Surgent's Project Management for Finance Professionals

Overview

The past few years have shown us the need for numerous projects and the need to manage those projects in a unique way. Project management is an important part of every organization; however, often companies do not differentiate between project management and operations management. Sometimes the finance professional is called upon to serve on a project team, or in other cases is in a position to manage a project within the finance or accounting department. In either case, he or she should be well versed in both the theory and practice of project management. While project management has probably been around since the time of building the pyramids, the modern discipline started to take hold in large organizations in the late ’50s and early ’60s. From there it spread to smaller organizations to the point where almost any-sized organization can benefit from its ideas. This course is designed for the finance professional of the small and medium-sized organization. It is not meant for the experienced project manager of a large organization or the person wanting training for project management certification. In an effort to avoid talking theory without concrete examples, we will often use examples born from projects needed as a result of our experiences with COVID-19.

Highlights

Project management is a way of thinking and managing
Identifying projects, needs, objectives, and deliverables
Project feasibility evaluation
Life cycle of a project
What causes projects to fail
Establishing the project scope and preventing “project creep”
Defining and managing stakeholders
Organizational politics and conflict management
Establishing the detailed schedule
Introduction to project management software

Prerequisites

Experience in financial management of a small or midsize company

Designed For

CFOs, controllers, and finance professionals

Objectives

Understand when and when not to apply project management thinking
Know how to define success in a project
Understand and manage the critical path of a project
Understand the theory of constraints in project management
Know how to both choose and lead people on the project team