Overview

The ability to understand the financial implications of business decisions is essential for both individual and organizational success. This program gives a comprehensive overview of the financial and accounting concepts that every manager and executive needs to know in order to make better business decisions, and advance your career. Attend this fast-paced and highly-interactive program and you will dramatically improve your financial knowledge and skills. You will learn how to apply financial concepts to enhance strategies while at the same time enhancing your value to the organization.

What’s special about this Certificate Program in Finance and Accounting? It is designed and taught by award-winning GSU professors who make learning finance and accounting easy and fun.

Testimonials from past program participants include:

• "Thank you for finally making accounting and finance interesting to me; I learned a lot!"                     
  -- Kim Blades (National Product Manager)
• "Jim Owers' experience and savvy was a great benefit to keep [the class] exciting."   
  -- Don Meadows (President)                          
• "Ray Dillon is the most engaging instructor I have EVER had; he made a very 'foreign' subject matter make sense to me."  
  -- William G. Blair (Vice President, Account Services)

This program requires little or no previous experience in the fields of accounting and finance. It is designed for non-financial and non-accounting professionals who want to better understand the “language of business” and better communicate with financial professionals within their organization. Upon program completion, you will earn a GSU Robinson Certificate in Finance and Accounting.

Who Should Attend

• Non-financial managers and executives needing to improve financial knowledge and skills
• Non-accounting managers and executives needing to improve accounting knowledge and skills
• Managers and executives from the areas of IT, operations, sales and marketing, project management, business analytics, strategic planning, and general management
• Managers and executives who want to better communicate with accounting and finance professionals

Program Benefits

• Understand major financial, and accounting concepts
• Read financial statements and understand their structure and content
• Analyze, apply and interpret financial statements
• Value common stock and understand how common stock is used in a corporate setting
• Value bonds and understand how bonds are used in a corporate setting
• Compute the time value of money (both present and future values)
• Use the time value of money in business and personal applications
• Understand the budgeting process and use of the balanced scorecard
• Understand capital structure decisions and working capital management
• Assess the strategic implications of financial decisions

Program Faculty

Ray Dillon is Professor Emeritus of Accountancy in the Robinson Business School. He has a Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance and is a CPA in the state of Georgia. At Robinson, Ray has taught in the Ph.D., Executive MBA, MBA, and undergraduate programs, including numerous Robinson executive education courses. In addition, he has also held administrative positions at Robinson and has taught at Texas Tech University and Emory University, earning several awards for his teaching. Named Accounting Educator of the Year in Georgia for 2001, Ray is the author of two books and more than 40 papers published in professional, health care, and academic journals.

Ray has spoken before many professional organizations and has consulted with BellSouth, Scientific-Atlanta, Cingular, Nova Corporation, Worldspan, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Avon Corporation, IBM, Bank of America, Dresser Industries, Crawford and Company, and Equifax, among other companies. He has acted as an expert witness for accounting and finance issues in both federal and state courts and has held professional offices in the Financial Executives Institute, the American Association of Accountants, and the Georgia State Society of CPAs.

Jim Owers is Professor of Finance at Robinson as well as Professor of Finance and Director of the Economics Program in the Harvard University Summer School. He is also affiliated with the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administration (IESA) in Caracas, Venezuela. Since graduating with his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1982, Jim has also served on the faculties of the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and the University of California.
He teaches in undergraduate and graduate programs at the Robinson College of Business, including the Executive and MBA programs. One of the original researchers into the issues associated with the restructuring of firms, he is internationally recognized as an authority on this subject. Jim is the author of numerous articles on restructuring and other financial topics and co-author of Media Economics: Theory and Practice, which draws on his academic and professional experience in the communications and media industries. He also consults extensively in the energy and financial services sectors.

With broad experience in consulting and executive programs, both in the United States and internationally, Jim has conducted programs for such organizations as the American Bankers Association, in addition to general audience seminars, and programs tailored to the specific needs of individual firms, including BellSouth, AT&T, IBM, Lucent Technologies, NationsBank/Bank of America, PDVSA (the National Oil Company of Venezuela), and Technitrol/Pulse. He has extensive experience in managing financial and real estate investments. Prior to his academic career, Jim was an accountant and treasurer in the financial sector.

More Program Testimonials

• "Jim Owers was great! [He] took the time to make sure we understood the materials and kept the class lively. Very well-prepared."
  -- Ature Maicinelli"
• I most enjoyed the ability to explain complex issues so everyone [could] understand."
  -- Dave Frederick
• "Ray Dillon was an excellent presenter [who] used everyday examples in discussion"
  -- Wiley Jackson
• "Great combination of true financial statements and materials."
  -- Patti Boss (Senior Associate, Legal Department)
• "Ray Dillon tailored [the] information and delivery to the level of [the] audience; the material and examples cited were very relevant today."
  -- Craig Apatov (Senior Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer)
• "Ray Dillon responded to advanced inquires and maintained course integrity. [I] greatly enjoyed each minute, including the painful ones."
  -- JocCole Jones (Project Manager)
• "Jim Owers made accounting fun and interesting, which made learning difficult concepts easy to comprehend and retain."
  -- Sandra Davenport Gey
• "Excellent mix of 'real world' examples and 'theory,' and [the program was] very practical and applicable to any business situation."
  -- Michael Rock (Business Analyst)
• "The instructor was patient and explained the information in such a way that all could benefit. The information was very pertinent, especially for a beginner like me."
  -- Vernol Purcell (Regional Accounting Manager)

 

Workshop Details

Regular price: $2,950 Early bird/team price: $2,450 Early bird deadline: Friday, October 12, 2012 Custom client, non-profit and GSU alum/faculty/staff price: $2,250 Length: 5 days When: Monday-Friday November 12-16, 2012 Time: Continental breakfast - 8 a.m. Class: 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Location: Buckhead Center directions » Brochure: download » Register:

Download the program brochure »

Below is an example of the certificate program participants will receive: