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Day: April 22, 2024

What are Disadvantages and Advantages of Financial Statement Analysis?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Companies choose different processes to be profitable, safely increasing their productivity. One of the safest ways is the analysis of financial statements; its use makes it easier to respond to possible problems. The advantages of financial statement analysis in a company include the fulfillment of the business plan, such as better communication within the company and increased productivity.

The objectives of financial analysis is to generate financial statements that are true statements of the company’s health. Financial documents and statements must be prepared and published on a yearly, quarterly, biannual, and monthly basis.

What is Financial analysis? 

Financial statement analysis covers a company’s operational budget, assets, expenses, liabilities, earnings, and the net worth of liabilities and assets. Financial analysts, accountants, and planners use these statements to enable decision-making expansions, future planning, fundraising, and market launches among others. However, there are bound to be some disadvantages too. Let us explore them.

Financial Analyst course

Advantages of Financial Statement Analysis 

Pattern Detection and forecasting: The importance of financial analysis lies in its ability to reveal earnings per year, sales, and profits accrued. Though sales figures may vary, financial planners will be in a position to find a correlative pattern over a few years of sales data. Take the example of a company that may reveal a trend of sales increases whenever new products are marketed and released. Sales could drop after, let’s say, a year of the product launch. The advantages of financial statement analysis are huge for companies, as it forecasts a market life of about a year, which is useful as it shows sales patterns for product launches, a sales drop after a year, and a need for new products in a year.

Budget Outline in Real-Time: Decision-making for planning the future, budget estimations, corrective actions required for efficient budgeting, and more such decisions are some of the aspects that add to the importance of financial analysis. One of the advantages of financial statement analysis is that it reveals how much you can spend on marketing or product launches, strategizing for marketing campaigns, future expansions, and requirements for funding. 

Disadvantages of Financial Analysis 

Based on the patterns of the market: A big disadvantage of financial statement analysis and use for making strategic decisions is that it is based on figures and data on current market conditions, which may fluctuate. Past performance is a good indicator and motivator. It cannot, however, guarantee fluctuations and future demands. A cautious approach is needed as part of the objectives of financial analysis for the interpretation of financial ratios and statements to prevent excessive risk-taking based purely on forecasts.

Analysis of At-One-Time basis: As the name suggests, the forecast and analysis are applicable at that time only. It does not reveal or compare the past performance or future forecast at one glance. One will need to exercise caution by generating and reporting continuously rather than on a one-time basis. Such extrapolation of data and financial analysis undertaken frequently is crucial to the company’s health and decision-making abilities.

Why study financial analysis?

Consider getting a finance certification so that you will understand the advantages of financial statement analysis better.

Course skills and requirements

A graduation degree or even a Master’s in Finance goes a long way. Add relevant certifications. Those from a non-financial background can also take these courses, as most offer boot camps to understand what is financial analysis.

Course advantages: The course offers a good grasp of basics, concepts, theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and finance certifications that could help enhance your resume and career.

The Evolution of Data Analytics Over The Years: History and Applications

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

What is Data Analytics?

“Data Analytics” is a crucial instrument for understanding and dealing with dynamic business trends. The role of data analytics is to act as a helping hand in giving clients or businesses personalised data-driven advice. A career in Data Analytics is a great lookout in today’s technologically advancing world because nothing can be accomplished without the use of data.

The evolution of Data Analytics has witnessed adaptation in various forms, gradually through the phases of technological advancement. It has offered multiple advantages to organisations and individuals involved in data analytics. Data Analytics is an ever-expanding discipline.

Become a Data Analyst

The field of data is one of the top-notch areas that is growing in the corporate world. It would be very profitable for individuals to have a career in data science, as technology is scaling every day. A data science course with placement can be a huge game changer when a young professional is trying to understand what is data analytics and looking to start a career in a related discipline.

Data Science Course

History and evolution of Data Analytics

Read on to learn about the evolution of Data Analytics and how the four eras of analytics have grown over the years. 

Relational and non-relational databases 

Edgar F. Codd created relational databases in the 1970s, and they gained significant popularity in the 1980s. SQL queries were very famous at that point in time, and users used to derive data from several databases using RDBMS. Relational databases and SQL are still widely used and accepted, but technologies like MySQL are not that prevalent. 

Relational databases like MySQL were intended to convert unstructured data and are typically highly strict. Soon, the internet had a surge in popularity, and the relational database couldn’t keep up. That is when NoSQL platforms like MongoDB were created to combat the shortcomings of RDBMS. 

Business intelligence

Business Intelligence refers to the process of improving business trends and choices by seeking, aggregating, and evaluating the accumulated data preserved by an organisation. Power BI cannot be underestimated, as it was one of the most innovative and futuristic concepts in the 1990s. 

