Mike Smith

Product Offering to Business

Financial Management

Non-financial managers often feel frustrated because they do not understand the language of business.  Many managers, at one time or another, who do not have a financial background, experience difficulty in coming to grips with the financial aspects of a business problem, or in communicating with financial people like accountants. In addition it is difficult for managers to manage costs if they do not understand exactly what costs are, how they behave and how they have been allocated.

This deficiency will be dealt with under the following three main headings, with the resulting outcomes:

• Financial Performance
  Use of KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators)
  Monitoring of working capital cycle
  Long range financial plans
  Suitable budget setting procedures
  Monitoring and adherence to budgets
  Profitability analysis of major contracts/product lines

• Reporting
  Month end closing process
  Reporting packages
  Timely reporting of accounting information
  Adequate review of accounting information
  Reports not utilized effectively
  Reports not designed effectively

• Managing Resources
  Cost behaviour
  Cost classification
  Cost allocation
  Cost calculations
  Costs and budgets

• Outcomes
  Confidently read and understand financial reports
  Understand the difference between cash and profit
  Become financially literate
  Understand the framework that accountants use to prepare financial statements
  Find out how much your business is worth

Control Environment Review

• Risk Assessment process
  The regularity of reviews of systems to identify risks
  The direction of these reviews
  The methods used to evaluate these areas
  implementation of changes
  The evaluation of the result of the process 

• Control Environment
  Expectations of management and staff
  Communication of these expectations
  A defined organizational structure
  The proper use of this structure
  Evidence of strong teamwork
  Turnover of staff
  The level of skills being utilised
  The level of overtime hours worked
  The level of sick days taken 

• Information and Communication system
  The quality of information processed and transferred
  The adequacy of communication channels
  The timeous dispatch of information 

• Control Activities
  Management procedures to enable them to realize the entity’s objectives
  The communication of these to staff
  The ability to combine operating reports with financial reports
  The supervision of control activities
  The adherence to laws and regulations
  The constant review and revision of procedures implemented for the capture of data and the reports generated from it
  The procedures implemented by the management to control the risk of fraud or mismanagement of the entity’s resources 

• Monitoring
  The regular review of performance against the targets set for the entity
  Constant revision of the objectives
  Constant review of the effectiveness of the controls in place
  Adequate procedures for the highlighting of identified weaknesses or proposed improvements in the controls
  Adequate procedures for following up on those weaknesses

Mentorship Project

In conjunction with the Port Elizabeth Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, I am managing a Mentorship Project, which has as its aim the provision of mentoring services to small and medium businesses. (See Appendix 1)

Mentoring Christians in Business they own

I will be offering the products indicated in the first section, with the addition of spiritual factors which will, I believe, multiply the effectiveness of the people and hence profitability and impact on the economy. (See Appendix 2)