Advanced Certificate In Applied Management (Small Business)

Broad based Management and Small Business Training in the One Course 

• Learn about management, marketing and communications
• Learn about small business
• Combine these skills and discover opportunities for employment and business in small business
• 900 hour, self paced practical course

This is a flexible, relevant course for those wanting to train to move into supervisory or managerial positions.

....for Entrepreneurs, Small Businessmen, or anyone seeking to improve their career prospects in the world of Commerce.

 

This course offers core study options (including Office Practice, Management, Business Operations and Marketing Foundations), as well as specialist subjects, which focus on those areas highly applicable to small business. These are: Bookkeeping I (the successful completion of which enables you to join the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers), Entrepreneurship and Advertising and Promotions. In addition, this course offers further specialisation specific to your field of interest, in the form of an Industry Project.

Modules

Core Modules	These modules provide foundation knowledge for the Advanced Certificate In Applied Management (Small Business).
	Business Operations VBS006
	Management VBS105
	Marketing Foundations VBS109
	Office Practices VBS102
Stream Modules	Studied after the core modules, stream modules cover more specific or niche subjects.
	Bookkeeping Foundations (Bookkeeping I) BBS103
	Advertising and Promotions BBS202
	Entrepreneurship BBS204
Elective Modules	In addition to the core modules, students study any 2 of the following 5 modules.
	Industry Project I BIP000
	Industry Project II BIP001
	Research Project I BGN102
	Workshop I BGN103
	Workshop II BGN203

Note that each module in the Advanced Certificate In Applied Management (Small Business) is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.

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WHAT IS COVERED BY EACH OF THESE MODULES?

Office Practices

This course is important for any small business. Whatever your business is, there will always be a need for some amount of office work. It is important you know how to make decisions about the equipment, materials and procedures that you use to manage the business from the office, whether it's as modest as a small desk at home; or a more substantial room at the back of a workshop.
The course consists in eight lessons.

1.     The Modern Office
2.     Communication Systems
3.     Interpersonal Communications
4.     Phone Skills
5.     Writing Letters and Other Documents
6.     Computer Applications
7.     Office Organisation and Procedures
8.     Health and Safety in the Office
   
   

Business Operations

Start by learning the basics to get organised better in any business.

This course provide you with the foundation for running any type of business.

The things you learn in this module will be built on and expanded through both modules that follow, and through your experience beyond the course.
There are 6 lessons as follows:

1. Introduction - business law, types of businesses, starting a business 
2. Finance - Liquidity, the money market, terminology, insurance
3. Financial Records  - Basic Bookkeeping procedures, cash flow
4. Financial Management  - Taxation, costing, budgeting, investing
5. Business Planning Developing a 12 month business plan.  
6.  Mistakes to avoid - Reasons for business failures, profitability
       improving productivity
   
   

Management

Make sure your management style is grounded in the 'tried and true'. This course outlines management theories and procedures, problem solving and decision making tactics, staff management, supervision, recruitment and workplace health and safety.
Developed by professionals with a substantial amount of industry experience, it is the perfect foundation for a successful career.

There are 6 lessons as follows:

1.     Introduction & Organizational Structures
2.     Management Theories & Procedures
3.     Problem Solving & Decision Making
4.     Management Styles & External Influences
5.     Employing People & Interview Skills
6.     Staff Management
   
   

Marketing Foundations

Marketing is a weak point for many otherwise good small businesses.
A large proportion of people who start small businesses are very good at providing the products or services; but their business struggles because they simply don't get enough customers.
To avoid such a scenario, it is essential to have a broad understanding of marketing, and specific skills such as writing advertisements, undertaking market research, developing an appropriate marketing plan and selling. The course consists in ten lessons, as follows:

