BCS Commercial Awareness Training | BCS Training

Call Us

+44 1344 961530

E-Mail Us

info@pentagonit.co.uk

Introduction
Course Details
Course Content
Enquire

A Quick Glance

Accredited by BCS
Learn the Budgeting Process and its intricacies
Evaluate financial cases using the Three Techniques
Access to the Commercial Awareness course-ware and certified tutors
Low Cost of Certification
Certification Recognized by Global Leading Brands

The era of monopolistic organizations is coming to an end while competition is growing. In order to be successful, an organisation needs to collaborate with suppliers, competitors and outsourcing partners. For the businesses to operate successfully new approaches are required to operate through using methods such as restructuring, changing the organisational behaviour, modifying the internal and external boundaries, and deploying performance measuring techniques.

To deal with such problems, business analysts must master their commercial skills to deal with their partners and customers successfully. This course deals with the commercial and organisational knowledge which is expected from professionals undergoing business analysis. Commercial Awareness can be classified into Business Finance and Organisational Behaviour. We at Pentagon Training provide the delegates with a unique opportunity to learn and better their communication skills. This BCS training is covered in a time frame of just 3 days.

Who should take this course

At Pentagon Training, we impart this course to delegates who wish to understand the structure, operation and behaviour of organizations. It is also targeted at those professionals who want to acquire skills to bring about a business change and are involved with the organization as one of the following:

Business Analysts
Program Manager
Project Manager
Solution Architects
Service managers

Prerequisites

The course comes with no prerequisites.

Evaluating A Financial Case Through Three Techniques
Understand what is Costing and Pricing
Cash Flow Forecasting and Budgeting
Financial Accounting Documents and Their Contents
Understand Financial Accounts
Discuss Required Business Performance Ratios
Define Porters Five Forces Framework and Value Chain
Describe Boston Consulting Group’s Matrix

Key Learning Points

Tutor Support

Certificate

Courseware

Course Overview

The course (as shown in the figure) is made up of two parts - Business Finance and Organisational Behaviour. During the schedule of the course – the first part covers Finance for IT Decision Makers and the second covers Business Analysis Techniques and Organisational Behaviour. The Trainers hold a certificate in this course , a two-year training experience or 1 year recognised qualification. The trainer also has to possess a three-year practical experience in the same stream.

Examination:

The candidates are required to sit for the exam after the course. The exam lasts for one hour and is a closed book exam with multiple choice questions. The exam recommends an accredited training from BCS but it is not a requirement. To get certified the candidate must score 65% marks. BCS allows the use of calculators during the exam. No mobile technology will be allowed.

Candidates sitting for an exam must carry identification of some means such as Passport, Driving License, or Student Card. Following the exam, the candidate will be sent an email from BCS asking you to register for your exam. Once registered the candidate can log in and view the exam result from their accounts.

Additional time of 15 minutes is allowed for differently abled candidates or those who have a different native language than the language of the examination.

Course Content

Part 1 – Business Finance

1.Evaluating a Financial Case

Purpose of Building a Financial Case
Techniques used for evaluating a Financial Case
- Payback
  - Calculation
  - Payback and Risk
  - Limitations of Payback
- Discounted Cash Flow /Net Present Value
  - Purpose
  - Calculation
  - The NPV Decision Rule
- Internal Rate of Return
  - How to derive IRR
  - How IRR is used
  - The IRR Decision Rule

2.Budgeting, Costing and Pricing

Budgets and Departmentalised Businesses
- The purpose of budgets
- Reasons for departmentalization
- Cost centres and profit centres
Cash Flow and Cash Management
- Cash flow forecasting
- Use of cash flow in decision making
- Cash flow and profit
Costing and Pricing
- Fixed and Variable costs
- Direct and indirect costs
- Break even and Contribution Analysis

3.Financial Reporting and Analysis

Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet)
- Purpose and Structure
- The nature, purpose and types of Capital
- Current and non-current liabilities
- Current and non-current assets
Income and Expenditure (Income Statement, Profit and Loss Account)
- The importance of Operating Profit
- Revenue (turnover)
- Cost of Sales
- Administrative Expenses
- Profit after Tax
Statement of Cash Flows (Cash Flow Statement)
Ratios (formulae and interpretation)
- Profitability Ratios: Operating Margin and Return on Capital Employed ratios
- Liquidity (Cash Management) Ratios: Current and “Acid Test” ratios
- Gearing (Leverage) Ratio: Debt/Equity Ratio

