Diploma in Practical Accounting, Costing and Financial Decision-Making
1Summary
Good financial decisions depend on accounting data that is recorded accurately in the first place, and interpreted correctly afterwards — a gap that stalls the careers of many otherwise capable accounting and finance professionals. This diploma from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy is built to close that gap, walking participants through recording accounting and financial transactions, preparing precise and professional final accounts, and reading financial data to control the organization, manage costs, working capital, and profits.
The program also covers raising and managing finance, bookkeeping, cost accounting, budgeting, investment, and risk management, giving participants the practical information they need to use accounting data effectively when making financial decisions. It is regarded as a “must-have” qualification for professionals aiming to move up into mid-level and senior accounting and finance roles across business, commercial, and public services.
2Objectives and target group
Who should attend?
- Accounting and finance professionals looking to master costing and budgeting terminology used in business.
- Anyone who needs to determine the full costs of outputs for goods and services provided.
How attendees will benefit?
After completion of the course, delegates will understand:
- The finance and accounting jargon used across the field, and traditional techniques alongside recent best practices.
- How to link finance and operations for budgeting purposes and strategy execution.
- How to build a comprehensive performance measurement system.
3Course Content
Module 1: Why Accurate Accounting Information Matters
- The need for full and accurate accounting information, and accounting terms and meanings.
- Functions of accounting: recording and analysing transactions, reports and statements.
- Limitations of financial statements.
Module 2: Capital, Business Finance, and Bookkeeping Principles
- Initial capital and financing businesses: sole proprietors, partnerships, companies.
- Working capital, income and expenditure, cash flow, liquidity, and investment appraisal.
- Principles of bookkeeping, the ledger, and double-entry bookkeeping.
- Books of account (cash book, sales book, purchases book, returns books, journals), the trial balance, manual and computerised accounts, and bank accounts.
Module 3: Preparing and Interpreting Final Accounts
- Financial accounting concepts, goodwill, prepayments, and accruals.
- Trading and manufacturing accounts, and statistics, percentages, and ratios.
- Profit and loss accounts and balance sheets: information, layout, interpretation, and equity.
- Analysis, ratios, calculations, gross and net profit, wealth, and stock turnover.
Module 4: Costing, Planning, and Budgeting
- Purposes, benefits, and limitations of cost accounting, and different costing systems.
- Overheads and allocation, standards, variances, and activity-based costing.
- Business objectives, policy formulation, and financial planning and forecasting.
- Budgets and budget preparation, sub-budgets and the master budget, budgetary control, variances, and inflation.
Module 5: Stock, Credit, and Specialised Accounts
- Stock management and control, stock levels, and stocktaking and valuation.
- Types of credit, credit control, credit limits, creditworthiness, and discounts.
- Partnership accounts and goodwill, departmental accounts, branch accounts, and hire purchase.
Module 6: Interpretation, Pricing, and Auditing
- Working capital management, cash and funds flows, liquidity, and borrowing.
- Accounting ratios, interpretation and analysis, and break-even analysis.
- Pricing policy and factors influencing selling prices.
- Auditing and auditors: duties and activities.
Module 7: Computerised Accounting Systems
- Computers in accounting, and the characteristics of computers and systems.
- Components of accounting systems: hardware, software, and databases.
- Applications and advantages of computerised accounting, and organisation and security of data and management information.