Financial Literacy | Training Modules
1. Book keeping and records
A business that keeps records is able to track its growth.
A business owner who maintains records is able to account for his sweat.
Failure to maintain records endangers fundamental business survival.
A business that does not keep records will never know when and if it makes loses or profits.
What basic records should a business keep? Empowering the business owner with this knowledge enables him to be able to know what to expect of his employees and accountancy service providers if he chooses to outsource the accounting function.
Purpose of this module: We empower the business owners with knowledge of what records they need to ensure are kept for their business transactions to be well accounted for.
2. The importance of finance management
A business generates money on an on-going basis. These could be in the form of sales, customer deposits, loans, grants etc.
A key component in managing finances is finance planning.
We seek to highlight these various sources of finance for the participants and to empower them to be able to track each source.
Businesses also spend cash on an ongoing basis. This could be either in materials and direct costs of doing work or delivering service, office expenses and or cost of capital for borrowed funds among others.
We seek to enable the entrepreneur to understand and track the various destinations of their money in a visible way. The balance between inflow of cash and outflow of it is fundamental for development of thriving businesses.
Purpose of this module: The training in these areas is tailored to empower the entrepreneur to track the source and destination of money in order to achieve a healthy business where the lifeblood (money) is safeguarded and secured
3. Importance of Assets and liabilities
Any organization should watch for the balance of their Assets and liabilities. Every business owner should be able to observe the ratio of these two key components of any financial performance.
What are assets? What are liabilities? What balance is ideal? The non-finance entrepreneur does not need the technical terminology, but a practical relationship within their business context.
Purpose of this module: The training is designed to address the subject of assets and liabilities in a way that it is relatable to their business and is delivered in simple language that does not intimidate the non-finance person.
4. Understanding of Statement of income
How does your business prepare reports of the money coming in from various sources and where it goes? The International Financial reporting standards require preparation of a Statement of comprehensive income. How does an entrepreneur in a simple way understand their statement of income?
What are the relevant classifications of income in this section and how is it all put together? How do you know when your Finance person prepares one correctly and how do you pick out discrepancies?
Purpose of this module: This training is designed to empower the entrepreneur to oversee preparation of regular income and expenditure reports that inform the daily decision making without having to wait for year end.
5. Understanding the statement of financial position
Also called the Balance sheet, this is a crucial statement that seeks to account for assets of the institution and to show how their acquisition has been financed. It is used to inform the owner of the business and key stakeholders if the business is healthy.
How does this statement make sense to a an entrepreneur and what do you watch for to know if you have a positive or negative net worth?
Purpose of this module: This training is designed to enable the entrepreneur lead the process of networth determination for his business. This involves being able to seek for necessary information from his finance resource teams and service providers.
6. Interpretation of financial statements
the Finance profession is guided by the International financial reporting standards (IFRSs) and the International Accounting Standards (IASs) in the preparation of financial reports. But how does the non-finance entrepreneur interpret these? It is important for the entrepreneur to understand the basics in their interpretation since stakeholders such as finance institutions, investors and government agencies consume them in this format. Business owners are expected interpret, query, provide feedback and utilize these reports for decision making. However, most are not empowered with the skills and tools to draw the meanings that will enable them to make the decisions they need to make. What tools are these and how can a non-finance trained leader go about the interpretation with knowledge?
Purpose of this module: The purpose of this module is to simplify the requirements of the IFRS and IAS mentioned above to make it simply practical for the business owner. We will empower the business owner with simple tools that they can use to interpret the information they receive
7. Budgeting and Budget control
Every year a business owner should drive a budgeting process that guides the business as a road map. How can the business owner guide their teams in financial planning to produce budgets that guide execution of business for the benefit of the growth in the near future?
Purpose of this module: The training is designed to empower the business owner with simple budgeting steps and necessary tools for the budgeting process.
8. Costing & Pricing methodologies
It is at pricing that you make or lose your money! A good pricing model ensures that all costs are catered for and the ultimate price is suitable for the market. It is important for business leaders to be given the skills to price their products and services in a way that guarantees sustainability of the business enterprise. What are the factors and components of a good pricing strategy?
Purpose of this module: This training is designed to ensure the business makes money from every product or service item sold.
9. Inventory systems and control
Businesses that must hold items in stock run a majaor risk. Inventory risk is a major part of finance management. What stock control and management risks are you exposed to as an entrepreneur and how can you minimize them?
Purpose of this module: This training is designed for those businesses that must keep some stock to operate. It is appreciated that for some, this is inevitable. We however empower you to know what to look out for to minimize the risk
10. Credit control management
Most businesses offer services and products on credit. This is common for services especially where customers would be uncomfortable making 100% payments for their services. From how it is reported, how to interpret it in financial reports to ensuring proper controls are in place, every non-finance leader needs the tools and skills to give the necessary oversight in this area
Purpose of this module: This training is designed to help with the understanding of how to measure, track and monitor credit to minimize negative effects on business
11. Internal controls
controls are necessary in any business to minimize loss of cash, inventory, and fraud among others. There are basic internal controls that can be built into the normal operations of a business to ensure the risks are minimised. Which are the basic internal controls and how do you as a business leader champion them in your business?
Purpose of this module: This training is designed to highlight some of the simple but not obvious internal control red flags with recommendations of how to fix them. We empower the business owner to champion them for better ownership by their teams.
12. Tax and statutory affairs and compliance
the legal business frameworks within the country’s business context continues to tighten tax collection continuously through technology. This has made it more difficult for SMEs to comply with statutory compliance in tax and other deductions. In addition, the Income Tax Act Cap 470 provides many avenues for tax reprieve for businesses. Lack of knowledge of these provisions makes many SMEs suffer tax that they can avoid.
Purpose of this module: This training is designed to highlight to the business owner simple tax advantages that they can legally enjoy as they do business while at the same time helping them avoid unnecessary tax penalties that arise because of lack of knowledge. We make it simple enough so that the business owner is able to hold his accounting people accountable with knowledge.