28 mins, 2011
Four film clips explain and illustrate key topics in finance using a variety of case study examples.
- Profit & Loss Account
- Balance Sheet
CLIP 1: INTRODUCING ACCOUNTS (7 mins)
What do a company's accounts tell you? Why are they important? This is a simple guide to the profit and loss account (income statement) and balance sheet. Together these documents form the basis for a company's annual report. The balance sheet provides a snapshot of a firm's financial health - but what do we mean by financial health?
CLIP 2: WHAT IS ACCOUNTING? (7 mins)
Working capital is getting tight at Blakeway and Maynard wants to know what's going wrong. One reason: too many customers taking too long to pay up. Should they slow down on paying their suppliers or push their debtors to pay up quicker?
CLIP 3: FORECASTING IN BUSINESS (7 mins)
This clip explains the critical and tricky business of predicting future trends. Examples range from informal forecasting at a small business, to a marketing manager exploring future sales trends using time series analysis.
CLIP 4: BREAKEVEN ANALYSIS (7 mins)
What is breakeven analysis - and why do companies do it? Working out when a product or new store will break even is critical management information. But breakeven analysis isn't easy - and it has its limitations.