4. Interview with a Finance Director

1. ҉ Beforeand when listening The table below shows how the finance function can be divided up in a large company. Complete the table with the words in the box. Then listen to the interview and check your answers.

actual	auditors	cash flow	financial	financing
internal	invoices	overdraft	receivable	sheet
governance	tax	income	variance

Treasurer	accounts payable accounts 1_____________________ contact with banks (eg 2_________________ facility)
Chief Accounting Officer	preparing accounts (3__________________ statement, 4_____________________ statement, balance 5_____________________) preparing 6_____________________ 7_____________________ planning
Financial Controller	8_____________________ auditing budgeting (9___________________ between planned and 10______________________ budget) 11_____________________ planning
Finance Director	supervising the three people above taking issues to the senior management team corporate 12______________________ working with external 13______________________ 14_______________________ of large projects

2. ҉ When listening Read the 6 questions below. Try to remember what Finance Director said, then listen again to check.

1. What kind of financial instruments can a bank offer to a company?

2. Why does the company have to prepare an annual report and why?

3. What key indicators does the Financial Controller have to analyse and why?

4. What is the planned budget and how it is different from the actual budget? Who prepares it, when and why?

5. What is the difference between invoicing and accounts receivable? Sort out the definitions into two groups. You will not need two definitions.

1. comes under the control of the accounts office

2. comes under the treasury

3. deals with bad debts

4. involves telephoning and reminding

5. is an administrative process

6. is the flow of cash into the company

7. is generated automatically by IT system

8. is important for keeping the books

9. is making payments to the suppliers

10. is a managerial process

11. is the same as purchases and orders

invoicing	accounts receivable	neither
1. ________________ 2. ________________ 3. ________________ 4. ________________	1. ________________ 2. ________________ 3. ________________ 4. ________________ 5. ________________	1. ________________ 2. ________________

6. What is the challenge the Financial Director faces in her routine?

3. After listening Discuss the following issues with your colleagues.

1. You’re thinking about investing in a company, but can only look at one financial document, either the income statement or the balance sheet; which one would you choose, and why?

2. Why the study of a company’s cash flow is important, and in particular how it shows things that cannot be seen just from the P&L (income statement) and balance sheet?

3. What should companies take into account when deciding what dividend to pay shareholders?

4. What can companies do to reduce their tax liabilities?

5. Ice-cream and Banking

1. Before listening Match the words and phrases in the table to their definitions below.

1) strongly limiting someone’s behaviour 2) money given regularly to children by their parents 3) money received by working or from investments 4) total amount of money a person spends 5) owing money to someone 6) person who owns and manages a small shop 7) a line of things next to each other 8) to control a business 9) money a person temporarily owes to a bank by agreement

a) expenditure b) in debt c) income d) overdraft e) pocket money f) row g) run h) shop-keeper i) strict

2. Before Listening Discuss the following questions.

1. Do you like ice-cream? Which brands do you prefer: Russian or foreign ones?

2. What do you think may be the connection between ‘ice-cream’ and ‘banking’?

3. When listening ҉ Listen to the story to hear the answers to the following questions.

1. What are the two main reasons why John likes Russian ice-cream?

2. Why did John’s parents give him pocket money?

3. What does the quotation from Charles Dickens imply? Would you give the same advice to your children?

4. How did the building societies start? What has been the recent development in such service?

5. Why is the speaker reluctant to use his credit card?

6. Do you now see more connection between ‘ice-cream’ and ‘banking’?

4. After listening ҉ Choose the correct answer to each question.

1. John thinks the price of ice-cream in Russia is ...

a) low.

b) about right.

c) high.

2. Money for saving means ...

a) money that you should spend quickly.

b) money that you can only use to buy food.

c) money that you keep until you have collected enough.

3. “Annual income” means ...

a) exactly twenty pounds every year.

b) the amount of money a person needs to be happy every year.

c) the amount of money a person gets every year.

4. If you live in “misery” you ...

a) are very unhappy.

b) have all the food you want.

c) have too much money.

5. If you are trying “to avoid” something you ...

a) want it to happen.

b) you know it’s impossible.

c) do something to stop it happening.

6. If you are “in debt” it means ...

a) you haven’t got enough money for something you want to buy.

b) you have borrowed money which later you will have to pay back.

c) you lent money to someone and are waiting to get it back.

7. When you “set up” a building society you ...

a) organise it and make it start working.

b) build a house for yourself.

c) open an account and start saving your money there.

8. When you “spend more than you earn” you ...

a) have an income which is less than your expenditure.

b) have an expenditure which is less than your income.

c) have an ice-cream made of vegetable oil.

9. An “overdraft” is ...

a) when the bank agrees to let you have less than zero in your account.

b) when the bank gives you a special loan for buying a house.

c) a loan which is immoral and bad.

10. If you feel like an ice cream it means you ...

a) are cold.

b) have eaten too much ice-cream.

c) would like to eat an ice-cream.

5. After listening What do the words in bold type mean? Choose the correct answer for each sentence.

1. ‘Russian ice-cream is great. Any shop or street seller can offer a choice of different ones for less than ten roubles, that’s about 20p in British money…’

a) Russians b) ice creams c) roubles

2. ‘In my childhood world of 1970s Britain, ice-cream was cheap. It was cheap because it was made in huge factories from a kind of margarine. There was very little milk in it at all,..’

a) Britain b) margarine c) ice cream

3. ‘I think this money was designed to be part of my moral education. It wasn’t for buying things with - it was for saving…’

a) this money b) moral education c) saving

4. ‘I think this money was designed to be part of my moral education. It wasn’t for buying things with - it was for saving. So, when it began, my pocket money was 5p.’

a) saving b) moral education c) pocket money

5. ‘Most people in Britain believe that it’s a good idea to save money and try to avoid being in debt. This is an important part of the culture, or at least it was in the past.’

a) Britain b) the past

c) the belief that it’s a good idea to save money and try to avoid being in debt

6. ‘Working class people put their money into “friendly societies” which helped when a member was ill, or one of their family died. They also set up building societies.’

a) friendly societies b) working class people c) their family

7. ‘In the 1970s, Margaret Thatcher became a popular politician by saying that borrowing money was bad for governments too. It was an idea that lots of people liked exactly because their parents had told them that debt was immoral and that you should never spend more than you earn. The world has changed plenty since then.’

a) the 1970s

b) when their parents told them that debt was immoral

c) when their parents told them that you should never spend more than you earn

8. ‘Margaret Thatcher is now one of the most unpopular British politicians of all time. Some building societies still exist, but many of the biggest have become banks – that is to say they don’t have members.’

a) British politicians b) members c) building societies

9. ‘A lot of people work in banks. London is the world centre for a lot of different sorts of financial activity. If we compare it with Frankfurt…’

a) London b) financial activity c) the world centre