Overview:
Product Development, Project Management, Engineer and Marketing teams make key decisions every day that influence strategy, product features, technology direction, and time-to-market. All of these decisions have a major impact on the profitability of new products and the overall success of your firm.
- Can you make a compelling business case, including financials, for new technology of new products?
- Can you make trade-off decision for products and technology using sound financial criteria?
- Are you prepared to participate in the business planning of your company?
Managers and leads must understand how their program, project, and/or product affect short and long-term performance of the firm as measured by standard financial analysis techniques and definitions.
This two-day intensive workshop is specially developed to provide a solid foundation in financial analysis and decision-making, both from the perspective of the company and specific projects.
Financial Skills for Non-Finance People is an interactive workshop format including exercise, case studies, and real world projects to improve participants understanding and application of:
- Financial analysis tools and how to apply them to value new products and programs
- Basic and advanced techniques to make tradeoff and a portfolio decisions for product investments
- Financial techniques to communicate and sell advanced R&D, platform and architecture programs
How You Will Benefit:
By the end of this course, participates will have gained:
- An understating of how development programs impact key numbers valued by executives
- Key financial skills to justify product or technology programs
- A firm grasp of the three major financial reports: Income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows
- How to determine the ROI of platform and advanced R&D projects
- A working knowledge of risk and overall value of your product portfolio
Course Outline:
Day 1
Foundations of Finance
- The Language of Finance – A vocabulary
- Understanding Financial Statements
- The governing equation
- The Big 3 – Income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows
- What analyst’s and CFO’s look for in financial statements
- How R&D investments impact the bottom line
- Understanding P&L Statements
- What really is Revenue?
- How to calculate Cost of Goods Sold
- What really is the expense line?
- How to get to the bottom line
- Forecasting using current P&L statements
- Factors that affect short-term forecasting
Financial Analysis Toolbox
- How do I calculate the lifetime value of a project?
- Using Discounted Cash Flow Analysis
- Calculating the time value of money
- Hurdle rates and discount rates
- ROI, NPV, IRR Profitability Index
- How Assumptions impact Results
- Forecasting product costs, prices, and sales
- Accounting for other variables
- Impact of risk on project and portfolio valuation
- Different kinds of risk
- How to calculate risk into projections
- Case Study: Real world practice…developing NPV and financials
Day 2
Applying Financial Analysis
- How much is my project worth? – Techniques in valuing new programs.
- Cost reduction projects
- Incremental products
- New technologies and pure R&D
- Platform valuation
- Infrastructure and IT projects
- Making project trade-offs
- Understanding and managing risk
- Financial impact of market uncertainties
- Understanding business models
- Advanced modeling techniques
- Real options theory
- Simulation techniques
- Exercise: Looking at the financial performance and impact of specific projects
Putting It All Together
- Dangers to financial analysis
- Doing It – Building your case using financials
- Financials as part of your business case
- Matching corporate objectives to real projects
- How much financial analysis is enough?
- Using real-world decision criteria
- Presenting financials to executives
- What a successful project looks like
- Making your best pitch
- Questions to expect and how to respond
- Case study: Looking at the financial presentations. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Who Should Attend:
Financial skills are critical for anyone who needs to influence decisions for new programs, projects, and/or products, including:
- Product Managers and Marketers who must build a strong case for new products and programs and know how to optimize return on investment.
- Engineering Managers and Leads who must justify the R&D investment in new products and technologies
- Project managers and others in product development who must create and support the business for new products
Cost:
Two-day course (Day 2 of 2) PLEASE RESISTER FOR THIS CLASS THROUGH DAY 1 OF 2 POSTING
Cost: $300 TOTAL per student: includes class, bound presentation, and lunch for both days
Equipment Requirements:
Each student is required to bring a laptop loaded with MS Excel software (98-2003 or 2007)
Instructor Bio: Dorian Simpson, MBA
Dorian Simpson is the Managing Director of the Planning Innovations Group, a leading consultancy that helps companies develop market leading products and services through focused innovation planning and execution. Since entering product development with IBM almost 20 years ago, Dorian has worked with leading innovators such as Motorola, AT&T, and Qwest, VTech, Rovi and many other startups and Fortune 500 companies to develop and execute new, high-potential opportunities.
Dorian has developed and delivers a range of highly acclaimed programs in product innovation leadership, financial skills, and planning strategies to share critical skills and methods. He leverages his practical experience with successful products as well as independent research and education to give leaders the tools to achieve maximum growth potential.
His workshop participants receive proven industry models, real world examples and case studies, along with interactive exercises to ensure participants can use their new skills in competitive markets to lead their companies.
Dorian received a BSEE from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of San Diego. |