SHORT COURSES
1. PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT COURSE (PFMA- THREE DAYS)
COURSE NO. PF04
Effectively performing the functions of budgeting, financial management, asset and risk management, internal control, accounting and reporting specialist in national and provincial treasuries, the offices of chief financial officer in national and provincial departments and in municipalities requires a wide range of skills, knowledge and professional ethics and competences.
This APS course in Public Financial Management provides you with the requisite insights to the implementation and implications of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) of 1999 (as amended) on your role as middle or senior financial manager in the public sector.
The course covers important topics required for sound public financial management to enable accounting officers comply with National Treasury regulations.
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Understand the basic concepts and principles necessary for sound financial management in the public sector
- Comply with the requirements of the Public Financial Management Act
- Comply with the Treasury Regulations
- Apply the principals of financial management in the efficient and effective management of their departments
- Have a clear understanding of the Act and how it can help them assess the financial performance and health of their departments
- Apply the principles of effective reporting.
- Discuss governance and internal controls
- Manage revenue, assets and liabilities
Target Audience
The Course is designed for all Public Sector Junior and Middle Management Accounting officers. Its primary purpose is to improve the finance function and operation efficiency of public officials within the public sector in compliance with the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act and other supporting legislation. The course is also aimed at anyone who requires a working knowledge of the PFMA.
2. MASTERCLASS FOR EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES, PERSONAL ASSISTANTS & OFFICE ADMINISTRATORS (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. BM05
Day in, day out, Executive Secretaries, PA’s and Office Administrators provide high level support for top executives. They work usually with very little supervision, anticipating needs and managing the day to day demands of busy and challenging workloads competently and often with little acknowledgement or encouragement
This interactive and enjoyable training course seeks to develop and stretch the skill-set of EAs and PAs. This training course will help them to understand how to work with different leadership styles and at the same time develop the competence, confidence and mindset to achieve excellence and to recognize their value to their organisations
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Appreciate the value and importance of their role
- Use communication skills to their advantage and to the benefit of their organisation
- Develop effective communication skills, business letters, reports, minutes, run effective meetings, etc.
- Develop self-leadership and interpersonal skills to increase their management potential
- Run effective meetings
- Be more effective at managing their time and their Executive’s time
- Blend with the Executive Team, understand team dynamics and learn how to delegate
- Discuss problem solving and decision-making processes
- Learn to be assertive and not aggressive
- Apply stress management and emotional intelligence strategies in all interactions
3. BEST BUDGETING, FORECASTING AND CONTROL PRACTICES COURSE (THREE DAYS)
COURSE NO. AF04
Companies today operate in an environment of global competition, fluctuating oil prices, and volatile market conditions leading to dramatic changes in exchange rates, revenues and projections.
Effective planning, budgeting, forecasting and cost control skills are thus increasingly important as they help organisations maximise revenues, manage costs and projects, and reduce financial risk, while enabling the management to make better decisions and achieve strategic objectives.
This course aims to equip participants with the knowledge and tools to build world class standards into the planning, budgeting, performance measurement and reporting system of an organisation. Using real life case studies and examples, participants will practice effective planning and forecasting techniques, learn to develop budgets using a variety of tools, and monitor and manage costs in line with organisational goals.
By the end of this APS training course, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate the budgeting process in their organizations and recommend improvements
- Understand the principles behind best practice financial management
- Explain the importance of budgeting within a strategic framework
- Know when and where to use various budgeting approaches such as zero-based budgeting
- Forecast future performance by better analyzing revenue and cost drivers
- Use effective variance reporting to track organizational performance
- Apply several forecasting techniques to better manage uncertainties in budgeting
- Acquire costing and budgeting terminology and techniques
- Prepare operational and capital budgets (use of time value of money-NPV, IRR, etc)
This course is suitable for anyone involved in the budgeting and planning process within their organisation such as management accountants, functional heads of departments, financial planners and analysts, accountants, as well as for those from non-finance backgrounds who have responsibility for managing budgets and delivering against the forecasted figures
4. ACCOUNTING FUNDAMENTALS FOR PROCUREMENT PROFESSIONALS (THREE DAYS)
COURSE NO. AF09
Why Should You Attend:
Procurement Professionals manage many and varied suppliers and are required to assess each of them based on financial information, such as performing financial appraisals using a range of financial performance and efficiency ratios.
Accounting Fundamentals for procurement professionals will assist you to understand the financial processes within the business and understand how financial information is applied from a procurement perspective.
This APS course focuses on understanding financial statements and measuring and communicating a procurement department’s contribution to the organization. This course will provide a working knowledge of accounting and finance, specifically aimed at how to evaluate and understand a given supplier (supplier health) at a point in time, as well as providing a basis to manage risk or make key decisions.
