Business environmental monitoring gathers internal and external data that could affect a company. Business leaders and financial analysts can examine that data to identify implications for their company and develop strategies for those implications. These strategies often mitigate threats or capture opportunities. Companies that better understand their business environment can anticipate and plan for changes, build more accurate financial projections, and allocate resources more effectively.

This course focuses on Finance's role in environmental analysis. You'll learn the types of data that should be monitored by Finance. The course then explains popular models for analyzing that data.

You'll learn:

  • The steps in the environmental monitoring cycle
  • The basics and uses of common-size analysis in environmental monitoring
  • What to analyze: both internal and external, and from the industry level to the customer level
  • Sources of financial business environment information
  • Models to organize and synthesize environmental information for planning and decision-making

This course is useful for business leaders and financial staff who are involved in any of these processes:

  • Strategic planning
  • Budgeting, financial projects, and financial modeling
  • Identifying best practices and benchmarks
  • Product and customer profitability analysis
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Tax planning
  • Setting owners' distributions or dividends

Course Key Concepts: Business environment, Common-size analysis, SWOT, Strategic planning, Benchmarking, Budgeting.

Learning Objectives
  • Recognize models used in business environmental analysis.
  • Discover and recall how to perform common-size financial analysis.
  • Identify sources of environmental information.
Last updated/reviewed: June 10, 2024
5 Reviews (14 ratings)

Reviews

5
Anonymous Author
A good overview course. Instructor and presentation are easy to understand.

4
Anonymous Author
Really good overview of Business Environmental Monitoring and its purpose.

5
Anonymous Author
This was an informative course that met its stated objectives adequately.

5
Member's Profile
Very interesting topic presented in an easy to understand manner.

3
Anonymous Author
Leaving a review in order to retain access to the course

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Foundational
No advanced preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.
Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
  Introduction to What is Business Environmental Monitoring and Why Do It7:30
  The Environmental Monitoring Cycle13:58
  Common-Size Analysis15:52
  REVIEW QUESTIONS: Common-Size Analysisquiz
DIMENSIONS
  Stakeholders4:06
  Owners8:04
  Customers Products Competitors and Industry8:20
  Other External Factors8:48
  Sources of Information10:10
  REVIEW QUESTIONS: Sources of Informationquiz
MODELS
  SWOT11:46
  PESTLE4:26
  Porter's Five Forces4:58
KEY TAKEAWAYS
  Key Takeaways10:22
  REVIEW QUESTIONS: Key Takeawaysquiz
CONTINUOUS PLAY
  Business Environmental Analysis – Finance's Role1:48:20
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
  Slides: Business Environmental Analysis - Finance's RolePDF
  Business Environmental Analysis – Finance's Role GlossaryPDF
  Strategy SummaryPDF
  Assumptions Monitoring WorksheetXLSX
REVIEW AND TEST
 FINAL EXAMexam