Course Outline
Introduction
In the world of accounting, data analysis is playing an increasingly important role in driving better decision making for clients. ACCA’s recent report on the future of professional accountants identified that ‘expert use of analytics will enable better and close to real time reporting, more predictive analysis and greater interconnectedness of financial and non-financial performance.’
The analyst can see beyond the past to explore the future world of the client in relation to growth, value, profit and cashflow. Being curious about the numbers can open up immense opportunities for you and your firm to add real value to clients.
Do you encourage your accountants and managers to look beyond the numbers?
What’s this course all about?
This eLearning course is designed to provide accountants, managers and partners with a step-by-step guide to understanding what lies behind the numbers so they can engage with their business clients in a more meaningful way. Client engagement and project management strategies are also discussed in detail. Each module includes clear learning objectives, recorded presentations, workbooks, support materials and assessment tasks.
Who’s it for?
This course is suitable for accountants, managers and partners who want to spend more time thinking beyond the numbers and engage their business clients in deeper and broader discussions about their financial future.
If you’re interested in this course, you might also be interested in Business Analytics for Bookkeepers – CLICK HERE to read more
TO VIEW AND DOWNLOAD THE COURSE BROCHURE, CLICK ‘BROCHURE – DOWNLOAD’ UNDER NAVIGATION OPTIONS TO THE RIGHT. YOU CAN ALSO VIEW THE COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES.
Course Content
This course consists of 8 modules:
1. The role of Business Analyst
- The journey from accountant to analyst and advisor
- Core roles and responsibilities of business analyst
- Where are you now and where do you want to go?
2. How to look beyond the numbers
- Core principles of financial analysis
- Key financial ratios for business health
- Understanding financial patterns and trends
3. Small business financial analysis
- How to identify underlying causes
- Business potential analysis
- Budgeting and forecasting essentials
4. Engaging the business client
- Options for the business health check
- Getting clients across the line
- The first 12 months of an advisory project
5. Key relationship management
- Keys to setting and managing expectations
- Preparing monthly and quarterly reports
- Running effective business meetings
6. Operational systems and tools
- Tools for business analysis and reporting
- How to add value to business reporting
- Principles of effective delegation and leverage
7. How to keep the business relationship alive
- A formal process for regular review and feedback
- Bringing new ideas and concepts into play
- Re-aligning the scope to new circumstances
8. Your professional development action plan
- Review of your personal SMART action list
- Development of a 12-month action plan
- Regular review and follow-up process
Course Structure
- Learners can complete courses at a place that suits them, within and outside work hours
- Each learner will have a dedicated login to give them personal access to their course
- Module material includes online presentations, workbooks, PowerPoint Slides, templates, scripts and articles
- All modules also incorporate formal qualitative assessment tasks that encourage learners to develop practical actions demonstrating understanding of the concepts
- All assessment tasks are scored, with directed feedback to learners on their response
- As the learner progresses, they develop their personal SMART action list to drive change
- Managers are able to see at a glance how their staff are progressing
- All learners have access to course content for 12 months following their enrolment
Learning Process
Our self-paced eLearning courses follow a 4-step process in relation to learning objectives:
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All modules are structured with specific learning objectives and assessment tasks. Learners are expected to demonstrate that they understand learning objectives and can apply concepts through completion of the assessment tasks. A SMART action planning template is used to consolidate specific actions and to ensure that a timeframe for completion is established and followed. Regular review of progress is ensured through commitment to completing the course.
Preview
I am actively working as a Business coach and I found that while I am doing most things that were covered this has been a great reminder for me to increase my natural proactivity in respect of client interaction. I loved the reminder that we can provide a different perspective and we should always feel confident to challenge the client where we feel that they should be looking at the problem with different "eyes'
Valuable course that has a logical structure and easy to follow steps and tools to improve and build on client relationships. By providing such tools that focus on what you need to do to add value to the client's business becomes a win win
Easy to navigate online content, great timing of assessment marking, creation of the SMART action plan and 90 day plan was a good tool to build momentum outside of the course and to focus on various aspects of business advisory that could be overlooked. Excellent break-up into the various bite-sized modules. Overall, a very helpful short course for introductory to business advisory services.
The Business Analyst e-course is a great help for accountants like me. All modules are broad and well-explained. It also enables us to take action and monitor those actions while doing the module which is really good. We are able to apply the modules in real professional set up right away. Thank you!
The course provides a very good opportunity to review advisory projects. With a range of financial and non financial tools, it develops the mind set of a business analyst. I personally found it very interesting and useful!
Excellent course. The assessments and the marking ensure that you are fully engaged! I feel I have learnt a lot; which I will be using in the future. Thank you.
The course is structured in a very logical way, and encourages you to think of how you will implement the service as you progress through it. The resources are extremely helpful and the video lessons are easy to understand. Highly recommend.
The Business Analyst course has been amazing, it allowed me to think beyond the numbers. As we may be aware, the accounting industry is changing with artificial intelligence, so as accountants we need to compete and be able to think beyond numbers to assist the clients. This course has really helped me think analytically rather than just doing numbers but how to interpret them for the clients. This course not only taught the benefits but also any roadblocks and challenges that we may face when trying to implement advisory services to the clients. In conclusion, the course was really great. And five stars for the course.
This course was both interesting and practical. As I was completing the assessment, I was surprised at how I could easily incorporate the learnings into my practice without a massive investment of time / money - as it sometimes the small changes that can still have incredible impact for my clients. There is no need to try to do everything at once. This course encourages you to think about scaling any roll out so you dont need to feel overwhelmed about the task ahead. Well done
I enjoyed the course and think it gave me great insights into what procedures and processes we need to put in place, what we need to consider for ourselves and our clients to ensure that we are providing a valuable and useful service that generates positive income and client satisfaction. It also highlighted areas where I need to improve my own business processes and actions. I found great value in discussing the modules with our other team members who are also undertaking this training."
Enrol Now
Business Analytics for Managers and Partners – From Accountant to Analyst and Advisor
Number of learners:
Please note:After purchasing this course, you will receive a welcome email including an induction guide.
This guide provides instructions on how to enrol and commence the course.
If you are registering on behalf of others, you will receive an email with instructions on how to register each learner/s.
Once registered, each learner will receive an induction guide to their own email address.
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