1. Marketing and the Business -What is marketing, and its significance, Considering alternative approaches to business & marketing, Alternative enterprises (eg. goods or services based, sole proprietor or partnership etc).
2. Scope of Marketing -Understanding basic economics (eg. supply & demand); the difference between the potential market, available market, target market, and penetrated market for a product/service of your choice; Different advertising approaches, Controlling Growth, Improving Results in Business, etc
3. Target Marketing -Understanding the market place; Stages that sellers move through in their approach to a market, What is targeting, Advantages of target marketing as compared to mass marketing and product-differentiated marketing
4. The Marketing Mix and Managing the Marketing Effort -Product, price, place, and promotion; Affects and interactions between marketing and other operations of a business.
5. Product Presentation and Packaging -Importance of product knowledge, Core, tangible and augmented products; Differences in packaging & presentation for different products.
6. Promotion -Communication skills, Merchandising, Shop Floor Layout, Displaying Products, Signs, Understanding Selling and Increasing Sales, Sales Methods, Publicity Marketing, Structuring an Advertisement or Promotion, Advertising budgets, etc
7. Product Pricing and Distribution -Pricing, Profitability Ratio, Increasing Turnover, etc
8. Customer Service -Methods of assessing customer satisfaction; Significance of Customer Service; Different types of customers in the market place, and how best to approach each; Difference between selling, publicising, marketing and advertising, etc
9. Market Research -The research process, What to research, Surveys, Developing and conducting a market research program, where to find useful statistics,
10. Organisations - Structures and Roles Business law; Financial Management, Business Structures, Business terminology, etc.
    
    

Bookkeeping I

Every small business manager needs to manage their finances. There are legal requirements to do so; but even more important, businesses don't survive if the money being spent exceeds the money being taken. The course consists of thirteen lessons, as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Balance Sheet
3. Analysing and Designing  Accounting Systems
4. The Double Entry Recording Process
5. Cash Receipts and Cash Payments Journal
6. Credit Fees and Purchases Journal
7. The General Journal
8. Closing the Ledger
9. Profit and Loss Statement
10. Depreciation on Non-current Assets
11. Profit Determination and Balance Day Adjustments
12. Cash Control:  Bank Reconciliation and Petty Cash
13. Cash Control: Budgeting
    
    

Entrepeneurship

There are 10 lessons in this module as follows:

1. Scope & Nature of Entrepreneurship
2. Is Entrepreneurship Right for You?
3. Assessing opportunities
4. The Role of Market Research
5. Intellectual Property
6. Legal & Ethical Concerns
7. Operating a Business
8. The Business and Financial Plan
9. Marketing
10. Launching a Venture
     

Advertising and Promotions

This course contains ten lessons, outlined below:

1. Analysing the Market
2. Target Marketing
3. Display and Display Techniques
4. Advertising and Promotions Strategy
5. New Product Development
6. Sales Techniques – General
7. Writing Advertisements
8. Electronic Marketing -Phone/ mobile  and Email
9. Direct Mailing
10. Promotion through Exhibitions and Shows
    
    

Industry Project or Work Experience

This is the final requirement that you must satisfy before receiving your award.   There are two options available to you to satisfy this requirement. If you work in the industry, you may be given credit for this requirement by simply submitting appropriate references from an employer or colleagues. If you do not work in the industry, this requirement can be satisfied through either voluntary work or studying formal subjects which we offer such as Workplace Projects or Research Projects. It will not be a problem to do this part of the course; whatever your situation.

WHAT'S REQUIRED TO OBTAIN THE QUALIFICATION?

To be awarded this advanced certificate, you need to complete all assignments and one exam each, for the seven core and elective modules. If your first attempt at any of these things is unsatisfactory, you will be given opportunities to try again.

After completing these requirements, you also need to undertake Workplace or Industry Oriented requirements as outlined below:

Start A Business, or Work in Business Management

• What is Successful?
• What is the future?
• How to make money?
• How to improve?
• How to sell?

Whatever your need, you can learn how to move forward in the business world through this course. If you have a particular area of interest and would like some Free advice first, take advantage of our free Business Advice Service -click here

Starting a Business Tips from our Principal: John Mason

Any one starting a new business has to deal with five things -

1. Getting a product that can be sold.
2. Establishing systems to manage the business.
3. Finding potential customers.
4. Selling to those potential customers.
5. Delivering the product.

This may be a simplistic view of business, but it is a very helpful way of understanding what needs to be done, and doing it properly.

Think of these as the “five key areas of business”.

Businesses Don’t Need to Fail
It is often said that many new businesses fail. Different figures are quoted indicating that approximately 10% of new businesses fail.  They usually fail for one reason - because they don’t attend to all five areas of concern above.

