Description:

This one day course is a project skill course.

Understanding the financial aspects of projects, including approval and control, is a key skill for the project manager and project teams. Project failure can often be attributed to poor financial appraisal, estimating and control. To ensure the project team is kept well informed and in turn is able to properly inform the client’s team, it is important that project team members have a good awareness of the financial management of the project.

Projects are complex and it is easy to leave things to others when there is so much to do. That is not a problem as long as there are means to establish if things remain on course for success. This is the financial awareness that this course is intended to bring to those needing this knowledge.

The course focuses on project finance throughout the life cycle. Participants will achieve an understanding of the fundamental principles of accounting, reviewing balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and key financial ratios. This will enable managers to make strategic decisions to meet project objectives and business needs without compromising the projects finances.

Much of the information that the financial controllers, accountants or cost engineers will have in their records will have been used in some other performance areas such as cost control, budgetary control, cost value comparisons, waste reports and so on. It is necessary in the understanding of that data where information has been derived. Equally, the client today will often expect the project manager to provide financial information as the source for making further decisions. In short it is anticipated by those making decisions that the project manager will have a good understanding of the issues in relation to finance.

The intention of this course is to bring more awareness of financial management to the project manager and other senior staff in order for them to be more involved in this function and increase confidence in the decision making process.

An Attendance Certificate will be provided at the end of this course.

Vital Benefits:

Projects are becoming more complex every day and it is anticipated that the project manager will understand all the basic business functions as he is expected to understand the project functions. This course will provide the following vital benefits:

• A clear awareness of this important function
• An understanding of the benchmarks used to determine ongoing success and risk
• An understanding of forecasting, monitoring and control
• Understanding of cash flows, profit and their management
• Understanding life costing and their implications
• Ability to assess economic viability and commercial profitability

Objectives:

Financial management is often controlled by factors which limit its full value to the project manager. Accounting systems need to be set up for the particular needs of each project if the project manager is to benefit from this powerful management tool. In this course, it is our objectives to:

• Provide a clear awareness financial management
• Provide an understanding of how financial management is used in the management of projects
• Explain how the sponsor and others use financial information in their understanding of control and success
• Show how to appreciate the risks associated with business and their projects from a financial point of view

Topics:

The topics covered in this course include he following:

• Legal framework and fundamental principles of accounting
• Balance sheet, profit and loss account
• Assets and liabilities
• Loans and debentures
• Shareholders funds
• Profit and loss
• Valuations
• Ratio analysis
• Cost management
• Project controls
• Investment appraisal methods
• Long term contracts

Who to Attend:

The course is designed for all project personnel, including managers requiring more awareness and knowledge of the financial aspects of projects and Project Management. We recommend it to:

• The client staff
• The project managers
• The project staff
• Line managers
• The professional services teams
• The senior supply chain managers
• Anyone who wants to know more about financial management
• Anyone who sees project management as a career