Coaching for business studies students

Are you studying a Business Studies course and need help with understanding your finance module. We can help! With over 20 years experience of the Higher Education Sector we can now provide one to one tutoring or seminars for small groups. Please call 01202 842809 for details of locations and hourly rates.

New One Day Workshops for 2012!

Arena4|finance are pleased to announce new one day workshops for Spring 2012:

25^th January 2012: Finance for Non Financial Managers; Dorset
21^st February 2012: Pricing and Improving Profitability; Dorset
21^st March 2012: Budgeting and Forecasting; Dorset
11^th April 2012: Finance for Non Financial Managers; Hants   postponed- please call for latest information
2^nd May 2012: Pricing and Improving Profitability; Hants  postponed – please call for latest information
22^nd May 2012: Budgeting and Forecasting; Hants postponed  please call for latest information

The blended seminar will include a one day workshop supported by a 14 day online programmewith a unique opportunity to further enhance learning with online resources and support from the tutor.

Cost: £150 + VAT (price includes 1 day seminar + 14 days access to online classroom, lunch and course notes).

To find out more about these courses, their topics and who they are designed for, please click here.

If you would like to book a place please email info@arena4finance.co.uk.

Apprenticeship Schemes for Hospitality

People 1^st  reports that the hospitality sector has one of the highest take–up rates of any apprenticeship framework and continues to increase their uptakes. For example, the registered apprenticeships within the hospitality and catering framework grew from 13,200 in 2006 to 20,900 in 2010. Despite this fact, the sector also has one of the highest drop-out rates, with only 56% apprentices completing a training programme. Other challenges facing the sector include the facts that employers do not realise the benefits of apprenticeships, that there are no well-established development routes between pre-employment training programmes and apprenticeships, that the sector requires more apprenticeships at level 3 and 4, that apprenticeships are not strongly linked to professional body membership and ongoing development and that employers experience barriers, such as high level of paperwork, lack of flexibility and funding. To address these issues, People 1^st has designed an apprenticeship strategy consisting of six individual objectives by the means of which the target of increasing both the number of sector specific apprenticeships to 30,000 and the completion rate to 80% by 2020 should be achieved. The individual objectives are: ensure apprentices are effectively prepared to start an apprenticeship, raise awareness of the Asian and Oriental specialist chef routes, ensure apprenticeships are robust and reflect the needs of the sector, reduce unnecessary barriers to employers and apprentices, help retain apprentices on apprenticeship programmes and raise the demand for higher level apprenticeships.

arena4|finance is working with HOSPA to develop apprenticeship schemes in finance and revenue management for the hospitality sector.

New courses in environmental reporting for hospitality businesses launched!

A recent study by the Carbon Trust (March 2011) found that 56% of consumers are more concerned about businesses’ actions to reduce their impacts on climate change than they were five years ago; and 53% want to work for companies that are committed to reducing their environmental impact.

We are proud to be working with the responsible hospitality partnership to offer three exciting new courses:

Meeting environmental management and reporting requirements for large businesses
This full day course will provide delegates with a full understanding of the regulatory framework within which they operate and the process necessary to collate annual reports within hospitality businesses. Delegates will leave the course with a good understanding of what their regulatory obligations are, case studies of how other businesses are reporting and a framework for their own environmental reports. This course is for Senior Finance Directors or those new to Responsible Business duties within large hospitality companies (those with ten or more operating units)

Meeting environmental management and reporting requirements for small businesses
This one day course will provide delegates with a full understanding of the regulatory framework within which they operate and the process necessary to collate annual reports within hospitality businesses. Delegates will leave the course with a good understanding of what their regulatory obligations are, case studies of how other businesses are reporting and a framework for their own environmental reports. This course is for Senior Finance Directors or those new to Responsible Business duties within small hospitality companies (10 units or less)

An introduction to Environmental Issues for Finance Managers
The course will introduce finance managers and others delegated with responsibility for responsible business compliance to their obligations to report on progress to shareholders, customers and others with an interest in the business. This half-day course has been developed specifically for finance managers in hospitality businesses, employees new to responsible business roles and accountants and others who advise hospitality businesses.

arena4|finance Develops New Accredited Course for HOSPA (BAHA moving forward)

arena4|finance is delighted to work in partnership with clients HOSPA (formerly known as BAHA) (www.hospa.org), a membership association for financial, revenue management and IT professionals working in the hospitality industry.

We provide membership support services for over 1,000 members including the provision of a variety of education programmes and CPD opportunities.

Our latest project includes managing the development of a new education programme in Revenue Management accredited by Oxford Brookes University. This unique course will seek to combine the disciplines of economics, marketing, finance, strategy and human psychology with examples and case studies based on hospitality products and services.

For more information about how we can work with your Association to develop accredited education programme contact us on info@arena4finance.co.uk.

Moodle Shortlisted for Education Product of the Year in 2010 PC Pro Awards

Learning management system Moodle was shortlisted in the Education Product of the Year category in the prestigious PC Pro 2010 Awards. Moodle has over 36m users across 210 countries including organisations such as The Open University, Royal Air Force, and Samaritans.

Specialist consultancy company, HowToMoodle, was asked by Moodle founder Martin Dougiamas to attend the PC Pro Awards to represent Moodle, along with HowToMoodle clients including the Chartered Institute of Housing and removal and storage experts Pickfords. Ray Lawrence, Director of HowToMoodle, commented, “We were very pleased that Moodle was nominated by PC Pro readers for the Education Product of the Year category, particularly as the free open source software was listed against commercial products such as Encyclopaedia Britannica and Microsoft Office 2010.”

Arena4finance are proud to use Moodle as our learning management system, enabling us to create powerful, flexible and engaging online learning experiences. A typical learner experience can include:

• Elearning content including epresentations, worked examples, case studies and videos
• Quizzes and activities
• Live chat rooms, Wikis and blogs
• Forums where users can rate messages for relevance
• Online workshops enabling and encouraging learners to collaborate
• Impromptu polls set by the facilitator to gauge feedback
• Learner directories with grades achieved

To find out more call us on 01202 842809 or email info@arena4finance.co.uk