2022 CFO Series: Strategic Priorities of Today’s Finance Role

This course will focus on skills to help you and your organization become more effective in dealing with risk, change and problem employees.

Highlights

Change: Prepare for the Inevitable
Learn how to become better at recognizing change and how to embrace and adapt to the many changes we will continue to see. Review practical insights that will help you be even more successful in the office and in life.
Topics will include:

Change is continuous, but why do we fight change?

Why don't we notice the volume and rate of change?

Why are we so surprised by change?

What steps can we take to adapt to change?

Why is the human brain programmed to ignore change?

Examples of how the rate of change has changed

Examples of the many changes in accounting

How do we enhance our adaptability so we can thrive in a world of change?

Fixing Systems Risk
We will discuss two key causes of why most business systems crash. This session outlines multiple steps to reduce and hopefully eliminate system risks.
Topics will include:

Why are accounting and finance leaders skilled at analyzing broken systems?

Open systems versus closed systems

Lessons from US Navy SEAL teams

Common reasons why systems fail

Plan for and avoid the two root causes of most system failures

Number-one Mistake that Managers Make
Learn how managers mis-manage the most important assets in the business – employees. More importantly, what we can we do to get the most out of our people and correct the single most common mistake made in business?
Topics will include:

Why managers are poor communicators and how to improve

The damage caused by inadequate communication

The advantages of better communication and planning

More than 50 recommendations to improve the performance review process

Selecting the proper criteria to assess performance

How to deliver a productive performance review

Dealing with Problem Employees
We will review a 15-step process to assess all the reasons why team members are not performing so you can reduce and hopefully eliminate performance issues.
Topics will include:

How turnover is an issue

What are the most common causes?

How to do a better job of preventing ‘problem’ employees

How to have an effective discussion to end to the relationship

How to develop a customized plan for each unique situation

A 15-step action plan to use – for you and for the employee

Benefits

Develop an understanding of the following areas:
1. Complex issues involved with change and risk management so you can take advantage of the never-ending changes that occur daily
2. Common root causes that increase risk and cause systems to fail
3. Effectively communicating with employees, including, delivering messages, achieving better performance, and reducing turnover.
4. A process to identify why an individual is not performing well and how to address the situation.

Designed For

People who are, or aspire to be, CFOs in midsize organizations,as well as business leaders, CEOs, accountants, corporate financial managers, business owners, risk managers, controllers, entrepreneurs, consultants, and the professionals who advise them.

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This course focuses on improving the entire budget process including preventing budgeting missteps, creating budget models and dealing with people issues.

Highlights

Understanding and Preventing Common Budget Calamities
The traditional budgeting process can produce stale results and fatigue amongst both accounting and cross-departmental leadership. Learn the keys to successful budgets and how to balance the important technical and human components of the process. We will discuss these keys in an engaging manner with thoughtfulness towards understanding our flaws and strengths, including how to build on these characteristics towards an enjoyable solutions-based method and effective results for your organization. Topics will include:

• What are the flaws in the budgeting process?
• Does your budget need an overhaul or just a tune up?
• What are the steps to budget for economic and external factors beyond our control?
• How to understand your own leadership tendencies and apply them to your strengths
• How to make the budget flexible
• How to apply traits of the balanced scorecard approach to your budgeting
• Common budgetary problems and discussion of solutions
• 12 steps towards a better budget and maybe even a better you

Building Flexible Budget Models
View fundamental budget issues through a detailed modeling process intended to improve your organization’s financial planning. From the beginning of the accounting process – ‘the chart of accounts’ - to the end of the process – ‘the valuation of the company’ - we'll review the budgeting cycle via a live case model and discuss best practices of successful companies. Topics will include:

• Build a flexible budget model that works
• The right chart of accounts can simplify your work
• Build a volume-sensitive model
• Budgeting to GAAP and for the board to understand
• Efficient modeling of payroll and benefits
• Identify controllable and uncontrollable expenses
• Key variables to stress-test your budget

Managing Budgeting’s Soft Side: Avoiding People Iissues
Understanding what makes you and others operate can enhance your understanding of the entire organization and build upon the respect and influence needed to navigate and lead the budgeting cycle. Review a case study that measures an individual’s personality type and then explore how to use strengths and weaknesses to create a better budget process. Topics will include:

• Understanding core personality types
• Learning what type of person you are
• Managing and coping with the budget team
• Effectively dealing with the A, B, C and other players
• Connecting through disconnection

Presenting and Communicating Your Numbers
There are several key guidelines in successful budget presentations and we will identify key problems in how people often communicate financial plans. Topics will include:

• Identifying the ‘big picture’ and your role in communication
• Communicating so others can understand us
• Understanding a presentation’s anatomy
• Tips and tricks for budget presentations

Benefits

Develop an understanding of the following areas:

• Complex issues involved in the annual budgeting process and best practices for improvements with a solutions-based approach
  
• Advantages and value of a flexible budget model
  
• People issues that complicate every budget process
  
• Effectively communicating

Designed For

People who are, or aspire to be, CFOs in midsize organizations, as well as business leaders, CEOs, CFOs, accountants, corporate financial managers, business owners, risk managers, controllers, entrepreneurs, consultants and the professionals who advise them

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This course will cover how organizations can leverage profitability and strategy to dramatically improve financial performance. Learn practices that will give your organization a competitive advantage.

