Services

The type of consulting, education and training support provided is tailored for each organisation’s specific needs. By way of example, the financial acumen workshop introduces board members, senior management and accountable officers to key financial concepts; the main financial statements and how to analyse and interpret this information to enable informed decision making specifically relating to individual roles and responsibilities.

A customised workshop may consist of three components: 1) introduction to financial information for decision making (i.e. accounting, finance, income statements, balance sheets as well as cash flow) 2) exploration and understanding of specific issues facing the organisation, particularly relating to asset valuation methodologies, and depreciation and 3) special purpose financial reporting issues such as CAPEX, OPEX budgeting and financial forecasting. Specific key learning objectives for the organisation may be to:

• Explain the underpinning accounting principles & assumptions
• Build confidence in reading and interpreting financial information
• Explore the purpose and development of financial reporting
• Examine the relationships between key financial statements (i.e. balance sheets, income statements & cash flow statements)
• Explain how the information contained in financial reports can be analysed and interpreted to enable decision making
• Examine the organisation’s financial statements and analyse & assess financial performance. Consider specific issues such as non-current asset valuations, depreciation and amortisation
• Identify other tools and techniques used to measure and assess financial performance
• Examine the purpose and nature of key financial and non-financial performance indicators
• Examine ‘special purpose’ financial reporting (i.e. budgeting and forecasting) and understanding of the terms CAPEX, OPEX and the role of the accountable officer

To better inform capital investment decision making, and as a component of effective governance, many organisations are revising and improving their project governance and control frameworks. The adopted capital investment framework may also require the preparation (and review) of business cases. Once approved, effective project planning and execution would then follow. The type of consulting, education and training support provided covers all elements of the governance framework from initiation of the idea concept, through to planning, implementation and close out – all aimed at supporting the organisation to achieve successful project outcomes.

The business case and project management workshops are typically designed to focus on developing competencies for preparing and/or reviewing ‘robust’ capital investment decision making (i.e is it ‘prudent’ to proceed and invest in the initiative being considered) and if so, how the organisation chooses to plan and implement the initiative (i.e. ensuring ‘efficiency’ with the spend via effective project management). It is essential that a ‘fit for purpose’ approach is adopted when applying the key business case and project management principles when identifying, planning and delivering an organisation’s projects. The project management workshops would cover the key techniques and tools required to achieve successful outcomes on these projects primarily in each of the areas of stakeholders, scope, time, cost and quality control.

The objectives for the consulting, education and training support provided would be to provide organisations with an opportunity to:

• Review best practice project governance and capital investment decision making frameworks
• Confirm a project’s life-cycle and the importance of front-end planning
• Consider where and why projects fail
• Review the key project management principles
• Purpose of a project plan and template review
• Measuring and reporting project process
• For traditional, ‘linear’ type projects, examine and apply the key project management elements
  • Integration
  • Scope Management
  • Cost Management
  • Quality Management
  • HR Management
  • Communication
  • Risk Management
  • Procurement
  • Stakeholders

The Governance, Strategy & Risk workshops focus on enhancing the levels of awareness and understanding of the key governance principles necessary to ensure that legislative requirements, management initiatives and activities are all aligned. The type of consulting, education and training support provided is geared toward reinforcement of the key underpinning concepts relating to ‘corporate governance’ and generating an improved understanding of what constitutes good corporate governance. The aim being to enhance the level of knowledge application regarding two key governance elements of strategic planning and implementing effective enterprise risk management regimes and the linkage with operational plans, whilst improving overall critical thinking, problem solving and analysis skills.

The objectives for the consulting, education and training support provided would be to provide organisations with an opportunity to:

• Understand Corporate governance principles
• Identify the key governance elements as applied within their own organisational context
• Examine the governance duties and responsibilities of board members and accountable officers
• Understand the term ‘strategy’ and the importance of strategic planning
• Consider organisational planning frameworks and the importance of aligning operational and strategic levels
• Apply commonly used strategic planning and monitoring tools and techniques
• Confirm what enterprise risk management is and why it is important
• Confirm the organisations risk management process and the application at different levels (i.e. strategic, operational, functional, business unit and project levels)

The type of consulting, education and training support provided is tailored for each organisation’s specific needs. By way of example, asset management support provides those asset intensive organisations with an opportunity to examine their current approach to asset management (specifically relating to the requirement of ensuring physical and financial sustainability of key assets deemed essential for service provision).

The workshops have been designed to address not only some key asset management specific issues (particularly long life assets), but also the challenges of finalizing ‘fit for purpose’ strategic asset management plans. This includes integration to the long-term finance plan (and how this substantial work can be leveraged to inform decision making). In addition, the workshops may also consider the alignment with the non-current asset accounting policies adopted within the financial reporting domain, related asset valuation and depreciation methods, the combination of which will enable an organisation to provide an informed response to the legislated financial reporting requirements.

The objectives for the consulting, education and training support provided would be to provide organisations with an opportunity to:

• Consider and align with industry standards in asset management
• Develop and undertake asset management maturity assessments
• Ensure alignment of their asset management framework, policies, strategies, plans, processes and procedures
• Developing and maintain ‘fit for purpose’ asset management and amortisation methods adopted
• Understand the asset valuation, depreciation and amortisation methods adopted
• Linking asset management to financial health and sustainability