BUSINESS FINANCE FOR NON FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS In this Uncertain, Volatile, Complex and Ambiguous business world, there is not only a need to understand financial information, but also to be able to read beyond its facts and figures. As companies strive to sustain its business, sound and appropriate decisions need constantly and consistently to be made to that effect. To play the game well, every player needs to know exactly how to score for their companies. By equipping themselves with the appropriate financial know how, intelligence, participants are in better position to manage their businesses’ operation in terms of revenues, costs, profits and cash. They, therefore, are empowered to make more effective and wise business decisions. This workshop will provide basic financial principles and cover generic financial management tools necessary for decision making. Learning is achieved via case studies, brainstorming and stimulation, to reinforce the theory taught. Participants will also undergo a highly interactive exercises and real life situation which will assist them to experience how transactions are affect the financial statements and what are the key drivers that will lead them to succeed. They will also be taught prepare periodic financial statements via exercise. Financial statements • Understand the key components of a financial statements ; • Familiarise with the business Finance & Accounting terms ; • Apprehend the key underlying accounting concepts used in the preparation of financial statements; • Aware the limitations of Financial Statements; • Quick eye-bird view through 9 pointers; Business Analysis • Know how to interpret financial statements ; and • Analyse the business relationship using the appropriate financial ratios; • What financial statements tell us and what they wouldn’t; • Apply Strategic Thinking to Enhance Business Performance Cash Operating Cycle • Understand the cash operating cycle and what affects a company’s cash flow ; • Monitor and Manage the cash operating cycle Costing • Know the different categories of costs which exist and their implications on costing ; • Understand costing concepts, and apply them in making business decisions Profit versus Cash • Understand the difference of the impact of the transaction on profit and cash ; • Be clear why cash is king! Warning Signals • Discover and appreciate what some of the clear warning signals found in financial statements

OFFICIAL CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENT

official announcement Grace to everyone, Pleased to announce that my joint venture with the renown training provider, Quantum Leap is still in existence despite being diagnosed with the big C.. and undergoing treatment for it. For more information on this joint venture, please click on the link below: http://www.quantumleap-seminar.com/?s=James+Oh My grateful thanks and appreciation to Mr. TK Chan for giving me an opportunity to promote my enterprise through this platform. This also signals the start of a long lasting business relationship and I am indeed privileged to have Mr. Chan as one of my collaborators. I am indeed blessed to be able to focus on developing new courses to cater for the needs and demands of potential customers. As such, I am seeking more collaborators to help market these training programs. This is a much needed income as I need to generate income to support my family especially my two kids who are currently pursuing tertiary courses. Grateful if anyone can contact me should there be any interest in my programs. Cheers and look forward to hearing from you, With unconditional love, James Oh

MY HEARTFELT THANKS TO TRANSMILE

My heartfelt thanks to Transmile

Hi everyone,

Heartfelt thanks to Transmile for giving me an opportunity to attend the IATA courses as a reward for my sterling performance in the co where I managed to deliver several milestones. Attached below are the certs I have collected from my overseas courses.

The overseas exposure was awesome as I was not only able to enhance my knowledge and know how, but also gain confidence especially when different viewpoints on a given case study surfaced and we could discuss and deal with it very professionally and amicably.

On one occasion I was given a chance to deliver my viewpoints which contradicted with the viewpoints of another senior finance executive from another overseas airline. Surprisingly my group members gave me a wholehearted support and agreed with my viewpoints. .Hmm!! I may have some hidden potential and talents after all. I began to gain more and more confidence and was not afraid to accept more and more challenges. I was able to tackle any tasks albeit those with differing or controversial ideas. My outlook and perspectives broadened correspondingly.

I believe this is one of the best and healthy practices if one wants to progress. Perhaps our education system should be more holistic and the students should be taught to think out of the box. They should not be spoon fed. This is now reflected in our examinations which focus on high order thinking skills (HOTS) questions. In this way, our society and country can progress further.

My hope and vision for the future are that no one should be denied an education because of poverty or other irrelevant reasons. Education should be accessible to all. This is practised by some overseas universities.

Secondly, I hope as our nation progresses the people’s mind would as be opened to accept views which are different and access things from different perspectives.

