Building Effective Financial Models

Prerequisites

An understanding of the requirement for financial planning in business and a working knowledge of the accounting process and interpretation of financial statements.

Objective

By the end of the Day you will:
- have all the knowledge, techniques and software (Profit Scout) you need to build versatile financial models
- be able to produce professional quality financial projections and budgets in a fraction of the time and effort required by spreadsheets
- have demonstrated success by producing and assessing a comprehensive suite of financial projections from scratch.

Jack Foley

JACK FOLEY is an economist who has spent over thirty years as a trainer, software developer and company doctor in the SME sector in Ireland. He designed a number of major national initiatives such as the Management Information Systems and Business Planning modules of the Management Development Programme run jointly by the Irish Training and Enterprise Development Authorities. Jack has published numerous texts and papers on training, business planning and finance with particular emphasis on the needs of micro and small firms.

Areas Covered

At the Workshop you will:-
- Learn a systematic way to build versatile financial models which can be used for projections and much, much more
- Be provided with your own copy of a dedicated software system to build the models
- Address all the practical issues involved in organising and using basic planning information
- Produce a complete set of financial projections from case study data
- Use the inbuilt assessment and “What If” exploration features in the software to transform your initial projections into the best possible plan of action
- Receive a set of “Data Collection Sheets” to use in your work situation

<b>Who should attend</b>:
Accountants and business advisers who prepare projections and budgets for their own companies and/or for clients.
Accountants in practice who want to expand their range of services to include the provision of consultancy and advice.
Owner managers who want an in-house capability for planning and improving financial performance in their businesses

Introduction

The step by step way to building effective financial models – what’s needed and only what’s needed.
How to have a precise system with a beginning, middle and end – without padding or waffle!

Building your financial Model

How much detail do I need:
- For my sales forecast?
- In my direct cost structures?

Applying inventory and purchasing policies
Dealing with fixed, variable and semi-variable overheads
The dangers of "Super Variable" costs
Sources of funding, there appropriate applications and treatment
Dealing with fixed asset movements
Sourcing and organising the information - "Data Collection Sheets"

Practical element 1- Build the model

Participants are provided with data sheets to build a financial model of a case study company

Producing the Results

Financial Projections
Analysis Reports
Graphs
Multi year projections

Communicating the Results

Options for producing reports
Options for presentation of the reports
Exporting reports
Using report Wizards

Practical element 2- Produce and Export reports

Participants will be provided with sample reports from the case study

Assessing Planned Performance

Key Results – Is it worth it?
Ratios – Is it Feasible?
Break-even Analysis – How safe is it?
Sensitivity Analysis – Where is it most vulnerable or open to improvement?

Improving the financial results shown in the plan

The “Sherlock Holmes” method: ratios and the art of deduction
The “Oliver Twist” way – the ten steps to getting some more

Practical element 3 - Getting the ratios

The group will use the ratios, sensitivity analysis and ten steps to identify possible ways to improve the performance of the case study company and then participate in a tutor led exploration of their impact as shown by the model.