Making Cost Benefit Analysis Work for you

UNSW Canberra Professional Education Courses

This course is aimed at managers needing to understand workings and limitations of Cost Benefit Analysis.

UNSW Canberra City Campus

Area of Interest: CBA

<h3>Course Summary</h3>CBA is one of the methods used to evaluate value for money for new projects or a regulatory change. If the sum is positive, the benefits exceed the costs and the project should be undertaken as it increases efficiency and value to society. If it is negative, the opposite conclusion arises. This course is aimed at managers needing to understand workings and limitations of CBA rather than fostering technical expertise for specialists already carrying out CBA analyses in their everyday work. As such the course highlights the functioning of CBA, its weaknesses, and the ‘grey areas’ that may be overlooked but have substantive impact on the final result. This course uses real examples and is designed to be interactive.Prerequisites: None. Some working knowledge of Excel is useful but not essential.Duration: 2 DaysDelivery Mode: Face-to-face<h3>Course Conent</h3>The course is organised around 10 modules of about 1-1.5 hours each over two days covering the rationale and key components of CBA as well as its step-by-step application using specific examples. Topics include: The structure of CBA reportsWhat should and should not be included in CBA?Which methodology to apply when targeting efficiency vs. value for moneyEstimating benefits: which approach?‘Seeing” a CBA through a spreadsheetSensitivity analysis: a key step to understand drivers of benefits and costsKey weaknesses for using, or abusing, CBA<h3>Course Outline</h3>DAY ONEWhy CBA: thinking about efficiency and transparencyHow CBA works in practice: using applications to- identify the perimeter of the project- is it possible to estimate both benefits and costs?- justify chosen measurement indicators- quantify impact of the project over its lifetimeHow CBA works in practice (continued): using applications to- attach a dollar value to all impacts- discount benefits and costs- compute the net present value of the project and its alternativesDAY TWOMaking a sensible sensitivity analysisMaking use, and possibly abuse, of CBA<h3>Who should attend</h3>Managers of units using CBA as part of work and in need of a hands-on understanding of what CBA numbers actually tell.<h3>Presenter Information</h3>

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