Please share your views. I would love to hear them.

With unconditional love,

James Oh

TRANSMILE WAS MAKING THE WRONG SHIFT THAT LED TO ITS DEMISE

Transmile was making the wrong shift that led to its demise.

Happy day, everyone.

Transmile is the company that I served the longest. It offered me a platform where I was initially given a free hand to put into practice the concept of lean finance which I have learnt from one of the previous companies which I have served and had implemented the 3S successfully.

My past experience with the other companies I served helped me to navigate the lean finance indicators to constantly improve the company performance. I was very fortunate to be able to master these skills through fine tuning my approach and know how from time to time.

However, this approach was set aside after I was removed from the financial division. I was tasked by the top management to focus and lead the internal audit and risk management unit. I was able to craft the charter for the unit which was approved by them but was never utilised for reasons best known to themselves. As a result, this unit was unable to function as it lacked support from the management.

Prior to my removal from the finance unit, I had achieved many amazing milestones. When I joined the company, it was given a debenture holder to a bank. I also managed to get another bank not only to take over the loan but also to offer it on clean facilities (without collateral securities) with much better rates and conditions.

To achieve this I have to think outside the box to create feasible term loans from the bankers' perspectives in order that they are comfortable enough to grant us facilities on a clean basis.

On top of that, I also took the initiatives to explore cross-border leasing but it could not proceed further as the loan sum was too small.

Other initiatives I adopted was natural hedging where we matched our foreign income with our payments to minimise our forex exposure risk.

Since we are an aviation company, fuel costs can be quite daunting and measures should be taken to ensure its consumption was used efficiently. Naturally, it will be wiser for us to embark on fuel hedging to lock in our profit especially for our fixed term contracts.

I hope I have provided you some insights into the tasks of a financial controller and certain financial tools. I hope that all these will be useful to you all. At the height of my career we also managed to access the Llyold market directly to obtain unbelievable rates for our fleet. I was initially proud to be one of the pioneers of the company. I had put my heart and soul into turning many adversaries into blessings.

On the operations side, my ongoing implementation of certain practices has helped to improve our efficiency by close monitoring and attention to details. The daily collection, cash flow, daily fuel consumption and loading report were always on my radar system.

I have also introduced and implemented short-term strategies, apart from profit rationale exercise, to address the ASEAN financial crisis and reposition our aircraft globally to achieve sustainable business growth and profitability during my term as financial controller cum internal audit head.

I was ever ready to learn and implement anything that was worthwhile and benefited the company. It was also for my own pride, fulfillment as well as my satisfaction. This was the company I prided myself to be in and I was willing to put in all my foresight and business acumen to make it a reputable and well-established venture.

However, it was not meant to be like that. The top management has a different vision from mine. They were unscrupulous and mismanaged the company which led them to go against the law and some of them are now battling criminal charges.

I am so thankful that I am not one of them who were blinded by greed. Thank God for leading me to the right path.

Hope you find this post interesting and useful. Stay tuned for more stories about my experience.

With unconditional love,

James Oh

MIRA IR AWARD 2017

A very happy day, everyone. 

First, permit me to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for your continued support and guidance. This has motivated me to continue publishing my articles both online and offline. At the time of writing, my articles have been featured in more than 10 magazines and journals.

One of my articles has been selected and published for the consecutive year in Mira's limited copies of investment supplements which will be distributed to all their members at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in conjunction with their IR Award 2017 next month. I am pleased that I have been exclusively invited as a guest for this forthcoming event on 10th Oct 2017.

In this connection, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Miss May Tan for proposing that my articles be included in this booklet.

I would also like to thank the people who have touched my life directly or indirectly. As such, I hope to fulfill my dream of contributing back to the society whose goodwill has benefited me so far.

SEXY FINANCIAL TRAINER - ELEVATION PITCH

Very happy morning 

I am James Oh from "Lift You Up Plt. ! " I am a mobile professional trainer who have great passion in numbers. (put my heart on my heart)

A sexy financial account is like a sexy lady :-

- Huge revenue (put my hand on my chest) 

- small expenses (put my hand on my waist) 

And 

- Big Profit (put my hand on my bump). 

