Essential Tools for the Business Owner Package

Overview:

This package of 5 courses is designed for business owners wishing to enhance their knowledge of financial management, business planning, and decision-making. This group of courses will share thoughts on the fundamentals of preparing a business plan, preparing an operating budget, financial statement analysis, capital budgeting, and making tough decisions during a crisis (like the COVID-19 pandemic). These courses are presented to benefit the business owner by sharing basic methods to increase your confidence in financial management, without boring you with the technicalities. 
 
Preparing a Business Plan 
You will learn how to tell your story through a business plan, including the various components that need to be presented. This includes the executive summary, business plan structure, presenting financial and non-financial information, and addressing risk. Examples of funding analysis including estimating start-up costs, as well as monthly operating projections, are explained in detail. 
 
Preparing an Operating Budget 
This course will teach you how to prepare more accurate and useful operating budgets and forecast future performance. Topics include incremental basis budgeting, zero-based budgeting, ground-up approach, key performance indicators, identifying risk, and more. You will learn how to utilize the budget as a tool to better prepare for and anticipate the future of your business. 
 
Get More from Your Financial Statements 
In this course, you will learn how to interpret your financial statements to help you with your decision-making processes. You will be introduced to the three financial statements – the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement, as well as notes to these statements. You will learn how to calculate and interpret critical ratios – including inventory turnover, asset management, liquidity, and profitability, which knowledge will help you monitor and improve your organization’s financial performance. 
 
Introduction to Capital Budgeting 
This course examines how companies apply capital budgeting analyses to decide whether or not to buy capital assets such as plant and equipment. We show you the methods actively used in the corporate world. These techniques can also be useful in not-for-profit and public sector organizations since well-informed and educated financial decisions are required in all organizations. The impact of debt versus equity financing will also be discussed. Sample calculations for various analyses will be demonstrated, including average accounting rate of return, net present value, payback periods, and profitability index. This course was designed for those who want to gain a basic working knowledge of capital budgeting techniques. We also show you how success in capital budgeting directly increases your entity’s value.  
 
Ethical Decision-Making in a Crisis 
This course addresses the implications of ethical business decision-making during a crisis, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic. It examines how organizations have dealt with their stakeholders and how they have lived up to their core values. It examines the benefits of ethical decision-making and the implications of taking an unethical approach during a crisis. 

Course Content:

In this course you will gain knowledge about the following topics: 
 
Preparing a Business Plan (1 Hour)

• Different stakeholders that will read your business plan
• Structure of a business plan
• Executive summary
• Market analysis, marketing plan, and competitive advantage
• Start-up funds and budgeting information
• Financial projections and assumption
• Break-even analysis and risk  
   

Preparing an Operating Budget (1 Hour)

• Benefits of having an operating budget
• Incremental vs zero-based budgeting methods
• Key performance indicators
• Detailed analysis and breakdown of an operating budget
• Types of expenses
• How to address risk  
   

Get More from Your Financial Statements (1 Hour)

• Balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, notes to financial statements
• Common size financial statements
• Ratio analysis
• Liquidity, profitability, capital structure, asset management, cash cycle, and performance
• Return on sales, return on assets, return on equity, debt to equity ratio, times interest earned, asset turnover, average collection period, average credit period, inventory turnover, days in inventory, earnings per share, and the price-earnings ratio 
   

Introduction to Capital Budgeting (1 Hour)

• Average accounting rate of return
• Payback period and discounted payback period
• Net present value
• Internal rate of return
• Profitability index
• Debt vs equity financing (financial leverage)
• Using reliable calculations to make better business decisions 
   

Ethical Decision-Making in a Crisis (1 Hour)

• Definition of ethics
• Ethical principles
• Return on investment from ethical business practices
• Crisis response strategies
• Decision-making in a crisis checklist 

Learning Objectives:

Upon completing this course, you should be able to: 

• Describe who the audience is for your business plan and how information should be presented to satisfy their needs
• Identify the components of a business plan and the sequence in which it should be presented
• Demonstrate how to structure and present financial and non-financial information in a business plan
• Explain how to address risk and assumptions in a business plan 

Who Will Benefit: 

This package is designed for business owners, entrepreneurs, and managers who are looking for a comprehensive package to enhance their business planning, financial management, and decision-making.  

Testimonials: