Finance for Strategic Procurement (Fundamentals)

Today’s CEOs and CFOs expect procurement professionals to know how their work supports corporate goals and how to communicate in the language of finance. Finance For Strategic Procurement (Fundamentals) will help you understand the ways that executives measure business performance and will help you apply this knowledge specifically to your procurement work. 

This online course is part of the two-part Finance For Strategic Procurement Series. Part I focuses on understanding financial statements and measuring and communicating a procurement department’s contribution to the organization. Part II focuses on how financial decisions are made and evaluating supplier health. Upon completing this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the standards that apply to financial reporting
• Create, update, and understand financial statements such as the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement
• Apply accounting concepts related to inventory, including the goals sought by senior management and how a procurement department can contribute
• Understand how negotiated discounts and freight charges are accounted for
• Understand the difference between direct and indirect expenses
• Understand how buying or selling on credit terms impact financial statements
• Calculate both straight-line and accelerated depreciation
• Understand the financial implications of buying and maintaining capital assets
• Expertly manage working capital and improve cash flow through smart supply chain management
• Select appropriate payment terms, taking various cash cycles into consideration
• Measure a procurement department’s contribution to the organization’s financial performance, including calculating cost savings and reconciling them with changes in expenses as reported on financial statements
• Apply advanced cost savings reporting concepts, including reporting savings for mid-year deals and contracts where the volume and composition of the agreement changes

This is a self-paced course with no instructor-led forum and you have 60 days from registration to complete all course elements. It should take you approximately 8 hours to review the material and take any quizzes. All readings are provided in the course.

This course has been pre-approved for 8 hours of CE credit.