Better Decisions = Better Performance

From "Financial Intelligence", Berman and Knight "Financially intelligent managers contribute to a business's health because they can make better decisions. They manage resources more wisely, use financial information more astutely, and thereby increase their company's profitability and cash flow. Financially savvy managers can react more quickly to the unexpected. When people understand a company's objectives and work to attain them, it's easier to create an organisation built on trust and a feeling of community. Financial training - an increase in financial intelligence - can make a big difference Knowing the rules - how profits are figured, why return on investment matters to shareholders - lets you see your work in the big-picture context. You'll see more clearly how the company that you're part of operates. You'll want to contribute to it, and you'll know how to do so. You'll be able to assess your performance better than you could before, because you can see which way the key numbers are moving and understand why they're moving in one direction or the other. Then, of course, there's the fun of it ..."

Linking Cause and Effect?

The difficulty for many managers is that they cannot see the link between the decisions they make and the organisation's financial results. And if this is the case, how can we expect them to make financially astute decisions?

Our courses are designed to remove the question marks so that your mangers:

• are able to balance short-term profitability with long-term value creation. (For instance, cutting the training budget will most likely improve this year's profitability and cash flow. But how can you show that it will harm future performance. Not anecdotally but in a way that the finance director will accept?)
• can justify investment decisions with payback over several years
• understand the real performance drivers in the business - many of which don't appear in the financial statements, such as relationships, culture, skills and knowledge.
• recognise the critical importance of cash flow and working capital
• are able to undertake what-if analyses and balance risk and return
• know how to evaluate opportunities and when necessary cut the right costs

In short, our courses will:

• improve the quality of decision-making
• enable managers to act more quickly and with greater confidence
• provide a sense of context and a greater strategic understanding
• help to develop a common results-oriented language with the organisation