Duration of Course: Three-day Programme
The Financial Crises Advisory Group, a body set up to examine the causes of the recent credit crises, has recognised that there are fundamental weaknesses in the accounting standards that must be corrected urgently. Already some changes have taken place, IFRS 9, a recently devised accounting standards now deals with financial instruments on a more consistent basis. There are new rules for impairment and fair value accounting. The area of hedging will also be updated shortly. Accountants working with major banks and financial institutions need to stay abreast of these changes since the necessary overhaul of the standards will require huge resource planning in advance. Even despite changes in the accounting standards, accountants and auditors need to be better prepared and equipped to understand the complexities of today's banking environment.
The course level is intermediate and aimed at people who use company accounts to gain a grasp of what they mean and how they relate to business operations. Emphasis is placed on the international accounting standards and will include topics on leases, derivatives, fixed assets and inventories. The course is suitable for anyone with a good knowledge of accounting but needs to become familiar with the specifics of the International Accounting Standards. A comparison will be made between IAS and the American equivalent (The Financial Accounting Standards Board).
Although the course is for three days, we will attempt to make it as interactive as possible. Plenty of use will be made of practical examples and delegates will have an opportunity to analyse a set of published accounts. Topics covered includes, the background and structure of accounts, analysing group accounts, interpretation of company accounts etc.
Cormac Butler is currently an active equity and options trader and a former consultant with Lombard Risk Systems London and has also worked with Peat Marwick and Coopers & Lybrand. He has considerable international experience as a training consultant in Derivative Accounting, Corporate Finance and Derivative Mathematics, working with major banks including Salomon Brothers, Robert Fleming and Banque Paribas. He has recently conducted in-house courses for Salomons, Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter (London), PriceWaterhouseCoopers (Holland), Investec (South Africa) and ABB Switzerland. In addition, he has worked for IIR and Euromoney in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, America and Saudi Arabia. Cormac graduated from the University of Limerick, Ireland with a degree in Finance He has recently published Mastering Value at Risk (Financial Times Pitman) which is currently on the best sellers list (for Risk Management books) with Amazon.com, Gloriamundi.org and Financial World Bookshop (London).