September 2020 Newsletter

Fall FX Training & Tips: Explore our September newsletter and discover the latest blog posts and insights from FX Initiative on currency risk management. We help finance, accounting, treasury, and sales professionals stay up to date with new training content, CPE webinars, and helpful tips & resources.

Scale the learning curve quickly and easily with our foreign exchange risk management training, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples and events at FXCPE.com. Start Training >

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Hypothetical FX Hedging

To become proficient in any skill, including currency risk management, practice makes perfect. To help companies practice, FX Initiative’s Foreign Exchange Transaction Simulator addresses a wide variety of FX scenarios by stress-testing hypothetical FX hedging strategies.

This interactive risk modeling tool illustrates the economics and accounting of the most common hedging strategies for underlying foreign exchange exposures such as revenues, expenses, receivables, and payables. You can simply input your company specific and foreign exchange market variables, and then select your hedging strategy, which includes not hedging or hedging with a forward contract, vanilla option or zero cost collar.

The resulting output is a highly detailed interactive FX risk analysis that charts the economic payoff of your selected hedging strategy, ranks the alternative hedging strategies, and reports the accounting journal entries and t-accounts with authoritative references to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Behind the scenes, our robust pricing engine and database simplifies the risk analysis process for you so you can focus on the bottom line impact to your business.

This versatile tool transforms 16 inputs into one information rich analysis in 3 easy steps.

• Step 1 is to select (1) the Underlying Exposure and input the related variables of (2) Functional Currency, (3) Foreign Currency, (4) Underlying Notional Amount, (5) Beginning Exchange Rate, (6) Currency Quoting Convention, (7) Start Date, (8) End Date and (9) the Day Count.
• Step 2 is to select a (10) Hedging Strategy and input the related variables of (11) Hedge Ratio %, (12) Domestic Interest Rate, (13) Foreign Interest Rate, (14) Implied Volatility, and (15) the Collar Range.
• Step 3 is to forecast (16) the ending exchange rate to see how positive and negative changes in exchange rates impact the cash flow and financial reporting of your selected hedging strategy.

This FX risk management web application customizes strategies and can be modified efficiently and effectively. For example, if you want to change your underlying exposure or hedge strategy, it’s as simple as one-click. If you want to know which strategy yields the best outcome, all 4 strategies are ranked for you automatically. If you want to see how the default or elective accounting treatment differ, the journal entries and t-accounts are instantly presented side-by-side. This Foreign Exchange Transaction Simulator acts as your own personal quantitative analyst, and puts you in a positions to make a qualified foreign exchange risk management decisions.

To begin practicing hypothetical FX hedging, start your FX risk management training today, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples & events at FXCPE.com.

Currency Learning Center

As the end of August approaches and schools are back in session, FX Initiative offers access to our online Learning Center for paid training and free content to help your company conquer corporate currency risk management safely and remotely. Explore our FX articles, videos, courses, tools, and webinars. Our goal is to help sharpen your FX skills, contribute to your professional development, and add to your firm’s performance and profitability.

Explore FX Learning Center >

We look forward to sharing more FX updates and insights with you in 2020 and beyond. Whether you are new to foreign exchange or a seasoned professional, continue following FX Initiative for your FX risk management formula. To learn more, start your FX risk management training today, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples & events at FXCPE.com.

Supporting Student Opportunities

FX Initiative is pleased to offer Student Opportunities for WindyCityWebinars.org, a student supported remote learning platform that helps companies promote their brand and showcase their expertise with continuing professional education (CPE) webinars. Join us as we facilitate collaborative projects to create educational webinars between corporate sponsors and student leaders. We offer students unique opportunities to create webinars with sponsors to grow your network and gain useful knowledge.

Are you an undergrad or graduate student looking to upgrade your business skills and grow your network? You are invited to apply for this opportunity! Windy City Webinars is a remote learning platform designed to safely serve the professional development and networking needs of the Chicago business community by sharing business best practices and industry insights with students and professionals. Students work with a corporate sponsor on creating a highly engaging and educational webinar project.

Our portfolio projects aim to connect you to internship and employment opportunities by showcasing your learning abilities, skill sets, and work ethic to the Chicago business community. If accepted, you'll be a part of a robust community of diverse students and produce high quality projects. To help to identify and plan out your potential project, submit your application online at https://www.windycitywebinars.org/students.html or request a copy of our Student Opportunities guide by emailing info@windycitywebinars.org.

Serving Corporate Sponsors

FX Initiative is pleased to present our 2020 Sponsorship Guide for WindyCityWebinars.org, a student supported remote learning platform that makes it simple to promote your brand and showcase your expertise with continuing professional education (CPE) webinars. We are excited for you to participate and enjoy the recognition our sponsors receive as we facilitate collaborative projects to create engaging educational webinars between corporate sponsors and student leaders to realize synergies and foster community. 

Our dynamic Sponsorship Opportunities help to showcase your firm even better in 2020. Each sponsorship level has been tailored to offer significant value based on the frequency of webinars you would like to offer, with Platinum (monthly), Gold (quarterly), and Silver (individual) levels of Sponsor Commitment. The logo of each sponsor is promoted on the WindyCityWebinars.org website, email invitations, and promotional materials to ensure your organization’s brand is positioned prominently in front of clients and prospects.

