Your Course of Study
In Strategic Financial Analysis for Business Evaluation, you will progress through a comprehensive four-part curriculum focused on sharpening your analytical and decision-making skills. This intensive HBS Executive Education learning experience incorporates lectures, case studies, group discussions, and specialized tools to demystify the process of understanding a company's economics. You will master concepts and skills that you can apply in any situation requiring extensive business analysis.
Specific topics include:
Business Strategy Analysis
To evaluate a company's current financial position and its likely future performance, you must first understand how the company approaches its market. Through this leadership training program, you will learn how to:
- Identify a company's positioning in relation to competitors
- Explore the key success factors and potential risks that will affect business performance
- Determine how well those success factors and risks are being managed
Accounting Analysis
A company's accounting methods can elucidate or obscure its business economics and strategy. The program is designed to help you:
- Judge how effectively a firm's financial statements reflect its business
- Learn how to adjust financial statements as needed
Financial Analysis
Looking at examples from diverse companies, you will learn how to leverage analytical tools to:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of a company's strategy
- Make sound financial forecasts by examining the ratios and cash-flow measures of a company's operating, financing, and investing performance
Prospective Analysis
Knowing how a company will perform in the future is key to important business decisions. The program will help you:
- Forecast a company's future performance
- Assemble data into a valuation of the company
In addition, you will be given a copy of Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements: Text and Cases, the award-winning book coauthored by the program faculty cochairs, Paul M. Healy and Krishna G. Palepu (with V. Bernard). You will also receive a software tool that guides you through the evaluations covered in the program.