PF.Eng

Practical Finance for Engineers

Overview

Practical Finance for Engineers (PF.Eng) is a 1-day course designed to improve the ability of engineers to draw accurate commercial conclusions from their cost analyses by teaching basic modeling techniques and financial valuation. The subjects covered include organizing input data, handling of construction schedules and price escalation, setting up monthly and annual cost schedules, and applying discount factors to assess cost and performance trade-offs.

Please note the course fees below exclude VAT, which will be added to all invoices.


Please contact courses@fi-mech.com for dates and locations

Target audience

Associate engineers with a couple of year’s experience who are required to deliver cost analyses and assist clients with the selection of engineering options.

Teaching approach

The workshops are highly practical. Attendees use a spreadsheet to calculate quantities, costs and the subsequent cash flow when it occurs.

Agenda

During the morning session, attendees will learn how to prepare the Excel environment; organize input data; calculate costs using monetary and non-monetary variables; apply escalation factors; construct a payment schedule and use timing flags, and create a cash flow sheet of construction costs.

In the afternoon session, attendees will model the effective impact of capital and operating costs by using discount factors to calculate a single present value (PV). They will also analyze the effects on value of altering construction schedules and look at cost and performance alternatives using basic sensitivity factors.

Instructor

John Richter is the instructor for this course. John was formerly a principal instructor for F1F9, a specialist financial modeling company that now licenses its training courses exclusively to Financial Mechanics. He spent 5 years working for the engineering and construction firm, Bechtel, where he was responsible for evaluating the economic impact and financial returns associated with numerous large-scale infrastructure projects.

In partnership with his former colleague at F1F9, John developed the principles of FAST modeling; an approach to financial modeling adhered to by leading financial institutions and other organizations around the world. He has a BSc in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (1985) from Princeton University and an MBA (1992) from Harvard Business School.

Requirements

Basic knowledge of MS Excel spreadsheets is required. Attendees will be shown in class further techniques for using the keyboard and MS Excel to allow them to construct a simple and accurate model quickly.