By sponsoring WindyCityWebinars.org, you are helping fulfill our mission is to keep learning alive and accessible to all during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Your contribution helps us provide students with unique opportunities to assist with webinar projects to gain work experience, explore career paths, develop and refine skills, network with professionals, and acquire knowledge and confidence as they transition into the workforce. To request your 2020 Sponsorship Guide, please email info@windycitywebinars.org.

July 2020 Newsletter

Summer Learning & Earning: Explore our July newsletter and discover the latest blog posts and insights from FX Initiative on currency risk management. We help finance, accounting, treasury, and sales professionals stay up to date with new training content, CPE webinars, and helpful tips & resources.

Scale the learning curve quickly and easily with our foreign exchange risk management training, which provides 24/7 365 access to our complete suite of foreign exchange (FX) continuing professional education (CPE), examples and events at FXCPE.com. Start Training >

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Student & Sponsor Synergies

In only 3 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the majority of in-person classrooms and conference rooms to online learning platforms and video based communications. While we are grateful for the technology innovations that have made this transition possible, we are mindful progress remains. In listening to our community, sentiment among students and professionals shows that engagement with classmates and colleagues feels distant. WindyCityWebinars.org is providing a solution.

We facilitate collaborative projects to create continuing professional education (CPE) webinars between corporate sponsors and student leaders to realize synergies and foster community. From real world and case study examples to academic theory, we work with sponsors to create CPE credit eligible webinars on business topics that complement products & services and support training & marketing objectives. Each webinar is enhanced by students using knowledge from their academic major.

During this period of isolation, it is clear that students and professionals alike are seeking creative ways to keep learning alive and communities thriving. WindyCityWebinars.org believes that investing in people is paramount to success. To that end, we warmly invite business leaders to invest in a CPE webinar project. As Napoleon Hill famously stated, “Within every adversity is the seed to an equal or greater benefit.” To learn about sponsor benefits, contact info@windycitywebinars.org.

Virtual Learning & Networking

WindyCityWebinars.org makes it simple to promote your brand and showcase your expertise with continuing professional education (CPE) webinars. We are a community of Chicago professionals and business students focused on educating peers and maximizing exposure to sell professional services. Our remote learning platform allows you to offer CPE credit webinars that comply with NASBA licensing regulations to meet the ongoing professional development needs of your employees, clients, and prospects.

Windy City Webinars was created in collaboration with DePaul University’s ICS 394 strategic entrepreneurship class during the spring of 2020. Our mission is to keep learning alive and accessible to all during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We provide students unique opportunities to assist with webinar projects to gain work experience, explore a variety of career paths, develop and refine skills, network with professionals, and acquire knowledge and confidence as they transition into the workforce.

As a member of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) National Registry of CPE Sponsors, we are authorized to issue CPE credits in all 50 states. This allows our audience to safely and remotely attend learning sessions from anywhere in the United States. Windy City Webinars is an unparalleled resource to support you in creating and promoting CPE programs that share thought leadership and raise brand awareness. To get started, contact info@windycitywebinars.org.

Involving Student Interns

FX Initiative is pleased to welcome and support student interns in summer 2020. Internships are designed to help students add substantive and unique experience to their resumes. Our goal is to provide students with opportunities to gain work experience, explore career paths, develop and refine skills, network with professionals, and build confidence as they earn compensation and transition into the workforce.

To facilitate our internship program this summer, we are participating in DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center's Startup Internship Program, which gives undergraduate students hands-on experience working closely with founders on specific projects at a local Chicago startup. The 2020 summer internship program is a remote opportunity to help stay engaged in meaningful work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These internships are designed to be experiential learning opportunities for students and a chance to see first-hand the challenges that startups face. Interns will be working on significant tasks that contribute to the success of the organization. Areas of involvement include performing market research, creating educational content, developing marketing and sales strategies, and enhancing website functionality.

FX Initiative remains committed to keep learning alive and accessible to all with continuing professional education (CPE) programs that promote business best practices. With a focus on the Chicago community, we welcome business leaders and corporate sponsors to contact us about working with our student interns on innovative CPE training and marketing initiatives. To learn more, contact support@fxinitiative.com.

Structuring Summer CPE Sessions

Summer is an ideal season to structure learning and earning opportunities. From sharpening skills to sharing insights, our continuing professional education (CPE) sessions are designed to serve your organization’s professional development needs. Through live webinar training, we provide internal and external marketing opportunities to capitalize on recent events impacting the foreign exchange market, as well as to coincide with quarterly or annual planning processes.

Whether you are interested in a timely session related to current events such as COVID-19 or would like a formal way to start goal setting for a new calendar or fiscal year, our live webinar sessions are fully customizable and capable of addressing your group training needs. Each live webinar is eligible for CPE credit, and offers the ability to collaborate on content, engage the audience with real time poling and survey questions, and participate in question and answer segments.

Our CPE programs help organizations around the world stay current on the latest regulations, developments, and trends in finance, accounting, and related business industries while earning CPE credits to maintain professional credentials. As a member of the NASBA National Registry of CPE Sponsors, we cover a broad range of knowledge, skills, and abilities that enhance competence and increase confidence in participants’ ability to improve performance and profitability.

Leading organizations that prioritize professional development realize greater return on investment (ROI). Quality training that directly relates to job responsibilities benefits both the employee and the bottom line. Not only are employees more knowledgeable and capable after completing our training, but they are able to apply their knowledge for the benefit of their customers and the firm. To learn more about CPE opportunities, please contact support@fxinitiative.com.