Points of agreement and disagreement

Your responses to three classmates’ postings must be 100-150 words and should be thoughtful, substantial, and polite — not just a “well done” phrase or “I agree.” Consider points of agreement, disagreement, assumptions, and value judgments.

COURTNEY

Respond to Courtney

Coming into this course, I had very little knowledge regarding financial management. I always considered an organizations finances to be solely concerns of the finance department or c-suite executives. However, I have learned the ability to manage budgets within all departments is a key skill for any type of manager, not just accountants and CFOs. One key strategy I have taken away from our coursework is being proactive and diligent with any budgetary changes that may need to be made during the operational management phase of the fiscal year. Constantly overseeing the budget and making small adjustments as necessary instead of making large changes in response to over-developed issues is a much more manageable strategy for managers to embrace. It is easier for a department to consistently adapt to small changes rather than completely have to transform operations due to large budget cuts. I am not currently in a managerial role but hope to be one day and plan to monitor my departments budget as frequently as possible and make sure to include input from all team members in order to have the most comprehensive information to make decisions regarding adjustments. Another strategy that I can actually utilize more immediately is to not focus on solely cashflow or profits, but rather the overall financial picture of the department I work in. Part of my job is to and generate reports for management. They are typically concerned with the profit figure, but I am now able to conceptualize the importance of cashflow as well. I plan to add this to my next report and explain the significance in continuing to utilize cashflow in future analysis to improve accuracy in our reporting.

TROY

Respond to Troy

This course has provided me with a number of financial management skills that are relevant to my position today and the positions I hope to obtain in the future. One of the most important skills I acquired is the ability to . In my current position as a project manager, I do not have a lot of experience in dealing with financial statements. This course has provided me with the knowledge and awareness on how to effectively analyze financial statements. The South Health case study was extremely informative and showed me there are a number of ways to misrepresent the financial health and performance of a company. I am eager to review my companys financial statements at the end of this fiscal year now that I have a better understanding of how they are prepared and what the data really means. Preparing a budget and controlling the budget are other critical financial management skills I learned in this course. Planning and receiving approval on the budget is critical for technology managers, as the budget provides technology managers the resources to achieve their objectives. Technology Managers need to thoroughly vet each request from their staff and be able to communicate why these items are necessary in a clear and direct manner to senior management. Controlling the budget is also critical for technology managers so they need to stay engaged throughout the . Technology managers are responsible for analyzing variances and need to be able to make proactive decisions in order to keep expenses aligned with the approved budget. This class taught me the importance of being able to understand financial statements in order to identify how a company is truly performing.

Kaitlin

Apply What You’ve Learned

As you reflect on the course, describe two or three financial management skills you feel are most relevant to you and identify specific ways in which you anticipate applying them tomorrow or in the future. Be specific.

Upon starting this course, I was excited to apply any knowledge gained from a few years of experience in financial planning and reporting within my current organization. I have been pleasantly surprised to have learned more about true financial management from a leadership perspective through concepts and strategy that would have really benefited my previous role and overall understanding of the technical project team members I worked with. More than anything, the financial management skills I most appreciate are as follows.

1. Effectively being able to read an income statement and balance sheet

Even though I spent time in the finance department, specifically reporting, I was not exposed to this type of reporting output. Government contracting financial operations often looks quite different than just reading these statements, but understanding the different line items, definitions, calculations and metrics are vital in interpreting organizational health and growth opportunity. Had I previously held this knowledge, I wonder what connections I would have been able to make or suggestions I would have had in my role to implement better planning and reporting tools in assistance of goal achievement.

2. Overall budget management best practice and strategy

As I have never had to manage a team or project budget before, this topic was already one of interest to me. Whether on the financial management side or project team member side, I am familiar with how budgets are implemented, communicated, and relatively managed but not from a leadership perspective. Through our lectures and readings on the operations and management component of the financial management life cycle, I understand the significance of consistent reporting, communication, and cooperation between all project or organizational members to meet financial goals. Prior to this, I thought the weight rested on the financial managers shoulders to closely monitor budget discrepancies and report this to the technology manager. Greater collaboration and communication is essential in effective financial management, both functionally and technically.