UTILITY FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING FOR  NON-FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS

AND UTILITY FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING FOR ATTORNEYS

 

  • LAS VEGAS:  June 4-6, 2024
  • BOSTON:      October 8-10, 2024
  • LAS VEGAS:  October 15-17, 2024

Register Me

Scroll down for Hotel Information

Brochure

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. Joel Berk

CPE CREDIT for CPAs available for all States and CLE CREDIT for lawyers: available in most states

LEARNING OBJECTIVE:

To provide a working understanding of finance and accounting as applied to both the regulated utility and non-regulated companies (competitors, customers and the future utility company).

Upon completion of the seminar, participants will be able to:



  • Understand accrual accounting


  • “Read” an annual report of the company or its customers


  • Calculate key financial ratios


  • See the link between finance and accounting and the strategic plans of the company


  • Understand how a utility makes money now and what needs to be done for the future


  • Analyze whether shareholder value is being created as opposed to net income


  • Do a capital budgeting analysis (engineering economics)



APPROACH:

Lecture and discussion with a note-taking outline provided to each participant. Extensive use of:



  • A non-debit and credit approach


  • Problem solving sessions


  • Homework assignment


  • Actual utility financial statements


  • Interaction with other participants


  • Group case work



OUTLINE OF THE SEMINAR TOPICS

Introduction

————————————————————————

Basic Accounting Concepts
– Balance Sheet
– Income Statement

————————————————————————

Financial Statement Analysis
– Return on Equity
– Total Shareholder Return

————————————————————————

The Utility’s Four Sets of “Books”
– GAAP, Tax, Rates, Managerial
– Cost of Service Regulation
– Rate Base, Operating Expenses, Allowed Return
– Above-the-line versus and Below-the-Line Expenses

————————————————————————

Mock Rate Case
– Advertising
– Take or Pay Contracts

Ethics Considerations

————————————————————————

Modifications to Rate of Return Regulation
– Adjustment Clauses, Trackers, Riders, Deferrals
– Rate Freezes, Decoupling
– Pre-approvals
– Formula Ratemaking

————————————————————————

Present Value Analysis

————————————————————————

Shareholder Value
– Theory
– Income versus Shareholder Value Maximization
– Risk Considerations
– How to Make Decisions

————————————————————————

Accounting for Utility Plant

– Straight Line Depreciation
– Accelerated Depreciation
– Capitalization Versus Expense
– Methods of Capitalizing More or Less
– Which is Better for the Utility

———————————————————————–

Income Taxes
– Temporary Differences
– Deferred Taxes (Normalization)

————————————————————————

Cost of Capital
– Weighted Average Cost of Capital
– Risk Premium Approach
– Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Method

————————————————————————

Capital Project Analysis Review Case
– Cash Flow as affected by Taxes & Rate Regulation
– Which Discount Rate to Use
– Creating Shareholder Value

————————————————————————

Conclusions

 

HOTEL AND CITY INFORMATION

BOSTON 

The Boston Seminar will be at the Omni  Parker House – 60 School Street,  Boston. We have reserved a block of sleeping rooms at the hotel for the nights of October 7-11.

Click link: Omni Parker House for a reservation

LAS VEGAS 

Golden Nugget
129 East Fremont Street
Las Vegas NV 89101

We have reserved a block of rooms at the hotels where the seminars will be held.  Book early. The block of rooms well be held open until a month before the seminar. This is an AAA four diamond hotel but we negotiated a low weekday rate. To get the group rate click on the link below or call (800) 634-3454 and give them the Group Code. You will probably want to make a reservation arriving the day before the seminar.

 

For our June 4-6 Seminar —  Room nights available June 3-7

Click link: Golden Nugget June  or call and give them this Group Code GSFAI01 (the I in this group code is the capital letter I and the 0 is zero)

 

For our Oct 15-17 Seminar —  Room nights Oct 14-18

Click link: Golden Nugget Oct 15-17 or call and give them this Group Code GSFAI02 (the I in this group code is the capital letter I and the 0 is zero)

 

If you are staying at the Golden Nugget hotel, the newer tower is the Rush Tower. In any case, when you check in you should ask for a room away from Fremont Street (which can be noisy at night.)

We will have a Continental Breakfast each morning and Lunch will be provided and we hope you can join us for cocktails after class the first day.

Class begins at 8 AM ends at 4 PM (except last day we end at 3).

Dress is casual but you could bring a sweater or jacket as the temperature in the meeting room may vary.

 

 

 

For a list of organizations who have sent people to our classes, look at our previous participant list.