Contracting is at the heart of commerce. It refers to the process of reaching agreement with another party for the purchase or sale of goods or services. Those involved with reaching agreement with third parties (suppliers and or customers) need to understand that they are involved with contracting and may be committing their organisation to obligations irrespective of whether their role entitles them to do so or not.

All too often individuals hide behind contracts, citing them as the reason for not doing things or for doing things in a certain way without understanding the actual contract itself or how contracts work. Do your employees realise:

• They can enter a contract verbally?
• That it is enough for the other party to assume they were in a position to enter a contract to make the contract binding?
• That verbal instructions can be taken as contract variations with all the implications for costs and risk?

This programme covers the fundamentals of contracting: how contracts are formed; the various elements of contracts, such as service level agreements and terms & conditions; how to establish and manage a contract; how to take account of intellectual property; and how to choose the right approach for your business.