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Strategic and Financial Planning ensures accountability while aligning the entire business with actionable and achievable goals and objectives. This involves setting and committing to new standards of performance with built-in contingencies for all plans. Periodic reviews and links to operational plans help to make the strategy a reality. This intensive program will enable you to learn the many benefits of Strategic and Financial Planning including:

• Improved planning, implementation, and results
• Improved strategic leadership
• Better utilization of core competencies and recognition of next competences needed
• Integration of strategy, finance, and operations
• Realization of sustainable competitive advantage
• Greater understanding and willingness to change
• Stronger commitment to goals and objectives
• In addition this Course provides the skills to build world-class standards into your financial planning, asset management, capital budgeting, risk analysis and evaluation

By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

• Appreciate the concept of strategy making and its benefits
• Understand the role of leadership in strategy making
• Understand the link between involvement and accountability
• Understand your strategic planning process and gain insights into developing implementation plans
• Develop actionable financial plan with controllable milestones
• Understand the pitfalls of strategic planning
• Understand how to apply different planning, forecasting and analysis techniques
• Enhance knowledge of forecasting revenue and costs
• Motivate managers for enhanced performance
• Integrate the organizations strategic planning with capital budgets
• Understand capital budgeting techniques and cash flows
• Interpret capital budgets and performance measurement as communication tools
• Link risk analysis and project evaluation with business process improvement

Professionals with strategic and financial responsibility, Professionals who need to understand strategic implementation and its financial impact, along with other personnel in operations, finance, operations, engineering, planning, procurement and any other area affected by strategic decisions, those whom are held accountable for financial performance

What is Strategic and Financial Planning?

· The role of strategy in business and why it matters

· The ingredients of a good strategy

· Customer analysis and market segmentation

· Effective strategy making processes with proper financial planning

· Tools for understanding industry developments

· The core strategic financial choices for a business

· Who is responsible for strategy making and who should be held accountable?

Integrating Strategic and Financial Planning with Operational Management

· Contrasting management with strategic leadership

· The competencies of strategic leadership

· The top manager as strategist

· Using Scenario analysis and environmental scanning

· Corporate Culture and its effect on strategy and financial planning

· The operational managers role in strategy

Using Objective Evidence for Strategic and Financial Planning

· Analyzing the market and the customers

· Understanding the competition

· Financial analysis: past, present, and future

· Knowing the core strengths and weaknesses of your business

· Identifying your core competitive advantage

· Developing Vision statements that make a difference

· Developing Mission statements that make a difference

· Examining alternative strategies

· Creating the strategic plan

Implementing the Strategic and Financial Plans

· Preparing the ground for change in the business via financial planning

· Communicating the strategy and control points

· Overcoming internal political resistance

· Reviewing and measuring progress with proper variance analysis

· Turnaround and corrective measures

· Managing implementation as a continuous process

Becoming a Leader of Strategic Financial Planning

· Building strategy making and implementation into the role of managers at all levels

· Developing strategic leadership capability

· Creating organizational commitment to the business strategy

· Leading strategy making teams effectively

· Incentive systems

· Balanced Scorecard and other performance management systems

· Realistic action planning

Strategy in Today’s International Environment

· Create a comprehensive strategic analysis of the company, competitors, industry trends and stakeholders goals

· A clear vision of where the business will be in 3-5 years

· A robust strategy to achieve the vision

· A detailed organization design for achieving the strategy

· A change management process for leaders to successfully navigate the business from the current state to the desired future

· An invaluable tool to create and sustain a high-performing business and build a solid leadership team

Forecasting as a Tool for Better Planning

· Introduction

· Qualitative Forecasting Methods

· Quantitative Forecasting Models

· How to Have a Successful Forecasting System

· Computer Software for Forecasting

· Forecasting in Small Businesses and Start-Up Ventures

Asset Management for Fun and Profit

· Service delivery to guide asset practices and decisions

· Asset planning and management are integrated with business planning, budgeting and reporting processes

· Asset management decisions are based on assessment of alternatives, life cycle costs, benefits and risks

· Ownership, control, accountability and reporting requirements are implemented

· Asset management activities are undertaken within an integrated policy framework

Project Analysis and Evaluation

· Using Scenario Analysis to make better decisions

· Sensitivity Analysis to make better decisions

· Three Types of Break-Even Analysis

· Operating Leverage

· Financial Leverage

· Dealing with Capital Rationing

Risk Analysis and Project Evaluation

· Cash Flow versus Discount Rate

· Approaches to Cost of Capital Measurement

· Recommended Framework

· Comparison of Methods

· Conversion of Cash Flows

· Industry Adjustments

· Project Specific Adjustments

· Risk Worksheet

· Conclusions