The balance sheet barrier

The aim
To enable managers to appreciate how key financial statements are calculated and what they mean.

About the program
The light-hearted approach of this world-famous video helps take the fear out of financial documents and complex concepts, and although accounts might never become a manager's favorite topic it does at least make them understandable.

Using the device of contrasting the apparent worldliness of a well-educated company director and the business acumen of the streetwise owner of a small factory, we're shown how the whole process of business finance works.

Because the success or failure of her manufacturing company is down to her, she knows the importance of understanding how money goes round the business and how to track and measure it - and she's happy to explain it in everyday language.

Having been previously too embarrassed to admit his lack of knowledge, her grateful pupil learns the difference between key documents and the significance of the balance sheet, profit and loss accounts and cash-flow forecasts.

The benefits
-Assumes no prior knowledge of finance
-Well-presented and structured video that ensures all managers understand how key financial statements are calculated and what they mean
-Imaginative use of graphics to emphasize key points
-Financial jargon is avoided in favor of everyday language

Related training issues:
Project management
Key account management

Information:
A Video Arts production featuring Dawn French and John Cleese. Release date: 1993