Highlights

Creating Competitive Advantage
A veteran CFO will lead you through the strategy development process and then show you how to turn your organization's search for competitive advantage into reality.

Profitable Pricing
When sales and accounting personnel fail to work together, the company risks becoming its industry’s “dumb” competitor. Accountants involved in pricing can help the company understand the difference between “dog” and “gravy” opportunities with knowledge that directly translates into an improved profitability.

Contemporary Cost Concepts
Hear an explanation of activity based costing and why it gives your company a competitive advantage.

Cost and Pricing Models: Creating an Effective Tool
Review how to use activity-based costing data to build accurate costing models that consider far more than just the labor and materials necessary to provide goods and services.

Benefits

Develop an understanding of the following areas:
1. Identifying a strategy that will give your organization a competitive advantage
2. Improving profit through involvement with your organization’s pricing process
3. Having superior cost knowledge to provide your company a with competitive advantage
4. Creating models that will assure your organization is selling its products at a profitable price

Designed For

People who are, or aspire to be, CFOs in midsize organizations, as well as business leaders, CFOs, accountants, corporate financial managers, business owners, risk managers, controllers, entrepreneurs, consultants and the professionals who advise them.

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Numbers are fun for us, but not for everyone. However, if we do not effectively convey the meaning of the numbers, have we delivered value? Make your numbers speak so that the rest of the organization understands. Understand how to better communicate your organizations performance and how to improve it.

Highlights

Driving Performance with Metrics
Twenty-first century performance metrics reduce work, reduce politics, provide flexibility and substantially improve the performance management process. Learn how to drive organizational performance using these powerful techniques.

Effective Business Writing
American businesses report losing $400 billion a year to unclear writing that wastes time, kills contracts and turns off customers. Optimize your time spent in communications as a writer and a reader. Prevent your readers from sending your documents to the circular file because they are too much work to decipher. Write with clear purpose and enjoy the results and time saved.

Presentation Skills for Success
Presentation skills are essential for effective leaders, especially CFOs who must tell their company’s story to both internal and external audiences. You will learn to deliver presentations effectively and with confidence; take “big picture” information and make it relevant to specific audiences; and conduct an effective “question and answer” session.

Communicating Financial Information to Non-accountants
Do you ever get blank looks when you present your company's financial statements? Does your board nod knowingly during your presentation but never seem to have any meaningful questions? Learn how to connect with your CEO, board, fellow managers and employees so they understand your message and motivate them to action. Hear a veteran CFO tell you how.

Benefits

Develop an understanding of the following areas:
1. Using metrics to improve your organization’s performance
2. Cutting your writing time in half and doubling your impact
3. Making your presentations more effective
4. Connecting with your stakeholders who do not have a financial background

Designed For

People who are, or aspire to be, CFOs in midsize organizations, as well as business leaders, CEOs, accountants, corporate financial managers, business owners, risk managers, controllers, entrepreneurs, consultants, and the professionals who advise them.

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This course will review some overlooked tactics to increase profitability and improve cash management.

Highlights

Cash Management: Strategies for Long-Term Success
Review strategies to plan for your cash needs appropriately. Cash does not manage itself!

Day-to-Day Best Practices
We will discuss cash flow as it relates to receivables, payables, debt, equity, profitability, growth and risk. Participants will work through different cash flow cases to understand situations they may encounter in their career.

Profit Improvement: 10 Tips for a Better Bottom Line
Learn 10 techniques for improving your company’s bottom line.

Doing More with Less
Explore issues that you may not have thought about that can deeply affect your financial department’s operations.

Benefits

1. Learn ways to better manage your cash and improve your organization’s profitability.
2. Understand the issues involved with effectively managing cash.
3. Discover10 ways to improve your organization’s bottom line.
4. Learn how to do more with less.

Designed For

People who are, or aspire to be, CFOs in midsize organizations, as well as business leaders, CEOs, accountants, corporate financial managers, business owners, risk managers, controllers, entrepreneurs, consultants, and the professionals who advise them.

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