Understanding Accounts - Finance for Non Financial

training multimedia elearning website header

understanding accounts multimedia cd-rom

Understanding Accounts

Understanding Accounts is "finance for non-financial" training on multimedia CD-ROM or as online e-learning from Ufi Learn Direct to help you read and understand a company Annual Report and Accounts, including the Balance Sheet, Income Statement / Profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement.

It also explains the financial concepts of Assets and Liabilities, Liquidity, Depreciation, Equity and Loan Capital and Gearing, and shows how to use Accounting Ratios to identify trends in a company's financial performance. It is a complete Finance for Non-Financial Managers course, based on a training course run by Nick Rints for a major bank and a leading business school.

Q: Who is Understanding Accounts for?

Managers and anyone without formal accountancy training who needs to be able to read a set of annual company report and accounts in order to make business or credit decisions
Anyone running a business (or looking to invest in a business) who needs to be able to see how well that business is doing
As pre-course work for finance for non-financial courses
As an interactive visual aid for finance for non-financial courses
For business studies students needing to understand the concepts of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, cash flow, depreciation, gearing, liquidity, etc.

Q: How does it do it?
The Understanding Accounts multimedia takes a fresh approach finance for non-financial managers training by explaining what can seem obscure concepts such as liquidity, gearing, retained profits, understanding accounts balance sheet working capital, depreciation, creditors, debtors, assets, liabilities and why a balance sheet has to balance, by basing this learning material on two fictional video case histories and providing a variety of interactive exercises.

Q: Is it right for me?
Understanding Accounts does what it says on the tin. It helps you understand the annual company accounts drawn up by your accountant. Finance for non financial managers courses cover much the same ground. In fact, co-author Nick Rints has many years' experience running finance for non financial management courses for understanding accounts what is profit colleges, business schools and companies. The advantage of this interactive CD-ROM is that it is available when you need it. It's also a fraction of the cost of a conventional course. When you need to learn how a balance sheet works, how to read a profit and loss account, understand cash flow, gearing, liquidity, or apply accounting ratios, get out the Understanding Accounts CD. The "revisit" menu allows you to jump straight to the section you need.

Q: What about the Balance Sheet?
The balance sheet can be a mystery when it comes to understanding company annual accounts. How does a balance sheet balance? Why do we need a balance sheet, when a profit and loss account shows quite clearly whether a business has made a profit and whether that profit was more or less than last year – and most people can understand it?

The layout of the modern balance sheet can add to the confusion. The original format, with assets on one side, balanced by liabilities on the other, does make sense visually. But in company annual accounts, the balance sheet now normally appears in a vertical format, which is not nearly so intuitive.

For that reason, Understanding Accounts takes you step by step understanding accounts accounting ratio through the balance sheets of two imaginary businesses. We start by showing you how the assets and liabilities would look in the old-style side-by-side format, and then show how this converts into a vertical balance sheet.

You also do a variety of interactive exercises, including one where you get to make a balance sheet balance.

Q: Does Understanding Accounts cover the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) ?
Yes. These are standards for the preparation and layout of company annual accounts and the terminology used in them. The benefit is that, if you are reading the accounts of multinational companies or companies from other countries, you know that you are comparing like with like.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) adopted them in 2001 to replace the earlier International Accounting Standards (IAS) set by the International Accounting Standards Committee. Their idea is that financial statements should provide information about the financial position, performance and changes in the financial posit understanding accounts depreciation ion of a company in such a way that this is meaningful. The aim is that annual accounts should be understandable, relevant, reliable and comparable. A revision to the standards, IAS1 Presentation of Financial Statements, was issued in 2007 to be effective from 2009.

All publicly listed companies in the European Union (ie those with shares listed on the stock market) have been required to use the International Financial Reporting Standards since 2005. On the other hand, many privately owned companies still use the earlier format for their annual accounts.

Although some of the underlying financial principles have changed, the basics are the same and the most obvious difference, at least in terms of UK companies' annual accounts, is in the terminology used.
In a set of accounts you will still find a Balance Sheet, but in future it is more likely to be called a "Statement of Financial Position".
The Profit and Loss Account is still there, but may be called an "Income Statement" or a "Statement of Comprehensive Income" understanding accounts depreciation or a "Statement of Income and Expense" or a "Statement of Changes in Equity" (which is what the Profit & Loss Account is intended to show us in the first place - ie how much more (or less) the company is worth after a year's trading and how it got there.)
The Cash Flow Statement becomes a "Statement of Cash Flows"
Stock = "Inventory", Debtors = "Receivables", Creditors = "Payables"
Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income and Expenses are as before but have been carefully defined.

Understanding Accounts refers both to the new International Financial Reporting Standards and to the earlier standards. The basic principles remain and many smaller companies still use the earlier terms, such as Profit and Loss Account, Debtors, Creditors, etc., so we aim to give you a basic understanding so that you can interpret accounts produced to either standard.

Q: How can trainers use "Understanding Accounts"?

in a learning resource centre as a standalone package for individual study
as pre-course work for a business course that requires participants to have a basic understanding of balance sheets, profit and loss accounts, cash flow, depreciation, gearing, etc.
as an interactive visual aid to illustrate an actual course
as a handout which participants can use to refer back to the key financial and accounting concepts after the course

We are very happy to offer a disk on 14-day free trial to training managers at recognised UK company addresses, interested in buying a multi-user licence.

Q: Do you offer a student discount?
Yes, 50% off the standard single user cost. Use the drop down menu above the "buy now" button to buy at the student price. Our multi-user training licence, aimed at training departments and business schools, is also very competitive.

Q: What does it cost?

Single User: £29.95 + VAT

Student: £14.95 + VAT

Training Licence: £295.00 + VAT

Training Licence + 20 CDs: £395.00 + VAT