In today’s highly competitive world, creating value is critical for success. But for this to happen, it is vital that managers understand where to find the information that will allow them to assess whether they are creating value or not, and how their day-to-day decisions impact the creating of value.

By learning how to interpret the three key financial statements - the income statement, the balance sheet and the statement of cash flow - hospitality managers and executives will gain a deeper perspective on what the stakeholders of a company are looking at - or better yet, what they are looking for. Financial statements are essential, but they are only the starting point for successful financial management.

Managers need to interpret them properly to compare their performance with the average performance of similar businesses in the same industry in order to make the best of their resources and to achieve the competitive advantage.

• Lecture-discussion and individual and team exercises
• Do come with a basic calculator and a computer with Excel software
  

Knowledge

• Identify the major implications of financial accounting on financial information
• Explain the contents, sources of data and presentation of the three key financial statements
• Identify the main profitability, liquidity, solvency and investor ratios and their implication on investment decisions
  

Competencies

• Analyse and interpret the three key financial statements
• Analyse the performance of a business at operational and corporate levels
• Perform an investment analysis using cost concepts and value creation measures

Mindset

• Be able to question one’s own talent assessment practices and remain objective in a process of talent identification
  

In today’s highly competitive world, creating value is critical for success. But for this to happen, it is vital that managers understand where to find the information that will allow them to assess whether they are creating value or not, and how their day-to-day decisions impact the creating of value.

By learning how to interpret the three key financial statements - the income statement, the balance sheet and the statement of cash flow - hospitality managers and executives will gain a deeper perspective on what the stakeholders of a company are looking at - or better yet, what they are looking for. Financial statements are essential, but they are only the starting point for successful financial management.

Managers need to interpret them properly to compare their performance with the average performance of similar businesses in the same industry in order to make the best of their resources and to achieve the competitive advantage.