Financial, business and accounting issues are often at the heart of many legal problems. Conferenz Management Training have created this seminar to offer legal professionals a refreshing perspective and simple solutions for wading through complicated accounting rules, financial terminology and analysis.

This interactive two-day training course will save you hours of research time, combining tutorial sessions, case studies and practical examples.

By the end of this course you will have:

• Grasped a sound understanding of the nature and use of financial statements

• Discovered how common business transactions can be summarised in financial statement form

• Discovered how to recognise the various components of statements of financial performance

• Gained an understanding of the fundamentals of corporate finance

• Mastered how to analyse different valuation techniques

• Learned how to assess a company’s financial position

Attending this seminar will ensure that you grasp the aspects of finance most necessary for business lawyers. Learning these important principles will broaden your skills and greatly enhance the value-added service you bring to your clients.

A comprehensive insight into essential financial information for the legal professional

Every lawyer who works with financial information should be able to understand accounting and auditing principles, know how to interpret financial information and feel confident communicating and working with accountants, financial professionals and with their own clients.

Lawyers constantly have to decipher complex and technical financial principles that they have not been taught and then give opinions, draft contracts and make judgements. Furthermore, recent incidents on corporate fraud have made it all the more necessary for lawyers to be able to grasp critical issues relating to corporate finance.

Have you had new responsibilities added to your role which demand an understanding of financial principles?

Do you feel insecure about making financial business decisions because of a lack of formal training in accounting and finance?

Do you advise clients involved in corporate transactions, buy/sell valuations?

This comprehensive two-day seminar will provide you with the necessary tools, techniques and terminology to give you a clear understanding of the financial issues that your clients have to face in their daily commercial activity. It has been specially designed to help you better understand financial concepts, as well as the fundamentals of corporate finance, so that you will be able to effectively utilise financial information with confidence. By the end of this course you will be better equipped to assess, analyse and understand a company’s financial position.

What you will gain from this seminar

• A sound understanding of techniques for analysing financial statements

• Ability to recognise and understand the various components of statements of financial performance (profit and loss) and cashflow statements

• Ability to demystify the financial terminology used in financial statements

• Practical experience of analysing NZ organisations’ financial statements

• An understanding of the fundamentals of corporate finance

• Discover how to analyse various valuation techniques

• Experience of implementing Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)

• Ability to assess a company’s financial position

Training Methodology:

Our aim is to ensure that you learn from practical examples where possible. This two-day course will use financial statements of New Zealand companies throughout, for use in practical and group exercises. All attendees will be provided with a workbook and a certificate of attendance.

Is this course for you?

This seminar does not assume prior knowledge and starts from fundamental principles. It is relevant to all lawyers/solicitors across all sectors. This seminar will be particularly beneficial to:

• In-house lawyers/legal counsel in corporations

• Lawyers advising on corporate finance deals

• Lawyers involved in all types of loan documentation

• Lawyers advising clients on trade or project finance transactions

• Lawyers involved in any financial service provision, e.g. credit, insolvency,etc.

Would the Enron crisis have escalated as far as it did had the corporate lawyers been better trained in accounting and finance? Understanding the context of financial data, its significance in the marketplace and knowing when a company is, and is not, in trouble will benefit any legal professional who represents businesses of any size.

Day One

Day one will provide an overview of the fundamental principles of accounting. You will also learn how to read and understand financial statements.

Session one: Nature and Purpose of a Statement of Financial Position

• Examining and understanding the terminology used in financial statements

• Structure and content of a Statement of Financial Position: How is it achieved?

• Presentation and practical examples

• Case study examples

Exercise: A review of a Statement of Financial Position of a publicly listed company

Session two: Nature and Purpose of a Statement of Financial Performance

• Examining the terminology used in these statements

• Concepts in Cash vs Accrual Accounting

• Presentation and practical examples

• Case study examples

Exercise: A review of a Statement of Financial Performance of a publicly listed company

Session three: Nature and Purpose of a Statement of Movements in Equity and a Statement Of Cash Flows

• Examining the terminology used in these statements

• Presentation and practical examples

• Case study

Exercise: A review of a Statement of Cash Flows for a publicly listed company

Session four: Statement of Accounting Policies

• Presentation and practical examples

• Group accounts explained

• Understanding the terminology used

• Case study

Exercise: A review of a Statement of Accounting Policies for a publicly listed company

Day Two

The success of all corporate transactions – acquisitions, mergers, divestures, buy-outs – depends upon putting an accurate value on the corporate entity involved. Today’s sessions explain the concepts, principles and techniques of corporate valuation and show participants how they can be applied in practice.

Session one: The Principles of Corporate Finance

• What is corporate finance?

• The concept of shareholder value

• When valuations are necessary: acquisitions share offerings, buy-outs

• Cash vs accounting

• Sources of finance for corporate transactions

• The investment decision and the finance decision

Session two: Financial and Strategic Analysis

• Analysing financial statements and ratio analysis

• Identifying and collating value drivers

• Strategic analysis

• Industry economics

• Competitive analysis

• Business systems analysis

Exercise: Participants will calculate some of the key ratios for a large corporate and discuss the implications for its financial position and value

Session three: Examining the tools available for strategic investment decisions

• Discounted Cash Flows (DCF)

• Calculating Net Present Value (NPV)

• Internal Rates of Return (IRR)

• Payback

• Determining an appropriate discount rate using the cost of debt, cost of equity and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)

Exercise: Participants will prepare a DCF for an investment project and examine the impact of using different discount rates on the return horizon

Session four: Comparison of the main methods for valuing companies

• Earnings based valuation

• Discounted cash flows valuations

• Asset valuations

• Other valuation methods to consider

Exercise: Participants will prepare a valuation of a company using various methods