Analysing Company Accounts

Overview

Course duration: 1 day.

The second of our series of company accounts courses that enables you to analyse and work with corporate accounts and make informed judgements about the status of companies.

This intensive and practical course introduces delegates to the principles of analysing company accounts using ratios and trends. It is the second in the series of three company accounts courses, and knowledge of the content of financial statements is a pre-requisite.

Is it right for me?

Suitable for anyone with little or no experience of analysing company accounts. Delegates are expected to have attended Introduction to Company Accounts or to have attained that level of knowledge.

What will I learn?

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Analyse a set of accounts.
• Understand and applyovertwentykey ratios.
• Utilise a bank of important questions.
• Identify trends and comparisons over time and against industry norms.
• Analyse a set of simple company accounts using a case study.

What will it cover?

Preparing for Analysis

• Refresher on the content and format of the Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet
• Issues arising from the industry and sector that the company operates in
• Considering company size
• Anything to be learnt from the Memorandum and Articles of Association?
• Understand the differences between public and private companies
• An introduction to group accounting

Analysing the Accounts

Analysing various ratios that tell us about:

• Capital structure
• Efficiency of working capital
• The cash position
• Profitability
• Return on investment
• The importance of cash in a business
• Capital employed: understand the issues surrounding it
• What do theprofit margins tell us?
• Calculating asset turnover
• Understanding when the working capital ratios are useful
• Assess whether a business can meet its short-term liabilities
• Understanding gearing and how it affects earnings

What to look for in the Annual Report

• TheChairman's Statement
• The Director's Report
• The Auditor's Report
• The notes to the Accounts

Putting it into Practice

• Learn to make comparisons between companies and industries
• Assess current business and financial issues
• Analyse a set of accounts yourself

Trainer Profile

Lindsey Byrne

This course is jam-packed full of everything you need to know when setting out to analyse the accounts of customers, competitors, suppliers, subsidiaries, acquisition targets or companies you may wish to invest in!

We’ll look at business performance from the view of an internal manager, a potential customer or supplier, and the investor, so you can get a full rounded view of how the company is doing and there’ll also be top tips on looking out for the warning signs of corporate ill-health!

We’ll look at real companies and by the end of the day you’ll be able to go back to work and review accounts with much more confidence – quickly identifying the questions you need to ask to feel confident doing business with other companies.

The Faculty

Along with Tracey Grice and Anna Carvisiglia, Lindsey Byrne ispart of the dedicated faculty team who will deliver this course. The initials next to each date below indicate which trainer is scheduled to deliver which event.