Cash, P&L & Balance Sheets - A Guide for Lawyers

Introduction

This practical in-person seminar is designed to cover all the essential foundation information that lawyers need to know about finance.

It will answer the questions that you are most likely to face in your professional work and will include a number of current case studies and examples to ensure that the training for you is as relevant and up-to-date as possible.

What You Will Learn

This course will cover the following:

• Introduction
  • Current state of financial regulation in the UK - Companies Act, Accounting Standards (GAAP) and other key entities - LLP, Charities
  • Key terminology explained
  • Initial case study - some common misconceptions addressed
• Understanding profit and loss
• What is a profit? The different types and why they are important
• Timing - how to allocate transactions to different accounting periods (case study examples)
• Revenue or capital - should a transaction be reported in the profit and loss account at all (examples)
• Exceptional one-off items and whether they should be considered (with examples)
• The balance sheet
• What the balance sheet is for and what it is not for, the main headings explained
• Different types of asset - tangible, intangible and investment
• Reporting working capital
• Liabilities, provisions and contingencies and the problem with 'big bath' accounting (with examples)
• Debt or equity shareholder's funds - how to tell the difference
• Understanding the cash flow statement
• What is 'cash' and what types of cash flow are identified
• The importance of 'free cash flow' and how to find it
• The relationship between cash and profits - (case study)
• Cash and net debt or net funds
• Financial ratios
• Ratios used to analyse operating performance - profit margins and return on capital
• Liquidity and solvency - can the business pay its debts as they fall due?
• Financial risk - the calculation of gearing
• Case study - calculating and analysing ratios for different business types