Power BI is the ability to make decisions that are related to data technologies. Business intelligence was initially in the form of systematic consumer data but later took part in the decision-making process of large businesses.

Data visualisation

One can have a great career in Data Analytics if one understands the deep-rooted concepts of data visualisation. Visualisation means the representation of data in graphical form using representative tools like charts, graphs, diagrams, etc. With the evolution of data analytics in the big data era, the tools and technologies of data visualisation have been crucial for analysing a vast volume of data and making data-driven decisions.

The transition from Florence Nightingale’s diagram of mortality in the Army in the East to Tableau has been historical and remarkable. Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in the field of data visualisation who changed the ways of representing data for good. Such formats of statistical charts and graphs are now used in modern software like Tableau.

Big data

Big data emerged in early 2000 and Roger Magoulus first coined this term. The technology of big data emerged when handling immense amounts of data was not possible with only Power BI tools. Hadoop emerged as a big platform for processing large amounts of data.

The evolution of data analytics and big data in the four eras of analytics has become a very important part of the world of technology. It allowed the pooling of a large amount of data. The open-source platform gave its users the additional advantage of versatility. Many other open-source platforms developed after the success of big data, such as Apache Spark, Apache Cassandra, and so on.

Data Analytics in Cloud

Cloud computing tools and services have become more important as businesses have become more complex over time, allowing firms to stay up-to-date. The evolution of data analytics from traditional hardware to Cloud-based infrastructures is a good example. 

In 1997, a famous professor, Ramnath Chellappa, defined Cloud Computing as a new type of computing paradigm where economic considerations dictate the ways of computing, only focusing on technical constraints. 

Using Cloud and supporting programming technologies like Python, C++, Java, etc. has been most convenient for software professionals. The role of data analytics tools like Cloud is to offer more accessible storage and user facilities than ever before.

Applications of Data Analytics

Understanding the ways in which Data Analytics is used in the daily course of events is important. The fact is that Data Analytics is used in numerous business sectors. Some of the major applications of Data Analytics in multiple business sectors are enumerated as follows:

Manufacturing: Today, the manufacturing sector uses Data Analytics in its everyday operations. Data Analytics helps with supply chain management and solves complex supply chain problems. It also helps in resolving problems of labour shortages and looking out for any equipment breakdown.

Retail: It is mostly focused on tracking and understanding the buying patterns of customers. Data Analytics helps in analysing customer habits and tracking their patterns so that businesses can boost their sales by launching new products as per the taste and preferences of the customers.

Healthcare: by analysing the types of diseases, pharmaceutical drugs are created. The evolution of Data Analytics has helped to create novel medications and life-saving drugs for the treatment of patients. It results in better diagnosis and treatment of the patients.

Logistics: The main application of data analytics in logistics is to develop new business models. The industry is dynamic and requires changing models and techniques for effective results.

Education: The makers of the curriculum use data analytics to see the past results of the curriculum and the progress in the recent one. It allows policymakers to improve the learning process and inculcate essential skills in students that were missing earlier.

Banking: Banking is a complex process and requires the constant keeping of records. With the help of Data Analytics and its storage facility, it can be easily identified who the defaulters are in the banking system. It can help to better identify frauds and defaulters who have not paid the money they owe to the bank yet.

Conclusion

The evolution of Data Analytics has led to the rise of active fields in research and development today. Organisations are making a lot of investments in this area. If you want to learn data analytics and want to have a successful career, you can consider signing up for the Postgraduate Program in Data Science and Analytics at Imarticus. 

A Data Analytics course and certification can always act as additional support other than your academic degree. It can showcase you as a more skilled person when compared to your contemporaries. 

Companies must be well-versed in data analytics, including its various forms and applications, in order to fully benefit from these technologies. Some of the popular Data Analytics tools like, Python, Tableau, Qlik Sense, etc. have been vastly used by organisations in recent times.

The 5 Essential Elements of Supply Chains

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

It is not enough to manufacture a good product in today’s world. Organisations must understand why is supply chain management important and leverage the elements of supply chain management to stay relevant in the industry. Present-day businesses mint profit by increasing the efficiency of their supply chain systems.

What is Supply Chain Management?

A supply chain system is a network of activities that starts with sourcing the right vendors with calculated inventory management and routes through different production processes. It finally culminates with delivering the product on time to its end customer through a series of distribution networks. 

The whole cluster of activities is controlled through automation. If you want to leverage the perks of a lucrative future, you can seek a career in supply chain management (SCM).

Why is Supply Chain Management Important?

