Variance Analysis in Finance (incl price/volume/mix)
What you'll learn
- Variance analysis of absolute measures (revenue, cost, gross margin etc.)
- Variance analysis of relative measures (average selling price per 1 kg, average production cost per 1 meter etc.)
- Variance analysis of indicators expressed as % (% of gross profit, % of net earnings etc.)
- Mix analysis (products/customers/SKU/ingredients/lines, etc.) on financial performance
- Variance analysis of variable and fixed costs
- Analysis of energy costs in a manufacturing company
- Labor cost analysis
Requirements
- Basic knowledge of enterprise economy and accounting essentials
Description
Variance analysis is an important part of any profession related to finance. Companies constantly measure their actual results against plans, forecasts, past periods, competitors, etc. Such comparisons inevitably lead to differences and deviations that need to be explained. These deviations are most often related to the elements of the Profit & Loss report (P&L) and Cashflow compared with Plan and Previous year.
At first glance this is a purely technical exercise, however actually variance analysis has a significant impact on the management of the organization and the quality of decisions made. A high-quality variance analysis allows to answer such questions as:
- WHAT happened?
- WHY did that happen?
- HOW does this affect the future?
The last question obviously leads to the need to develop tactical solutions or refine the strategy
Having mastered the skills of variance analysis, a financial specialist will be able to go beyond the technical role of a "calculator", become a business partner in his/her area of responsibility and make a significant contribution to business decision-making
During this course, you will learn how to conduct a variance analysis of:
- absolute values (revenue/cost/gross profit/net profit, etc.)
- relative measures (average price per 1 kg; cost per 1m, etc.)
- measures expressed as a % (% of gross/net profit)
- mix of various kinds (geography, products, customers, SKUs, ingredients of the recipe, etc.)
- total P&L from Revenue to Net earnings, as well as visualize the result using the Waterfall chart
The course is of particular value for employees of companies with a wide range of raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products (manufacturing and retail)
Who this course is for:
- Finance specialists and managers working in manufacturing and trading companies: financial analysts, controllers, business partners, FP&A specialists, accountants
- Students and graduates in the field of finance
Instructor
- 4.5 Instructor Rating
- 73 Reviews
- 381 Students
- 5 Courses
Hello,
I am a finance professional with more than 10 years in financial divisions of large multinationals - Mars, Nestle, Faurecia, Deceuninck
I started as an intern and worked across teams, industries and technologies
Today I am a CFO and share my knowledge and best practices through on-line courses
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• Более 10 лет в финансовых подразделениях крупных западных компаний – Mars, Nestle, Faurecia, Deceuninck. Прошел путь от стажера до финансового директора
• Выпускник Сертифицированного института специалистов по управленческому учёту (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, CIMA), Великобритания
• Кандидат экономических наук
• Автор методического пособия «МЭКОМ: игра и не только. Моделирование экономики и менеджмента»
• Многолетний опыт использования инвестиционных продуктов – депозиты, облигации и акции российских и иностранных эмитентов, драгоценные металлы, инвестиции в бизнесы