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FNB Managers Conference brings Colour Accounting to its people

(From left to right) Ian Leyenaar, CEO FNB Namibia, Claus Henrichsen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Yamillah Katjirua, FNB Company Secretary at the workshop.

(From left to right) Ian Leyenaar, CEO FNB Namibia, Claus Henrichsen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Yamillah Katjirua, FNB Company Secretary at the workshop.

At a recent FNB Managers’ Conference the bank decided to have a one day Colour Accounting course  to empower its managers to prepare, read, understand and interpret financial statements.
Says Ian Leyenaar, CEO of FNB Namibia: “Financial literacy is a key focus area in FNB Namibia, which includes our managers. Accounting is often seen as very complicated and difficult by those who have not studied it and FNB Namibia therefore decided to include the one day Colour Accounting workshop in our annual management conference. The intention was to empower the managers by assisting them to read, understand and interpret financial statements through the use of simple tools. When our people are accounting literate, they are in fact business literate to make better and more informed decisions, which in turn has an impact on customer service and ultimately drive profits and shareholder value.”
The main focus areas of the course was for participants to see that financials can be seen differently giving a clear line of sight between their action and results. The course contributed further towards understanding and processing debits, credits, journal entries and seeing their impact on the general ledger and financial statements of the company.
The majority of managers were impressed with Colour Accounting and expressed their gratitude to the bank for the training. Says Vicky Muranda of the Marketing department:
“I now understand the factors that contribute to profit and how to increase revenue and cut costs much better and also now comprehend accounting jargon and grasp the meaning and logic behind words like cash flow, gross profit, net profit liquidity and other key fundamental concepts. We are now in a position to interpret and analyse the financials of a business unit with a focus on exploring and analysing variances and using ratios and key performance metrics to make more informed financial decisions for business units while at the same time being able to prepare budgets and forecasts – the why’s and how’s of intelligent budgeting.”
Julia Engels who presented the course said that the feedback from staff was very positive, and most felt they now have the tools to understand how to optimise profits in their business units and to be of better assistance to their clients.
A few remarks by staff included: I can now assist co-workers with any questions regarding financials: I will now be able to place the financial statements in perspective; should’ve had this course 20 odd years ago; you’ve showed that accounting is actually fun,” she said.

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