This 2-day program is designed to help you understand the essentials of finance that you’ll need to communicate your company’s financial story effectively. We cover the big picture - the financial markets architecture, accounting, corporate finance and valuation - all in an accessible way for non-finance specialists and designed specifically for corporation communicators.

Who Should Attend?
Investor relations and corporate communications professionals who are seeking the key financial tools to engage finance professionals ranging from the CFO to the buy- and sell-side and the financial media.

Download course program for Finance Essentials for IR

Outcomes

Learning Outcomes:
• Understand the financial markets context for the role of IR, the role of key players and the regulatory framework
• Improve your financial fluency and develop a comprehensive understanding of corporate finance and accounting concepts
• Understand how financial audiences use your company financials so you can use the numbers to tell your story
• Appreciate the drivers of investment decisions and how to communicate to achieve fair value

What you will learn

The Big Picture
• The financial markets architecture
• Sources of capital
• Understanding investors and what they want
• The role of the sell side
• Debt IR essentials and the role of ratings agencies
• The importance of managing expectations
• Overview of key regulations and governance requirements

Corporate Finance Essentials
• Shareholder value - the shareholders’ perspective
• Shareholder value - the company’s perspective
• Characteristics of debt and equity funding and the impact of leverage
• The capital mix - implications and cost of capital
• Capital allocation decisions - using NPV and IRR and the link with value creation

Accounting Essentials
• The key financial statements and how they fit together - the FinanceTalking board game
• The difference between profits and cash
• Depreciation, amortization and EBITDA
• Goodwill and impairment
• Using GAAP and non-GAAP numbers
• US GAAP and IFRS - the main differences
• Annual Reports & earnings releases - how analysts and journalists use your financial information

Balance Sheets & Funding
• Reviewing the balance sheet (statement of financial position)
• The impact of leverage and how to calculate leverage ratios
• Working capital management
• Communicating balance sheet strength
• The perspective of ratings agencies and other credit analysts

Profitability
• Headline numbers
• Analyzing the income statement and asking questions
• Establishing a trend - how analysts adjust your profit
• Constant currency and other underlying numbers
• Earnings per share and dividends
• Communicating earnings guidance

Cash Flows
• How cash flows differ from profits
• Free cash flow
• Identifying and communicating cash generation
• Cash flow inputs to analysts’ models

Financial Analysis
• How the numbers tell the story
• Building a story using key performance indicators
• How analysts build their models and what key inputs they need
• Measures used by debt investors, analysts and ratings agencies
• Media and analysts conference case studies

How Companies are Valued - Overview
• How listed companies are valued by markets
• The role of analysts in today’s capital markets
• Analyst perspectives, pressures and typical characteristics
• The importance of the peer group

Valuation - Mechanics and How to Influence
• Analyzing sector and company prospects
• Fundamental value - DCF - how it works and what are the sensitivities?
• The link with NPV and IRR
• Valuation using multiples
• Key valuation variables

How to Tell Your Investment Story
• Influencing fundamentals and sentiment
• Key questions you need to be able to answer on strategy
• Targeting the appropriate shareholder base
• KPIs for communicating shareholder value
• Communicating to achieve fair value
• Lessons for IR and corporate communications

Summary & Conclusion

How you will learn

Through engaging, interactive case studies and exercises that guide you from what you know to more advanced finance and accounting

By exercises designed to replicate situations you will encounter, with many drawn from real life examples

Through vigorous discussion and debate that encourages attendees to engage financial language and helps solidify the learning

Via practical applications of content - ensuring that you return to your desk to carry out your duties even more effectively