This summer, I introduced a new course, Financial Accounting for Food Professionals, at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. The class was highly successful and well received. As such, I’ll be offering it again in this fall. The four week course is open to the public, and is designed to give the food professional a deeper understanding of financial statements so that they may make better business decisions.
We will offer two sessions starting the week of September 14th:
Wednesday, 10am – 1pm
and
Thursday, 6pm – 9pm
Click on the links to register for the class. And please forward this to anyone you think may be interested in this class.
Here's the course description:
The food industry experiences razor thin profit margins. Owners and managers can increase their profits by effectively analyzing their financial statements. The income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement are primary sources of information about a restaurant or catering company, and using that information in decision-making is an essential, everyday dimension of running a business.
The objectives of this course are for you to achieve a thorough understanding of the concepts and mechanics that underlie financial statements and to develop the skills needed to analyze and interpret financial statements effectively. Topics include the preparation of the three basic financial statements – income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement – and understanding the fundamental structure that connects these three statements. We will also discuss financing your business and creating financial projections for potential investors and lenders.
Using a variety of financial statements from actual food businesses, you will develop your knowledge of financial statement and ratio analysis to evaluate a restaurant or catering company’s financial performance.
Mastering financial accounting does not require sophisticated mathematical skills, but it does involve the kind of analysis you would bring to a simple solving-for-x algebraic problem or a crossword puzzle. At the same time, it requires the practice and flexibility needed to achieve fluency in a language—the language of business.