Part 2 – Organisational Behaviour

1.Market analysis and competitive advantage

Analysing the business domain - Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
Analysing the portfolio - Boston Box
Delivering value - Porter’s Value Chain

2.Organisational behaviour and culture

What is organisational behaviour?
Organisational effectiveness and the Balanced Scorecard
Understanding and analysing culture
- Organisational Cultural Types (Deal and Kennedy; Handy)
- International Cultures (Hofstede)
- The Cultural Web

3.Group formation

Groups and group dynamics
Formal and informal groups
- Groups and group tasks
- Characteristics of formal groups
- Homan’s theory of group formation
- Tuckman and Jensen’s theory of group development
- Characteristics of informal groups
- Social networks

4.Principles of organisational structure

Organisation structuring
- Elements of organisation structure
- The six Structure Levels
- The Leavitt Diamond
Types of jobs
- Work specialisation
- Flat and tall hierarchies
- Span of control
Line, staff and functional relationships
Formalisation of rules and procedures
Centralisation v decentralisation
- Advantages
- Disadvantages

5.Operating models

Organisation structures and their characteristics
- Functional
- Divisional – product or service/ geography/ customer
- Matrix
- Team-based – cross functional/ project
Organisational boundaries
- Boundaryless organisations
- Outsourcing
- Offshoring
- Hollow organisation structures
- Modular organisation structures
- Virtual organisations
- Collaborations and strategic alliances

BCS Certificate in Commercial Awareness Enquiry

Enquire Now

----- OR -------

Reach us at +44 1344 961530 or info@pentagonit.co.uk for more information.

About London

Capital of the most populous city of England, London, is located on River Thames in the south east island of Great Britain. London came into being as Londonium in AD 43 when the Romans invaded it. However, it lasted only for 18 years before being burnt down by Queen Boudica. Londonium, prospered in AD 100 as the capital of the Roman province of Brittania. After the collapse of the Romans in the 5th Century, London was no more a capital city. However, passing through different ages, London had become the largest town of England by the 11th Century. In the modern times, London shot to fame becoming the world's biggest city during 1831 to 1925.

Tourism

London, known to be one of the best tourist spots the worldover, is ranked the most visited city in 2015 with over 65 million visitors. It also ranks among the top places in the world as far as cross-border spending is concerned. The total expenditure is estimated at US$20.23 billion as in 2015. Tourism is one of London's prime industries. It employed around 350,000 full-time workers in 2003, and the city accounts for 54% of all inbound visitor spending in the UK. As of 2016, London is the world top city destination as ranked by TripAdvisor users

In 2015, the top most-visited attractions in UK were all in London. The top 10 most visited attractions were:

Tate Modern
The British Museum
Tower of London
The National Gallery
Southbank Centre
Victoria and Albert Museum (South Kensington)
Natural History Museum (South Kensington)
Science Museum
Somerset House
National Portrait Gallery

The number of hotel rooms which has been growing every year stood at 138,769 in 2015.

Transport

Airports

London Heathrow Airport
Gatwick Airport
Stansted Airport
London City Airport
London Southend Airport

Rail

The London Underground, or the Tube, is the oldest and second longest metro system in the world.
The Docklands Light Railway which opened in 1987 is a local metro system. It makes use of small tram-type vehicles which happen to serve the Docklands, Greenwich and

Education

Primary and Secondary

The majority of primary as well as high schools are controlled by London boroughs. So are the further-education colleges in London. Some are also state-funded. London is also having a number of private schools and colleges.

Tertiary Education

London is known as a centre of higher education teaching and research. According to studies and research, London has the maximum number of higher education institutes in Europe. London was ranked as having the greatest concentration of top class universities in the world for the years 2015-16. London has an international student population of around 110,000 which is deemed to be larger than any other city in the world. Pricewaterhouse Coopers report termed London as the global capital of higher education.