Financial Management in Turbulent Times | Peer-enriched learning

Many of the techniques that underpin financial management were developed in conditions of stability. Yet the last ten years have been marked by increasing and unprecedented turbulence. This new Peer-enriched learning course focuses on the dynamics of financial management. Learners will be prompted to think through how the volatility which characterises today’s business environment has affected their particular enterprise, and how they are, or might be, responding.

Financial Management in Turbulent Times is a peer-enriched learning course. These courses stimulate intelligent dialogue and debate and provide a valuable and evolving resource of professional knowledge and experience. Each module is split into two activities. The first encourages learners to think about a topic, drawing on their own professional experience and knowledge. The second helps learners to put ideas and/or theories into practice as part of their day-to-day work.

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Financial Management in Turbulent Times enables the learner to:

Think about how financial aspects can be managed, with particular reference to the greater importance now attached to the customer dimension, and to the popularity of more devolved structures.
Consider the irrelevance of many academic hypotheses (like efficient markets and capital assets pricing) and find an alternative approach to establishing decision making criteria and their communication within a multi-product/market organisation structure, so as to assess value and ensure accountability.
Move away from the ‘command and compliance’ style of management towards the ‘trust and commitment’ one; its connection with the need to balance the interests of various stakeholders, and the pressure for greater CSR.
Examine how investment appraisal techniques are being adapted so as to cope with a greater degree of uncertainty and an increase in the proportion of investment which produces intangible assets – coupled with a practical approach to the monitoring of investments, strategies and businesses.
Look at their relations with customers and suppliers, and how they have changed. This will be with particular reference to credit and stock controls, the inappropriateness of traditional approaches e.g. reliance on customers’ published accounts, and the importance of thinking globally.

Topics

The place of finance in the organisation

Planning v. strategy

Devolution

Fixedness

Customer orientation

Participation

Financial objectives

Retirement planning

An insurmountable opportunity?

Charity begins at home

A matter of discounting

Overhead recovery

Investment capital

Marketing

Interest rates

Uncertainty

Monitoring

Working capital

Cash is tight

Customer mix

Transparency

Competitive risk

Target audience
This course is designed to appeal to finance professionals working in practice and in industry.

About the authour
David Allen, is a past president of CIMA and a past chairman of the Management Accounting Committee of the International Federation of Accountants. He was employed for many years by Cadbury Schweppes group holding directorships with various subsidiary companies, notably Cadbury Ltd.