It may be that they don’t deal with all of these things because they do not have sufficient resources, for example:

• Getting a product that can be sold – They choose a product that is already sold well by another large and well-established company. They can’t compete financially or offer comparable service.
• Establishing systems to manage the business – They are so busy looking at the product and finding customers that they don’t also take an overview of how they are going to run the business effectively and efficiently.
• Finding potential customers – They can’t afford the marketing required to reach their potential clients and don’t know enough about how they can market for free to do so.
• Selling to those potential customers – They haven’t conducted enough market research to see who they can sell to. For example by advertising their skateboards and roller skates in Saga magazine (a magazine for over 60s). This may be a massive generalisation, there may be people over 60 who like to skateboard, but the demographic would suggest that their market is likely to be  better aimed at children, teenagers and those in the early 20s.
• Delivering the product – They may not have taken postage charges into account when pricing their product. They may find that other similar businesses are offering free delivery and they can’t afford to. And so on.....

These are just some examples of where potential businesses may fail simply because they haven’t really considered some things in enough detail.   These things may not be massive, they may only be small – for example – not including the cost of free delivery in their product cost, but over time that can seriously affect how much (if any) profit they are making.

Imagine you are selling pens for a cult television series, such as Doctor Who or Thunderbirds. The pens cost you £1 to buy. You are selling them for £1.50.  It costs you 30 pence to post the product. Leaving you 20 pence profit per item (you think). You haven’t taken into account the cost of actually packaging the item, which actually costs you 10p. That leaves you 10p profit. But what about your time, getting the order off the internet or in the post, packaging the pen, writing the customers address on the package, going to the post office at the end of the day to post it, buying the stamps, writing the order in your accounts, keeping track of stock you have available, paying for premises if you have them, paying for other staff members, advertising costs, the cost of your website. The list goes on and all of that has to be funded in 10p per pen. Can you see my point?

Some businesses don’t attend to these things because they don’t have the resources to deal with the things that need doing. For example, it is not good enough to develop a fantastic product and expect the marketing, sales, customer service and other aspects to just look after themselves.

When starting a business, the business men/women involved need to be aware of the resources they have at their disposal.  These resources may include –

• Time
• Networks
• Equipment
• Money
• Property etc.

Deciding on the product may well be the first step in starting any business; but that decision must be tempered with an awareness of the systems required to manage that product, the market potential of that product, how well you will be able to sell that product and what is required to deliver that product to customers.  If your product is not matched with your capacity to handle it; you may well be entering a business doomed to failure.

 

More about the school:

• Established in 1979
• Offices in both Australia and the UK
• We are stable and sustainable.  In a world where many institutions are subject to financial and political pressures, ours is a fully independent and privately owned education system
• Our mantra has always been to make the students learning our top priority -to this end, access to tutors via email and phone is unrestricted and much easier than through many other colleges.
   
• We collect feedback from students and industry, and respond with continual updating of course notes (We often hear of other unis and colleges handing out notes that have remained unchanged for decades).
• Courses are unique -we write them, and offer through a small select network of affiliated colleges in 5 countries.
• A faculty of over 40 academics -all have university degrees or degree equivalent qualifications, plus significant industry experience; many have Masters degrees or higher qualifications -compare this with other schools
• We believe you cannot take short cuts if you want a "quality" education.  This is why our courses are often longer than elsewhere; but it is also why our graduates learn better, retain what they learn for longer, and are often more successful after they graduate.
• We believe strongly in the need for Diversity in education. We have a long history and highly respected track record among the sort of people who are bringing about change and innovation around the world. ACS courses are not for everyone; but what a boring world it would be if everyone studied the same thing in the same education system. Humanity advances by having a diversity of opinions and lots of variety in the way people think about and see things.
  •  Our qualification system offers more options and flexibility than most
  • "Standardised curriculum tends to produce clones; but diversity produces creativity and innovation" 

 

AFTER YOUR STUDIES

Graduates from this course will have a significantly enhanced ability to manage a successful business.
You will understand business far better, particularly the important areas of finance and marketing which are more common areas that small businesses fail.

Whether you are running your own business or managing a business for someone else; your ability to identify and respond to problems or potential risks will have grown.

What you learn will forge in you a different way of looking at business. You should see opportunities you may not have noticed before; and if you engage with the business world in the way this course leads you to do, your knowledge, understanding and capability to perform in small business will continue to grow long after the course is over.

• Develop Your Business Ideas
• Make a Business Plan
• Small Business, Online Business, Retail, Service, Production
• Start any type of Small business here