The benefits of supply chain management are multifold. Some of the key benefits are listed below:

  • The main elements of supply chain management is pivoted around data-based planning. The model is flexible and can successfully accommodate sudden changes in business parameters.
  • The supply chain network works on time-tested historical data. Thus, a big pool of information helps the system work effectively.
  • Inventory management is simplified through the modern supply chain system, that automatically generates reorder levels or excess inventory alerts. Thus, the cost of inventory can be controlled.
  • Supply chain management has revolutionised the logistics and transportation system and the way cargo is handled. Quick return of faulty or damaged products is another modern-day feature that has added reliability to the business.
  • The supply chain system enables organisations to manage risk. Its advanced alert system helps handle and mitigate business risks effectively.
  • A factor which makes a difference is the delivery time. The supply chain system has greatly improved the response time to end customers by a huge margin compared to earlier conventional systems.
  • The predictive analysis model is another key benefit of using a supply chain system. This model helps the organisation choose the right business with innovative products and discard the age-old, obsolete ones.
  • The supply chain system provides transparent communication to all stakeholders, quickening the process and making it error-free.
  • One of the key elements of Supply chain management systems is increasing the productivity of organisations.
  • SCM deals with predictive analysis models for new or innovative products and enables the organisation to decide on the same. 

 

Five Essential Elements of Supply Chain Management

Five Essential Elements of Supply Chain Management

Though there are quite a few elements of supply chain management, we shall discuss the five most important ones here. They are as follows: 

Integration

Seamless collaboration and communication between different supply chain stakeholders, like vendors, distributors, etc., and within the primary manufacturer’s different functional wings and departments is crucial. This error-free and transparent process is known as integration. 

Operations

The most important functionality of a supply chain is operations. The operation provides accurate information regarding an organisation’s inventory position, backlog orders, real-time production schedules, and production and distribution forecasts.

Operations help the business detect upcoming probable challenges or risks. The system works towards mitigating the same to make the process smoother and increase profit.

Operational efficiency is one of the major elements of supply chain management, as it improves the profitability of the organisation. It makes the supervisor’s work easier by helping him determine and optimise resources for each production sequence. 

Purchasing  

Procurement of raw materials, finished components, and specialised services is an integral part of production. Procurement also determines what goods, equipment, and services must be available internally for the organisation. These constitute the purchasing function of the supply chain system.

This function is important because sourcing good raw materials ensures better-quality products. This function utilises the demand forecast capability of the supply chain to optimise procurement and save enormously in inventory, thereby saving on cost. 

Distribution 

One of the other important elements of supply chain management system is distribution. The ordered products or services should reach end customers within a committed time frame. Successful accomplishment in this function brings satisfaction to the client. Return of wrong or damaged products and re-delivery of the correct ones are also functions of the distribution system. 

Logistics plays an important role in this function. There is always room to optimise and improve upon the existing logistics network. An efficient distribution system brings in customer delight. 

Innovation

With all the above elements of supply chain management in place, proper planning and innovation are the game changers for an organisation. Innovation may be applied to any or all four elements: integration, operations, purchasing, and distribution. The sole purpose is to bring down the overall cost and cycle time, thereby generating a profit and creating a happy customer base. 

Career in Supply Chain Management

Today’s market is highly competitive. The future of supply chain management is lucrative, and companies prefer to hire qualified supply chain managers, who play pivotal roles in moving goods while keeping environmental impacts in mind. With the introduction of artificial intelligence and blockchain, a career in supply chain management has become extremely lucrative for today’s young professionals, both in terms of compensation and excitement.

After completing an undergraduate degree, an aspirant must complete a supply chain management course from a reputed institute. To understand what is supply chain management in detail, the core subjects should include Financial Accounting, Marketing Management, Financial Accounting, Organisational Behaviour, Economics, Statistics, Corporate Communication, Cost Accounting and Human Resource Management. The elective or specialisation subjects are Principles of SCM and Logistics, International Trade, Warehouse Management, Inventory Management, Operations, Product and Brand Management, etc.

Any candidate with an undergraduate degree can enrol in the supply chain course. However, a Commerce graduate with a tech-savvy attitude or a software engineer with an affinity for business, finance, and commerce will be prospective recruiters’ preferred candidate.

After completing a supply chain management course, a prospective candidate may apply for professional opportunities in the domestic or overseas port sectors and dockyards. They also have vast scope in import-export companies and SCM logistics or warehousing companies. 

Conclusion 

This field will enable an aspirant to choose a modern and tech-savvy career in the present-day world. Logistics, operations, procurement, warehousing, logistics, and distribution network management are some functional elements of supply chain management system an aspirant may choose from. The career is challenging but highly rewarding, as well.  

The Advanced Certificate In Supply Chain Management And Analytics at Imarticus, offered in collaboration with CEC and IIT Roorkee, will give prospective candidates a perfect career start in the future of supply chain management. The duration of this supply chain management course is 6 months.