better? Free to join – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-cipd-cov-warks-hr-hot-topics-networking-meeting-tickets-224223988987?aff=ebdsoporgprofile