Basically, I help my clients to shape their companies into "sexy" ones!

Please refer me to companies that have such a desire. 

Let me be your Sexy Financial Trainer!

- in 40 seconds

3 DAYS COURSE OUTLINE - LEAN FINANCE

LEAN FINANCE - ENHANCE YOUR FINANCE INTELLIGENCE SKILL AND CAPABILITIES                                                                   

SYNOPSIS

Bring your finance function to the next level of success with lean Finance! Discover how you can provide management with daily performance information needed to support continuous improvement to your organization’s practices and processes. By applying Lean principles, you can provide real-time quantitative insights to the performance of business processes, thus enabling management to take corrective actions and be in control of the processes.

With this, you can reap the benefits that lean finance generates in the form of better quality, shorter lead times as well as the added capabilities gained from personnel, equipment and space.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES:

This programme seeks to enable you to:

  Understand how Lean Finance will lay a Foundation for Success

  Understand the Critical Roles of the Finance Function

  Provide highly competitive competence in your performance,  

 Apply the tools and techniques to provide real time quantitative insight into performance of processes,

  Understand the unprecedented pressure to eliminate waste, boost efficiency and freeing up capacity,

  Eliminating non-value added activities and freeing resources to accelerate lean journey,

  Cultivate a mind-set of continuous improvement

  Do it right the first time and every time

  Use metric to shape behaviour

  Make real improvement by aligning operations to value stream 

COURSE OUTLINE
Day I

Icebreaker

MODULE: 1

Lean Principles and Practices

What are lean principles and practices?

How do they work?

Direct, drive and deliver Value creation through 5Rs

What are 5Rs?

How those 5Rs being employed through Lean Implementation?

MODULE: 2

Financial, Non- Financial Ratios and Lean Performance Indicators

Back to Basics

Why numbers are important?

Numbers are the language of Business Improvement

How to read the story beyond the numbers?

What are the lagging and leading indicators?

Value Stream Concept, approach and uses

What are the “Plain English” Statements?

Metric measurements, how to develop and use them?

MODULE: 3

Holistic Approach

What are the 6Ps?

How to unleash your potentials?

Cause and consequence
How to effectively transformation from Tradition to LEAN?

How to Learn and Grow?

Day II

MODULE: 4

Lean Accounting, Qualitative Aspects and Essential Skill

What is Lean Accounting?
Quality aspects in term of needs, gaps and culture; how to assess
Shape team purpose and productivity; how to
Adopt best practices

Metric measurements shape behaviour: how to

How to apply new strategic tools to create value for the company by looking beyond financial statements
How to effectively employ the new strategic tools and technique? 
Sum up / Q & A / Discussion

MODULE: 5

Qualitative aspects

The following issues will be covered:-

a.     Integrity

b.     Lean thinking

c.     In pursuit of perfection

d.     Culture of empowerment

e.     Conscious to unconscious competencies

f.      Dynamic, enthusiastic, energetic

g.     Innovative, multi- dimensional perspectives

h.     Culture of empowerment

MODULE: 6

Big picture of the organization Success

Use key performance indicators aligned to value creation; how to

Different perspectives and definitions:-

a.     Business acumen,

b.     Enhance Shareholders’ value,

c.     Understand their role in the big picture

d.     In pursuit of Perfection (concept and uses)

End of Day II

Day III

MODULE: 7

Economic and Business Outlook

What need to be done in this Uncertain, Volatile, Complex and Ambiguous World;

Change is certain & how to embrace change mind-set? Discussion

Why and how to focus on new opportunities & priorities

Adopting growth mindset
How to learn, Unlearn and relearn

MODULE: 8

Focus Area, Key opportunities and Priorities

What are the key challenges and opportunities

Mastery, departure and making transformation

Redefine your destination

Lean is a journey per se

How to bring those lessons to your organisation

Lean driver

MODULE: 9

A Plan to Take Home

This session will challenge the participants to think about roadblocks and pitfalls to Lean implementation

Sum Up/ Q & A

Key take-back messages

END OF DAY 3

TO HAVE CLARITY IN MIND

HOW TO HAVE CLARITY IN MIND?

