Accounting for non accountants

Understanding your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet

This practical workshop will improve participants' financial understanding. By the end of this course they'll be able to read a Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet, and understand the common classifications and groupings within them.

Through practical examples and exercises participants will learn:

-  what double entry accounting means

-  the key elements of a Profit & Loss Statement

-  the important features of a Balance Sheet

-  the purpose of depreciation

-  the jargon used by accountants.

Each topic begins with easy examples and builds towards the more complex, as participants are guided through financial statements, their classifications and groupings, and other related issues.

A survey of small businesses revealed that 41% consider the financials to be the hardest part of running their business, and 19% admitted they put their financials into the too-hard basket. These accounting workshops are designed specifically for those who need to read basic financial statements and improve their understanding of key accounting concepts.

Analysis and interpretation

Understanding your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet 2: Financial ratios and analysis

So you can read your Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet now, but are things really as good (or bad) as they seem? This workshop builds on participants' understanding of financial statements by looking at the trends that unfold over successive periods.

Topics covered include:

-  the difference between cash and net profit

-  profitability ratios

-  examining liquidity

-  debtors and stock

-  remedial action

Most of the ratios covered in this course can be prepared for you automatically by accounting software, but until now you didn't know what the numbers meant. If you want to be able to monitor your financial situation and diagnose problems before they occur, then this workshop is for you.

Costing and pricing

An introduction to costing and pricing your goods and services

Most businesses have a range of products and services. But do you know if some of the items you sell are losing you money? By the end of this workshop you will be able to go back to your business and calculate how much you should be charging for your products and services.

Through practical examples and exercises participants will learn:

-  how to calculate break-even points in your business

-  how to work out the extra sales necessary to recover a planned expense

-  how to calculate what it costs you to provide your products or services

-  common methods of determining a selling price for your products or services

-  how to calculate charge-out rates for employees

-  why you should not compete with a low margin at a low price.

Budgets and cashflows

An introduction to budgeting and cashflow planning

Too many businesses fail because there is insufficient cash to pay bills as they fall due. This workshop explores the importance of budgets and sound cashflow management in a small business and gives you some of the tools you need to start planning your future revenues and expenses.

By the end of this workshop you will understand how to anticipate your future cashflows, and how budgeting can help you control your expenses.

Examples of topics covered in the workshop include:

-  why you should prepare budgets and cashflow projections

-  techniques for preparing simple (and not so simple) budgets

-  how a small business can be profitable but not have enough cash to pay bills

-  how to prepare a cash budget (cashflow forecast).

Practical business planning

How to write a Business Plan that works

Research indicates that forward planning significantly increases the chances of success for a small business. Preparing a business plan keeps your feet on the ground by providing a realistic view of the future, helps you determine what capital and borrowing will be required, and provides a set of goals to measure actual performance against. It is also a document that banks and investors will want to see before giving any money to a small business.

Topics covered in the workshop include:

-  the importance of working out your competitive advantage

-  how to prepare information about your business and the industry you're in

-  the important sections of a business plan, and the key questions to ask yourself

-  an analysis of future trends and changes predicted for New Zealand

-  how to prepare relevant financial forecasts

-  business planning software and other useful resources.

Participants will be provided with a planning template and will leave the workshop with their business plan partially completed. No prior business planning or financial knowledge is necessary.

Forecasting your business finances

How to prepare the financial information needed for your business plan

This workshop is designed to assist you in preparing the financial information needed in your business plan, particularly if you wish to take your business plan to a bank to gain funding.

Through practical examples and exercises participants will learn:

-  how to estimate future sales and expenses

-  how to prepare a projected Profit & Loss Statement

-  how to calculate what it costs you to provide your products or services

-  how to determine a selling price

-  how to calculate break-even points for your business

-  the difference between cash and net profit

-  how to prepare a cashflow forecast.

Spreadsheets for small business

Spreadsheets 1: An introduction to using Spreadsheets in a small business

Early personal computers were viewed as toys for consumers and were ignored by businesses, until a killer application came along that made computers an essential business tool. The spreadsheet.

A computer spreadsheet will assist you to manage your business finances, and allow you to create budgets and financial forecasts. A spreadsheet will help you analyse and recalculate numbers quickly, and allow you to present your data in tables or in graphic format (including bar charts, line graphs and pie diagrams).

In this workshop you will learn the tremendous power of computer spreadsheets and understand how easy they are to work with. By the end of the workshop you will understand why the spreadsheet is such an important business computer package. No prior knowledge of spreadsheets is required, but it is expected that participants are comfortable using a mouse and keyboard and are familiar with the Windows or Mac environment.

Hands-on topics covered in the workshop include:

-  using a computer spreadsheet

-  creating a series of simple spreadsheets

-  designing spreadsheets to assist with a variety of accounting activities

-  a quick taste of advanced spreadsheet functions (including IF statements)

The examples and techniques covered in this practical workshop are applicable to all computer spreadsheet programs, so you will be able to use your new skills in your business immediately.

Spreadsheets in practice

Spreadsheets 2: Intermediate Spreadsheeting

This hands-on workshop picks up where Spreadsheets 1 finishes, and is intended as an intermediate level course for small business managers. It is assumed that participants have attended Spreadsheets 1 and/or have already developed and regularly use a few simple spreadsheets in their business. Once again, the spreadsheet techniques covered are applicable to all spreadsheet packages.

Through hands-on practice participants will:

-  learn lots of handy tips and shortcuts to make your spreadsheeting easier

-  learn how to use a variety of advanced functions

-  build a cashbook that you can use every day in your business

-  build a spreadsheet to calculate mortgage repayments

-  build a spreadsheet to prepare cash flow forecasts.

The focus in this workshop is on developing useful spreadsheets that participants can take away and use in their own small business.