Accounting and Finance > Budgeting & Forecasting In The Artificial Intelligence Era - Empowering Energy Finance Professionals

About this training course

This dynamic 2-day training course is tailored for finance and accounting professionals in the energy sector. The participants will gain advanced Excel and Power BI skills, as well as the knowledge and skill to apply the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to their processes.  

Day 1 of the course, delves into cutting-edge Excel techniques, including dynamic arrays, the LET function, LAMBDA functions, and integrating ChatGPT for automation. Day 2, explores the application of AI in financial processes, including budgeting and forecasting.

The participants will understand how ChatGPT works, how to leverage AI for enhanced budgeting and forecasting, and how to address confidentiality concerns.  The course showcases AI’s role in Power BI for analysis and reporting, as well as how to integrate Excel budget models into Power BI.

The course concludes with a discussion and demonstration of corporate budgeting and forecasting systems together with how to integrate these with Power BI. By the end of the course, the participants will be poised to transform their energy industry financial practices with AI-powered insights and mastery of advanced financial tools.

Upon completion of this course, the participants will be equipped with:

  • Excel Proficiency: Master advanced Excel techniques, including dynamic arrays, LET, and LAMBDA functions, to build complex financial models and reports efficiently.
  • AI Integration: learn how to seamlessly integrate AI, such as ChatGPT, into their financial workflows to automate tasks, improve budget models, and streamline financial processes.
  • AI-Enhanced Financial Analysis: Gain the ability to leverage AI for enhanced financial analysis, enabling them to make more accurate predictions and informed decisions in budgeting and forecasting.
  • Power BI for Financial Reporting: Become proficient in Power BI, discovering how to use built-in AI features and custom visuals to create insightful financial reports and dashboards.
  • Corporate Budgeting Systems: Learn about how & when to use corporate budgeting systems. They will gain an understanding of the capabilities of these systems and see the kinds of integration and reporting that’s possible using these and tools such as Power BI.

This course is intended for Finance Executives, Accountants and Analysts in the Energy Industry Prerequisites:

  • Intermediate understanding of Excel, including tables, XLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, and Power Query.
  • A free or paid account with ChatGPT.
  • Recent versions of Excel (e.g., 365) and Power BI Desktop (latest version) installed.
  • The ability to run VBA macros in Excel would be useful, though not essential
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced

This course includes a mix of theoretical understanding, hands-on practical exercises, and real-world case studies to ensure that the participants are well-equipped to apply advanced Excel and Power BI techniques in the energy industry’s financial domain. The participants will have the opportunity to work with ChatGPT for automation and enhancement of their budgeting processes

Your Expert Course Instructor has a Masters (Applied Finance & Investment), B.Comm (Accounting & Information Systems), CISA, FAIM, F Fin and is a Microsoft Certified Excel Expert. He has over 20 years’ experience in financial modelling, forecasting, valuation, model auditing, and management reporting for clients throughout the world. He is skilled in the development and maintenance of analytical tools and financial models for middle-market companies to large corporates, at all levels of complexity, in both domestic and international settings.

Your Expert Course Instructor has trained delegates from a wide variety of Oil & Gas companies including Chevron, Woodside, BHP Billiton, Petronas, Carigali, Shell, Nippon, Eni, Pertamina, Inpex, and many more. He provides training in financial modelling for companies throughout the Asia, Oceania, Middle East and African regions. Before his current role, He spent 6 years working in the Corporate and IT Consulting divisions of a large, multinational Chartered Accounting firm. He is the author of a number of white papers on financial modelling on subjects such as Financial Modelling Best Practices and Financial Model Auditing.

Highlights from Trainer’s oil and gas experience include:

  • Development of economic models to assist Decision Analysts modelling for a wide range of scenarios for multinational oil & gas assets.
  • Auditing and further development of life of project models for Chevron’s Strategic Planning Division analysing their North West Shelf assets.
  • Development of business plan and budgeting models for multinational oil & gas assets.
  • Development of cash flow and taxation models for a variety of oil gas companies.
  • Consulting on Sarbanes Oxley spreadsheet remediation and risk assessment.

To further optimise your learning experience from our courses, we also offer individualized “One to One” coaching support for 2 hours post training. We can help improve your competence in your chosen area of interest, based on your learning needs and available hours. This is a great opportunity to improve your capability and confidence in a particular area of expertise. It will be delivered over a secure video conference call by one of our senior trainers. They will work with you to create a tailor-made coaching program that will help you achieve your goals faster.
Request for further information post training support and fees applicable