PLEASE LIST DOWN THE COLUMN PROVIDED BELOW.

CRITICAL THINKING SKILL

WHY GAMES IN OUR WORKSHOP

Why we use games in the workshop?

Games are used In Workshops as they are powerful, engaging and entertaining tools for participants to learn the concepts or principles as they creep into the games. They also can be used to stimulate thinking and teach a variety of skills and concepts–even if the game players may not realize it at the time.

During the workshop, participants played a variety of games that ranged from warm-up exercises and ice-breakers to longer interactions that taught in-depth concepts. These games required them to communicate effectively in verbal and nonverbal ways, collaborate with one another in teams to achieve desired results, collectively and individually create new concepts, and adapt quickly to change.

The workshop also provided opportunities for participants to debrief as a group and connect the activities to the learning outcomes. Debriefing these activities is of particular importance, as this is when the main learning occurs. It also enables participants to reference their past experiences and connect them to the activities as well as the course materials.

TOP 10 SOLID BENEFITS OF APPLYING LEAN FINANCE

Top 10 BENEFITS of applying LEAN FINANCE* in your business..

1.    Transform your Financial team to be your strategic business partner by providing real time quantitative insight to shape/ navigate your organization accordingly.

2.    Financial Team in reviewing processes across departments can help reduce waste in the form of over processing, inaccurate and meaningless reports that few can understand or utilize.

3.    Finance function will be integrated with the entire management system ,thus allowing better perspectives  leading to ,more accurate action

4.    Duplicate activities are eliminated and freed capacity can work towards establishing agreed targets for the whole organization by using next Value Stream Mapping tools. Hence, real improvement is achieved by aligning operations to value stream.

5.    Standard plain financial statement in metric form can help everyone be on the same page. Conventional financial statements are complex, difficult to understand.

6.    This holistic approach will nurture  appropriate culture and mindset  and ultimately encourage the pursuit of  perfection

7.    Invisible processes and system will be made visible and displayed publicly through use of appropriate tools and techniques. Thus the environment wills be more transparent and healthy.

8.    Staff morale and productivity will be enhanced through elimination of unnecessary variations, errors and thus freeing up capacity.

9.    Provide highly competitive competence for better performance by empowering staff with commercial sense and innovation to meet clients’ needs.

10.  Lastly, it will make your organization lean and mean by strengthening your financial performance and position. In short, Value, Revenue, Capacity and Cash are enhanced but Waste is reduced. 

LEAN FINANCE PREVIEW ON APR 10, 2017

Dear Everyone,

It is a great pleasure to be invited to give a talk at the Buddhist Business Network for the second time. This has enabled us to play a role in the community work. We are also provide the training programs below and teach entrepreneurship thinking skills to equip you all with the required skills to stay relevant and competitive in this challenging time ahead. 

⌛

How's your financial standing in this extremely challenging economic times? 

💵 

Do you have an effective *financial strategy* to keep your financial situation *LEAN* and mean?  

😊

Join us now to learn the latest and result-proven financial management skills taught only by *Specialist & industrial practitioner who is firm believer of growing strong from inside out 💡*BBN BIZMeet 2Q 2017* 

Special Topic:

*"LEAN FINANCE"- How To Stay Lean in Competitive Times*

*Guest Speaker*

*James Oh* 

Value Creation Specialist, Founder of LiftYouUp Plt

*Date+Time*

10 April 2017 

@6.30pm(dinner)

7.30pm sharp(talk)

*Dinner+Venue*

1st Floor, Tang Pin Restaurant,  24 Jln SS2/24, PJ

Stay tune for more exciting activities.

--

TIMELY COURSE COME INTO RESCUE - LOOKING BEYOND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - BREAKTHROUGH

Dear all,

Keep moving..... tough times never last but tough people do. Turn adversity into opportunity. Focus on our goals and not obstacle. The timely breakthrough course is coming soon and your voice is being heard. We know that you are not alone and we are here to work with you. Sign up this course as it is designed to seek breakthrough by looking beyond your financial statements. 

Contact the event organizer directly and we are looking forward to seeing you then, 

ADD VALUE