Strategic Financial Management: Advanced Techniques and Practices (10 Days)

Introduction:

This advanced strategic finance management course delves deeper into the principles of financial management, focusing on enhancing corporate value and maximizing shareholder wealth. Beyond just operating profit, the course emphasizes revenue diversification and effective cost control to improve organizational financial health. Participants will explore crucial financial strategies that are essential for ensuring company survival, growth, and long-term success. The course integrates up-to-date theory with practical experience in financial modeling, tools, and management processes, preparing participants to engage actively in strategic finance management and decision-making in competitive global markets.

Objectives:

At the end of this advanced strategic finance management course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct strategic analysis and develop business-level and corporate-level strategies.
• Critically appraise measures of financial performance.
• Devise strategies for financing and make decisions on optimal capital structures.
• Build financial models for cash flow forecasting, risk management, and investment management.
• Effectively allocate resources towards capital investments.
• Develop strategies for sustained business growth in the medium and long term.

Training Methodology:

• Case Studies
• Simulations
• Financial Modeling Workshops
• Group Discussions
• Scenario Analysis
• Expert Panels
• Hands-On Exercises

Course Outline:

Unit 1: Business and Financial Strategy – The Vital Link:

• The Purpose and Goals of the Firm
• The Objectives and Rational Framework of Competitive Strategy
• The Place of Finance Strategy within the Business in Recent Times
• Techniques for Strategic Analysis and Strategy Formulation
• Creating a Successful Business Model
• Adopting an Effective Performance Management System
• Financial Management: Planning and Budgeting

Unit 2: Financial Performance Control:

• Understanding and Analyzing Financial Statements
• Agency Theory in Business
• Investor Behavior and Stock Market Influences on Share Prices
• Terminologies Associated with Shareholder Value Metrics
• Calculating and Analyzing Cost and Profit
• Evaluating and Increasing Return on Investment
• Cost Management and Competitive Strategy
• Evaluating and Managing Shareholder Wealth

Unit 3: Financing Strategy and Liquidity Management:

• Business Financing Techniques: Equity and Debt Capital
• Financial Gearing: Risks and Effects on Profitability
• Determining the Cost of Capital and Its Repercussions
• Optimal Capital Structure: Theory vs. Practice
• Managing Cash and Liquid Assets
• Designing and Constructing Financial Models in Excel
• Forecasting Cash Flow Requirements
• Forecasting Corporate Trouble or Bankruptcy

Unit 4: Capital Investment and Risk Management Strategy:

• Managing Capital Expenditures
• Implementing DCF Budgeting Tools in Excel
• Objectives Related to Capital Investment Decision Evaluation
• Financial Model Application: Capex Analysis
• Integrated Risk Management Approach
• Tools for Business Risk Assessment and Management
• Managing Financial Risk through Financial Instruments
• Risk Decision Management

Unit 5: Advanced Corporate Governance:

• Objectives and Basic Provisions of Corporate Governance
• Strategies for Business Growth and Innovation
• Understanding Why Successful Companies Fail
• Business Model Disruption and Innovation Killers
• Takeovers and Mergers
• Corporate Restructuring and Reorganization

Unit 6: Analyzing Investment Opportunities:

• Portfolio Theory and Markowitz Model of Risk
• Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Its Practical Applications
• Time Value of Money and Discounted Cash Flow Techniques
• Gordon Growth Dividend Discount Model
• Forecasting Dividend Payments and Their Implications
• Cost of Debt Capital
• Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
• Net Present Value Approach to Investment Appraisal
• Scenario Planning and Payback Methods
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Its Applications
• Potential Problems with Implementation of Real Options

Unit 7: Corporate Financing Decisions:

• Financial Leverage and Capital Structure Theories (Modigliani and Miller)
• Bankruptcy Risk and Optimal Debt Levels
• Clientele Effect and Taxation Impact
• Agent-Principal Problem
• Market for Corporate Control

Unit 8: Financial Analysis of Public Sector Accounts:

• Understanding and Analyzing Cost Behavior
• Cost-Volume-Profit Relationship
• Importance of Studying Financial Statements
• Financial Analyst Toolkit
• Public Sector Financial Ratios and Their Interpretations
• Controlling and Enhancing Expenditure Deficits

Unit 9: Risk Management:

• Protecting Against Exchange Rate Risk Using Hedges
• Hedging Commodity Price Risk Using Options and Futures

Unit 10: Capital Investment Decision-Making:

• Characteristics and Decision-Making Criteria
• Investment Appraisal Methods
• Discounted Cash Flow Method Basics
• Net Present Value and Outsourcing Services Criteria
• PPI and PFI: Objectives and Decision-Making Criteria