Course Outcomes
By the end of this APS training course, participants 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
- Interpret and analyse financial statements using key ratios
- 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
Target Group
The workshop will benefit procurement officials (who may not have any formal qualifications in finance or accountancy) but who wish to improve the utilisation of financial tools and techniques in operational procurement decision making.
5. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS WORKSHOP: HOW TO UNDERSTAND AND ANALYSE YOUR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. AF06
In today’s business world, understanding the finance and accounting knowledge is no longer an option for Management and Executives. Indeed, organisation will be able to perform better and achieve superior results if all staff in the organisation is able to apply relevant finance and accounting tools in their jobs and functions.
The course is designed to discuss the main features of the financial statements prepared by a business enterprise. This APS course takes you from the first step of understanding the relationships between the different elements of financial statements, through calculating and analyzing the financial ratios to the last step of presenting recommendations.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the meaning and fundamental structure of the financial statements
- Interpret company financials and industry position
- Learn the inter-relationship of the items in the statements
- Learn to apply the key management ratios to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the business operations
- Know how to apply various analytical techniques to examine the performance of the business operation
6. BEST PRACTICES IN REVENUE COLLECTION
COURSE NO. AF11
Why Should You Attend:
Inadequate capacity for revenue collection has been a major contributor to financial underperformance recorded by most organisations. This has been exacerbated by the erratic investment in personnel skills and competencies, as well as tools for revenue management, which are demanded by the changes in technology. The need for a strong and focused legal and regulatory framework; appropriate polices, standards and guidelines; as well as the adoption of best practice measures for effective revenue management are fundamental for success of companies.
This APS Revenue Collection Seminar has been developed as a comprehensive and interactive course focused on adopting the best practices in revenue collection.
Course Objectives:
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Understand the importance of a credit policy in an organisation
- Develop effective credit policies that meet a company’s objectives
- Determine the role of effective Revenue Collection
- The importance of effective billing management processes
- Identify key collection tools, tips and techniques
- Develop effective collection strategies
- Maximise revenue collection team performance
- Assess collection risk
- Make the most of developments in Revenue Collections technology
- Maximise Collector effectiveness
- Develop customer-sensitive collection strategies
- Create action oriented KPI’s (key performance indicators)
Who will benefit from this training course?
This APS Revenue Collection Training seminar is suitable for a wide range of professionals employed in Revenue Collection, but it will be particularly beneficial to:
- Collections Team Leaders & Senior Supervisors
- Accounts Receivable and Credit Team
- Billing Team
- Accountants
- Financial Controllers
7. REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS MANAGEMENT TRAINING (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. BM09
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Explain what is Compensation and benefits?
- Explain the importance of Compensation and benefits to attract and retain the right talent
- Understand the components of Compensation and benefits management
- Strike the right balance between fixed and variable pay for each role/ job
- Compensate fairly for the level of experience, technical expertise, competencies that individuals bring to the table
- Successfully manage to retain the best talent in the competitive market
- Reward desired behaviour for present and future occurrence
- Assess and restrain any discrimination basis gender, diversity, region, and religion
- Effectively plan and flex benefits like dearness allowance, etc., considering the location and other factors
- Devise packages in complying with legal regulations
- Keep surplus/ anticipate the exigencies that might occur or any contingencies
- Develop a clear understanding of reward philosophy and strategy
- Demonstrate how the component parts of reward strategy fit together
- Explore issues surrounding the effective management of the human resource
- Describe why staff are the most expensive resource of the organisation
- Evaluate new practices that might benefit their organization
This course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:
- HR staff who are responsible for the administration of benefits and reward
- Compensation and Benefits specialists who are new to the area or are looking for a refresher course
- More senior HR Staff who are interested in the strategic value of compensation and benefits
- Line Managers and Senior Staff who are responsible for managing and motivating Staff – and need a better understanding of the impact of remuneration
- Others who wish to understand about this important subject
8. FOUNDATION COURSE FOR BANK EXAMINERS/FINANCIAL ANALYSTS (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. CC02
Participants will be introduced to On-Site Examination practices and procedures for banks and other financial institutions. Specific areas to be covered will include identification of significant activities of a bank and Risk Based Supervision with special emphasis on fieldwork.
On completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Apply both onsite and offsite inspection procedures,
- Analyze the financial soundness of banking institutions- establish the cost of liquidity
- Understand the objectives of the Central Banks
- Explain the legal and regulatory framework for banking supervision
- Discuss overview of risk management
- Define Risk Based Supervision (RBS)
- Understand Basel core principles for effective banking supervision
- Have an overview of Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism
- Understand the duties of internal auditors and external auditors
- Discuss corporate governance principles
- Understand banking operations
- Learn how to write reports
9. CASHIERING AND BACK-OFFICE OPERATIONS (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. CC01
This course introduces participants to Cashiers’ Duties in a Banking environment and the key aspects of good cashiering. The role of the cashier in a banking environment is very important. Cashiers are among the front office service providers in a Bank and therefore are the first contact point customers encounter in a Bank. The way Cashiers perform their roles significantly influences the impression customers develop about your Bank.
