About

This seminar assumes no prior financial knowledge

This seminar has been specifically designed for EAs and PAs. On completion of the seminar you'll be able to understand and efficiently organise day to day financial administration and be able to support your manager by interpreting financial information and preparing budgets for small projects. You'll also gain key skills to fast track your career.

Key learning objectives:
• Understand core financial systems and processes, including financial reporting, budgeting and auditing
• Manage day to day finance administration and purchasing for your area
• Deal with creditors and debtors effectively
• Put together a budget for your area or cost centre
• Understand budget and cost centre statements
• Apply accounting rules and make accruals
• Understand credit control
• Interpret basic financial statements
• Understand how GST and FBT (fringe benefit tax) apply

Who should attend
• Executive Assistants
• Executive Secretaries
• Personal Assistants
• Legal Secretaries
• Office Managers and Admin Managers who have mastered the basics of day to day finance and administration and want to understand higher level issues such as how to budget, how to manage costs and how to interpret cost centre reports

Training methodology
This intensive 2-day master class will combine tutorial sessions and case studies with interactive learning exercises. All attendees will be provided with a workbook and a certificate of completion. There may be some pre-seminar materials for use throughout the course.

Agenda

Day one

An overview of finance
• Identifying the role of finance in your organisation
• Understanding the rules of accounting
Practical exercise: Determining whether accounting rules have been followed
• The finance pyramid: Identifying the four levels of finance within organisations
• Examining the key components of your organisation's financial systems
Practical exercise: Identifying source documents and the purpose of each component of an organisation's financial systems

Examining the financial systems of your organisation
• A comparison of accounts payable and accounts receivable processes in terms of posting transactions and identifying/eliminating risk
• Accounts receivable and debt collection procedures
• Accounts payable including financial delegations
• Tips for efficient AP processing and best use of technological developments
• Purchase orders including e-purchasing and P-cards
• Fixed asset register
• Understanding the difference between Capex and Opex
• What is depreciation and what methods are used to calculate it?
Practical exercise: Determining whether purchases are Capex or Opex
• Petty cash and expenses reimbursements including IRD requirements for entertainment tax
• Payroll and withholding tax
• The cash flow cycle and how to manage cash flow
• The role of Treasury
• General ledger

Understanding the types of financial statements
• Examining the main financial statements
• Profit and loss accounts/Statements of financial performance
• Balance sheets/Statements of financial position
• Cash flow statements/Statements of cash flows
Practical exercise: Understanding the major line items within financial statements

Audit and taxation issues
• The role of internal and external auditors
• Taxation for the EA/PA including:
• Tax records and IRD requirements for tax invoices
• Income tax requirements for organisations and employers
• Goods and Services Tax (GST)
Practical exercise: Completing a GST return
• Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT)
Practical exercise: Determining whether FBT applies to specific transactions

Day Two:

Purchasing and managing costs
• Tips for effective purchasing
• The concept of lifetime costing
Practical exercise: Using lifetime costing to make purchasing decisions
• Strategic cost management as opposed to ad hoc cost reduction
• A checklist for evaluating your suppliers
• Identifying costs:
• Fixed vs variable
• Controllable vs non controllable
• Shared and allocated costs
Practical exercise: Determining whether costs are fixed or variable
• The importance of organisational cost structure
Practical exercise: Identifying the full cost of a decision and how costs build up

How to interpret cost centre reports and ensure they are up to date
• The role of project and cost centre reporting
• Understanding variances
• The importance of good cut offs at the end of the month
• The month end close off timetable
Practical exercise: How to make accruals
• The advantages of variance reporting
• The softball analogy: How to interpret and act on variances within a cost centre
• Common reasons for incorrect variances
Practical exercise: Using cost benefit analysis to determine what action to take

How to prepare accurate and meaningful budgets
• What is the purpose of budgeting?
• Understanding the budgetary control process
• The budget temple: The interrelations between different budgets
• What are the methods for preparing cost centre budgets?
Practical exercise: Preparing a budget for a conference using zero based and incremental methods
• The "Rock Solid" acronym: Tips for effective budgeting
• How can finance people help you prepare a budget?

Examining the sources of financial information and how to interpret annual reports
• Identifying the types of financial reports
Practical exercise: Determining how to obtain the financial information you require
• Interpreting annual reports
• Understanding the information contained in annual reports
• How to interpret financial statements
Practical exercise: Interpreting financial statements
• The importance of non financial performance measures:
• Statements of service performance
• Balanced scorecard
• Triple bottom line reporting
• What financial reports don't tell you

Facilitator

Kevin Lee, Director, Business Skills Training

Kevin Lee BA (Hons), Pg Dip, MBA, ACMA runs a consultancy for business skills development.  He is a Chartered Management Accountant with 20 years experience of Government Agencies, Corporates and SME’s.  Kevin is a member of the New Zealand Association for Training and Development, the Human Resources Institute for New Zealand and accredited as a Belbin Team Role facilitator.  His post-graduate qualifications include a post-graduate diploma in business administration with distinction and an MBA in which he majored in finance.  

Kevin specialises in helping managers and staff to develop practical financial skills and knowledge.  He is passionate about making finance relevant, understandable and fun.  He enables people to develop their business acumen and to apply financial management practices that suit their organisation’s needs and circumstances. 

Kevin’s clients include: Ministry of Justice, Department of Internal Affairs, ANZ National Bank, Meridian Energy, Auckland District Health Board and Auckland City Council.   

Kevin’s approach is highly practical, using only the financial theory that people need to know, and then building skills and knowledge through case studies, examples and small group work.  He is able to provide “real life” advice based on his experience in CFO roles and his experience of managing major Capex projects, implementing financial systems, improving financial processes and procedures and achieving ongoing efficiency savings.   

Kevin’s passion, enthusiasm and commitment result in excellent feedback from participants at all levels: Directors, General Managers, Accountants, Senior Managers, Middle Managers, Supervisors and Support Staff.     

Kevin Lee is also facilitating:

• Budgeting and Cost Control for Non Financial Managers
• Cash Flow and Liquidity Management for improved performance
• Commercial Approaches for Government Agencies
• Effectively Managing & Organising Accounts Payable
• Effectively Managing and Organising Accounts Payable
• Finance & Accounting Skills for Managers in the Health Sector
• Financial Machinery of Government
• Managing Credit, Accounts Receivable and Debt Recovery
• Managing the Numbers: The Financial Skills for Non Financial Managers
• Practical Budgeting and Forecasting for Accountants and Senior Managers
• The Effective Accounts Assistant

In-house Training