101 Financial Solutions: Diagnosis and Remedy (Currently Unavailable)

Author: Jae K. Shim

A manager’s success depends largely on his or her ability to manage a company’s assets. This mission is complicated by the interdependent nature of a company’s finances. One short-term financial problem, such as a cash flow shortage, can cause a longer-term credit problem, such as denials for bank loans. The successful manager must be able to quickly identify and resolve such short-term problems in order to prevent their long-term deleterious effects. This course is intended for effective business managers and entrepreneurs. Covering every facet of the daily management of a business’s finances, it is designed to help managers pinpoint, remedy, and prevent business and financial problems. In each case, it also points out potential ripple effects—the ways in which a problem in one sector can disrupt operations in other areas.

Publication Date: July 2014

Designed For
Practitioners wanting an overview of the daily management of a business’s finances; business managers and entrepreneurs.

Topics Covered

• Pricing, Sales, and Advertising Miss Margins
• Inventory and Production Shortfalls
• Profit Targets Are Off
• Risk-Return Unbalance
• Inability to Finance Weakens Business Development
• Business Control Threatened
• Cash Flow Disturbances
• Mess in Accounts Payable and Receivable
• Lackluster Financial Statements
• Costs Out Of Control
• Budgeting and Cost Control Problems
• Fragile Internal Controls
• Tax Planning and Preparation

Learning Objectives

• Recognize signs in the concept of revenue base erosion.
• Identify irrelevant cost factors when evaluation special orders.
• Identify causes of a high level of merchandise returns that can affect business profits.
• Identify the causes of low turnover of merchandise.
• Recognize trade-offs between excessive inventory ordering and carrying costs.
• Identify order costs and carrying costs associated with inventory management.
• Understand how the economic order quantity (EOQ) applies to inventory management.
• Identify technologies used to improve inventory tracking and management.
• Recognize reasons that create a lack of inventory storage space.
• Define concepts used in the analysis of profitability.
• Recognize ways to reduce the break-even point, and limitations of break-even analysis.
• Recognize how to apply cost-volume-profit analysis.
• Identify the problems of a weak sales mix and the causes of falling sales or profits.
• Define the risk-return trade-off.
• Recognize components of interest rate risk.
• Identify factors relating to a lack of diversification and increased risk.
• Recognize signs of existing or potential financial problems.
• Recognize influences that can adversely affect the market price of a stock.
• Identify the objectives of debt rating services and some bond terminology.
• Recognize characteristics of evaluating stock prices.
• Identify the conditions when bankruptcy looms.
• Recognize steps management can take to avoid business failure.
• Recognize uses of the Altman Z-Score for spotting risky companies.
• Identify measures that a company can take to avoid a takeover threat.
• Recognize common ratios used by companies to help manage cash positions.
• Identify ways to improve cash flow and return on surplus funds.
• Identify early warning signs of a company going broke.
• Identify ways to minimize the impact of vendor's price increases.
• Calculate the advantage of accepting vendor terms and discounts.
• Recognize the reasons for poor credit ratings.
• Identify methods to prevent check signing fraud and improper payments.
• Recognize commonly used financial ratios that help spot liquidity problems.
• Identify early warning signals for inadequate liquidity.
• Recognize ways to improve return on investment and how return on equity is calculated.
• Identify methods to identify a low rate of return and the signs for poor quality of earnings.
• Recognize how to determine the stability/instability in product revenue over time.
• Identify the causes for excessive labor costs.
• Define the concept associated with operating leverage.
• Recognize the applications of activity-based costing.
• Understand how a profit-maximizing firm would adjust prices at different levels of demand.
• Recognize how to compute an efficiency variance.
• Identify how actual costs can exceed standard (budgeted) costs.
• Recognize ways to spot record-keeping errors.
• Recognize the characteristics of different corporate structures used to affect tax planning and preparation.

Level
Overview

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Finance (10 hours)

Program Prerequisites
Basic Math

Advance Preparation
None