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- To enhance participants’ skills and knowledge in handling cash and customers
- Demonstrate insight into the nature of the relationship between banks and their customers.
- Understand the role a cashier and responsibilities of a receiving and paying cashier
- Describe the various types of bank accounts
- Explain frauds and forgeries
- Understand stress management
- Discuss personal etiquette and grooming
- Understand balancing the day’s work and tracing differences
- Appreciate the importance of effective communication and effective customer care
- Discuss anti-money laundering practices
- Explain bank security measures and procedures
- Describe back-office operations, records and documentation
Who will benefit from this training course?
This is an introductory course best suited to candidates who are new to the banking industry, and it is a must-attend for all the following:
- Bank Tellers and Clerks
- Junior Management Officers
- Client Relationship Officers
- Customer Service Officers
- Sales and Marketing Staff
- Support Staff especially in the Retail Banking Division
10. UNDERSTANDING AND IMPLEMENTING THE STANDARD CHART OF ACCOUNTS IN MUNICIPALITIES (THREE DAYS)
COURSE NO. PF02
Municipal Standard Chart of Accounts (mSCOA) is a financial-reporting regulatory reform that came into full effect in South Africa on 1 July 2017. This reform represents a business-process-focused project that standardises all municipal accounting practices and reporting across the country.
This 3-day training course takes us through to understand that every municipality and municipal entity has a chart of accounts that lists all accounts used in the general ledger. MSCOA targets municipal operations by enforcing a standardisation of municipal account numbers and descriptions in their charts.
Municipal Standard Chart of Accounts is an issue that affects all municipalities in South Africa. It is not a straight-forward process and, therefore, many municipalities are not on track with implementing it. The deadline is long gone (1 July 2017), and most municipalities are still struggling to be on track.
There are still many practical implementation challenges facing local government which can only be addressed by attending workshops such as this one. This APS course will assist municipalities with the practical processes of implementing MSCOA by assessing where the municipality finds itself in the process and discussing the necessary steps to move in the right direction. Those municipalities that are not on track with MSCOA implementation really cannot afford to miss this workshop
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Understand the composition of the Standard Chart of Accounts (SCOA)
- Identify the Basic Accounting System (BAS) General Ledger and other systems where transactions are initiated
- Understand the payments transaction processing and capture in BAS
- Understand the receipts transaction processing and capture in BAS
- Understand how to record basic accounting transactions
- Discuss the various systems of accounting
Be able to do certain reconciliations
Those entities that need practical guidance on what mSCOA means and how to get on track with implementation, including but not limited to:-
- Municipal Managers
- Executive Mayors
- Strategic Planning & implementation Managers
- Finance personnel /Teams
- Senior Managers
- Middle Managers
- Municipal Counsellors
- HR Managers
- Administration Managers
11. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE FRAUD - DETECTING AND PREVENTING AP FRAUD (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. AF01
This course will guide you through the critical steps in ensuring strong controls for the accounts payable (AP) function and provide practical e for minimizing your organization’s exposure to AP fraudsters.
Participants will learn how to identify the different varieties of AP-related fraud schemes damaging organizations of all kinds, including small businesses and non-profits. You will learn to determine how shrewd fraudsters abuse the AP process to embezzle funds for years before being detected and how to shorten the time before discovery. This training will enable you to quickly recognize the red flags of AP fraud in your operations and financial records and will assist in providing cost-effective anti-fraud controls to protect against the growing army of fraudsters both inside and outside your organizations.
Participants will learn how to
- Conduct a quick and cost-effective Fraud Risk Assessment for client AP operations.
- Implement effective AP fraud detection techniques and build audit practices to detect red flags of AP fraud.
- Implement best-practice Anti-Fraud Control strategies for AP.
- Advise management on fraud risk mitigation through transaction monitoring, technology/information technology tools and low-cost internal controls.
- Recommend better anti-fraud management structure (Board of Directors/Executive Management, Line Management, Compliance, General Counsel, etc.)
12. EXAMINATION OF TAX RETURNS (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. TT03
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Understand Tax Policy, Tax Legislation and Tax Structures
- Have the necessary accounting skills to be able to examine tax returns
- Understand numbers
- Hone negotiation skills to work with taxpayers
- Obtain skills to identify Tax Planning Schemes
- Have industry/sector knowledge necessary to examine tax returns
13.RISK-BASED BANK SUPERVISION AND RISK ASSESSMENT (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. CC08
This course is designed to enhance a participant’s analytical and decision-making skills through lectures and group work that simulates actual bank examination activities. Lectures will cover four primary risk categories: credit, operations, market, and liquidity. Each risk category lecture will focus on the processes and techniques for developing a risk assessment in preparation for creating an examination scope and plan. During the group case study work, participants will use critical thinking skills to review bank’s data, documents, and previous examination work papers and summary findings to identify and prioritize areas of risk and evaluate risk management processes. Participants will develop a written risk assessment that identifies strengths and weaknesses for the functional areas and assess the overall risk of the examined institution. As part of the functional review, participants will identify examination techniques to employ as part of the on-site examination.
