Course Description
As a controller, you need to be forward looking, acting as your organization’s headlights. You’re responsible for anticipating financial issues and acting to resolve them before they become bigger problems. And the earlier you can influence a course of action, the more likely that it will be successful. If only it was as simple as it sounds, right?
Keep your finger on the financial pulse of your organization for a more accurate understanding of your organizational well-being.
Successful controllers need both a theoretical understanding and practical skills in advanced management accounting, processes, cost control, and revenue-stream management. In short, you’re responsible for making sure your organization reaches its goals. But no pressure, right?
Don’t worry, now there’s The Controller’s Workshop, an intensive one-day course designed to get you up to speed with all the latest tips, techniques, and best practices used by successful controllers in top organizations. You’ll learn:
How to identify the objectives and responsibility for internal controls
Why communication skills are vital for controllers and how to improve yours
The impact new technologies have on your job
And more!
You know the numbers inside and out, but just knowing your finances isn’t enough anymore.
A successful controller needs to know more than just cash flow and budgeting; you also need to excel in organization behavior, leadership skills, operations management, business cycle economics, and managerial finance. Those are a lot of hats for one person to wear. If you’re not 100% confident that you’re an expert in every area of your work, that you’re completely up to date on the latest strategies and best practices, then you won’t want to miss The Controller’s Workshop.
Agenda
1. An Overview of the Controller’s Job — What Is It in Today’s Environment?
Discover the qualities of the best controllers
Understand the expanded role of the controller that is critical in today’s volatile environment
Effectively communicate with others within the organization
Identify the controller’s role in management
2. Improving Leadership Skills and Day-to-Day Operations
Understanding the role of the controller in the planning cycle and strategic planning
Anticipating and delivering on the expectations of stakeholders
Effectively implementing cash management techniques
Manage and protect assets by establishing, monitoring, and enforcing internal controls
Training nonfinancial people to understand and use financial ratios and trends to improve the financial health of the organization
Determining the value-added activities of a process
3. Forecasting and Budgeting: An Art, Not a Science
Understanding the mysterious art of forecasting
How to use the budget as a guide
Understanding the major phases of budgeting
The most important budgeting decision: are you going to do it from the top down or the bottom up?
Evaluating the various approaches to budgeting
Mastering the operating budget
Forecasting cash and the cash budget
Evaluating and developing the capital budget
4. Documentation and Operations
The importance of written policies and procedures
How to create job descriptions for the department
How to develop a departmental training program
Identify and get rid of documentation that is not needed
Save time by simplifying the work flow
Documenting the important processes and procedures
Avoiding headaches later on by finding and correcting errors early
The best practices in operational accounting
5. How to Develop Internal Control Systems
Identify the objectives and responsibility for internal controls
Why people commit fraud and how to identify potential fraudsters
Understand the various types of fraud
Know how to prevent fraud
Understand what to do when you discover fraud
6. Mastering the Internal Audit Function and the Fast Close
Understanding reporting relationships
Knowing the role of the audit committee
Understanding and managing the objectives and activities of internal audits
Achieving the fast close and understanding the different types of fast close
7. Communication Skills and Time Management for Controllers
How to master the skills of managing up and managing down
Getting upper management to buy in to your ideas
How to communicate with other departments and people within your organization
The most important keys to prioritizing and managing your time
8. Technology Trends and How They Affect the Controller’s Job
Understanding advances in document scanning
How some organizations are dramatically reducing costs through automated processes
What to look for in future technology trends
Comments
Cancelation Policy: If you cannot attend an event, you may send someone else in your place. If that isn’t an option for you, cancellations received up to five working days before the event are refundable, minus a registration service charge ($10 for one-day events; $25 for multiple-day events). After that, cancellations are subject to the entire seminar fee, which you may apply toward a future seminar. Please note that if you don’t cancel and don’t attend, you are still responsible for payment.