Kennedy Moran Associates LLC

Objective

To develop and enhance the analytical skills of participants in the areas of accounting, corporate finance, capital markets, financial statement analysis & credit metrics, and credit risk management.  At the conclusion of the program, the participants will have an understanding of the techniques and concepts required to evaluate risk including the ability to identify, quantify and mitigate credit risk associated with their clients and markets.

Methodology

While the financial landscape continues to improve since the 2008 financial crisis, strong headwinds still exist across several markets impacted by economic and political uncertainty. In the US, political gridlock in Washington regarding healthcare reform and taxes has cast a shadow on the economy even though equity markets surge to new highs driven by low interest rates.  In Europe, uncertainty created by the UK’s pending exit from the European Market and the impact it may have on the Euro and trade hangs over the market.  In the Middle East, the downward pressure on the price of oil and the impact of it on budgets across the region have many leaders thinking of restructuring their markets and monetizing key assets in world markets through IPOs.  In Asia, where trade is key to their economies, political leaders have been searching for strategies to enhance trade by managing foreign exchange and entering into trade agreements such as the Trans Pacific Partnership.  Added to the challenges in this region is the constant threat posed by North Korea as they launch missiles in an effort to intimidate world powers as well as countries in the region. In addition, the pace of growth is slowing in China as manufacturers move production to other countries and the Chinese government strives to maintain competitive and continue to grow the economy. In Latin America, Venezuela dominates the headlines as the price of oil plummets in world markets.  With the Venezuelan market highly dependent on oil to support the economy, depleted revenues have resulted in food shortages and demonstrations as much of the revenue is diverted to pay debt.

With the above scenario as the setting for the program, we feel that these financial concepts and techniques can most effectively be taught by using exercises and cases to highlight their application in the market.  These exercises and cases will be drawn from actual deals and transactions currently in the market. To facilitate the learning process, a series of mini-seminars will be presented over the final four weeks of the program with the topics and concepts discussed in these seminars incorporated in cases assigned to the participants when feasible. Our goal is to set the credit concepts, risk techniques and financial analytical tools in a framework that is as real and current as possible insuring that the participants’ learning experience prepares them for their job. In conjunction with this, we will open each day with a market update using the Wall Street Journal.