The seminar utilizes a single case study throughout the program to demonstrate the risk-focused approach to assessing and examining a bank’s credit, market, liquidity, and operational activities. In addition, the course highlights the core elements of the examination process, such as planning, implementation, and follow-up.
After completing this seminar, the participants will
- Be familiar with the skills and responsibilities regarding risk-focused supervision principles
- Understand processes for identifying and measuring inherent risk for critical risk areas
- Be capable of analyzing appropriate information from bankers to develop a final institutional risk profile and identify material findings of supervisory concern
- Be familiar with examination techniques to review high-risk areas identified through the risk-assessment process
14. VAULT MANAGEMENT & CASH-IN-TRANSIT COURSE (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. CC07
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Understand cash management
- Identify currency security features and anti-counterfeiting deterrents
- Discuss vault management, incident reporting, risk factors and controls
- Discuss operations between the custodians and note examiners
- Understand strong room operations
- Discuss management of stock levels per branch / for the whole bank as it relates to insurance cover
- Identify opening and closing procedures of the vault
- Understand cash distribution and logistics
- Understand security of cash in transit
- Arrangement between Central Bank and service providers (e.g security and transport providers)
- Discuss contemporary issues in cash
Customer care in relation to service to commercial banks
15. INTERNATIONAL TAX AND TRANSFER PRICING (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. TT02
This course explores international corporate taxation and will help delegates to understand the complexities of international tax and adopt best practice approaches to transfer pricing.
The impact of cross-border transactions on revenue collection, and the design of effective tax systems, should be of key importance to tax policy makers and administrators. Structures and prices are not always set fairly, resulting in significant implications for the collection of taxes. At the same time, tax systems and administration can deter the inbound investment that can be critical for economic growth.
Days one and two will focus on the relationship of corporate taxation to investment, with particular attention to the role of international tax treaties. Days three and four will look at mechanisms for collecting tax, with particular attention to the effect of transfer pricing rules that address pricing distortions in transactions within multinationals. The last day will also be spent on looking at case studies- particularly from Africa and discussion of any questions delegates have regarding this very important subject.
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Identify the key direct tax principles that underpin an effective framework for cross-border taxation
- Understand the OECD and UN Model Tax Conventions and develop the knowledge to approach tax treaty issues with confidence
- Explain how transfer pricing is legislated in local tax law and strategies
- Appreciate where mispricing and potential tax revenue leakage may occur
- Understand the tools and techniques undertaken by a tax administration to identify and mitigate against transfer pricing problems
Domestic Tax Officers, Tax Investigation Officers, Customs and Excise Officers, Legal Officers, and other officers in Revenue Authorities. The course is also suitable for finance and tax personnel of multinational enterprises, tax accountants, economists and lawyers, in-house tax managers, tax and transfer pricing advisers and government officials.
16. MASTERCLASS FOR EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES, PERSONAL ASSISTANTS & OFFICE ADMINISTRATORS (FOUR DAYS)
COURSE NO. BM05
Why Should You Attend:
Day in, day out, Executive Secretaries, PA’s and Office Administrators provide high level support for top executives. They work usually with very little supervision, anticipating needs and managing the day to day demands of busy and challenging workloads competently and often with little acknowledgement or encouragement
This interactive and enjoyable training course seeks to develop and stretch the skill-set of EAs and PAs. This training course will help them to understand how to work with different leadership styles and at the same time develop the competence, confidence and mindset to achieve excellence and to recognize their value to their organisations
Course Objectives:
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
- Appreciate the value and importance of their role
- Use communication skills to their advantage and to the benefit of their organisation
- Develop effective communication skills, business letters, reports, minutes, run effective meetings, etc.
- Develop self-leadership and interpersonal skills to increase their management potential
- Run effective meetings
- Be more effective at managing their time and their Executive’s time
- Blend with the Executive Team, understand team dynamics and learn how to delegate
- Discuss problem solving and decision-making processes
- Learn to be assertive and not aggressive
- Apply stress management and emotional intelligence strategies in all interactions
Target Audience
- Executive Secretaries & Personal Assistants (PAs)
- Office Managers and Team Leaders
- Administrative Assistants and Co-coordinators
- Business Support Executives
- Events & Conference co-coordinators
- Project Assistants & Administrators