BATT hosted a Media training workshop for members of the media on “Understanding Banks’ Financial Statements” from 15-17 October, 2018, held at the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago, Port of Spain. The Workshop drew reporters, business editors from the print, radio, television and digital media. Facilitated by Mr. Howard Dottin, the Programme Director of the MSc. Finance Programme at the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business ALJ GSB and Mr. Andre Taitt, the Head of Treasury and Investments at a regional institution the initiative is on par with BATT’s efforts at promoting financial education to aid the public, through the media, with understanding banks’ publicized financial statements.
The Workshop was a specialized training activity for the benefit of business journalists who are often tasked with reporting on the financial performance of commercial banks or interpreting key business and economic data. The objective of the workshop was to assist media practitioners with the depth and context of their business reporting and thus seeks to:
- Familiarize participants with the financial statements of the commercial bank with specific reference to annual report contents;
- Enhance their knowledge of and analytical reporting on banks’ financial statements; as banks’ financial statements are expressed slightly different to that of traditional (retailers and manufacturers) financial statements;
- Provide a forum for participants to engage the facilitator, as well as their peers, on the challenges in financial services reporting.
The engaging and interactive three-day workshop was quite a success as the participants noted that the workshop exceeded their expectations.
