Course information

Microsoft Excel. Unlock insights and tell the story in your data.

Financial modelling skills in Excel are highly beneficial in the modern, data-rich work environment, and are not limited to finance professionals only. These skills are crucial for any analytical role that requires quantifying the dynamics of a business situation to support informed decision-making. Application areas include, but are not limited to, feasibility studies, budgeting and forecasting, scenario-based strategy development, operational models and techno-commercial bid comparisons.

This is a compressed one-day financial modelling course designed to provide you with a broad overview of the best practices in financial modelling. Through hands-on exercises, you will engage with common financial modelling scenarios using pre-existing financial models. For individuals seeking a more comprehensive course that includes building three financial statements, you may consider enrolling in Financial Modelling Course Online: The Complete Guide.

Aims

This course aims to equip you with the most relevant tools in Excel used in financial modelling and recommended best practice for model structure and design. You will leave the course feeling empowered to understand, manage and create financial models independently.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• apply best practice guidelines onto existing financial models to make them more robust while keeping them user friendly
• lay strong foundations when building financial models from scratch so that it is more efficient to use and maintain
• use consistent formatting across the sheets so that users can easily identify the required information
• validate data entry cells to catch errors early on and avoid GIGO (garbage in garbage out)
• fortify the model by applying appropriate protections and passwords as needed.

Content

Excel toolkit

The course will begin with a coverage of essential Excel functions and features which are beneficial for financial modelling. This includes:

• Named ranges
• Data validation
• Mixed referencing
• Lookup functions
• Financial functions
• Logical functions
• Data protection
• Scenario Manager
• Goal Seek for single variable target matching
• Solver for multi variable optimisation
• Live data integration, e.g. FX rates

Best practice

Discover the best practices recommended for financial modelling. By following these best practices, you can avoid the common pitfalls encountered in financial modelling. Correcting errors later in the model’s lifecycle can be more costly in terms of time and effort. Employing these best practices from the start ensures you save considerable time and. Topics include:

• Model structure
• Ownership and maintenance
• Formatting consistency
• Effective demonstration of model outcomes
• Error tracing
• Documentation and version control

Practical examples

We will work on pre-existing models from various industries so that you get a broad overview of common issues faced in financial modelling and how best to resolve such issues. Models include:

• Real estate development project
• Fleet management: Electric Vehicle vs. Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles
• Budgeting scenarios

Group discussion

During the last session, we will discuss the type of financial models relevant to your industry, and the common challenges you encounter in managing these financial models. We’ll discuss how the tools we learnt today can be applied to your work context, so that you can immediately benefit from the insights gained in course.

Intended audience

Professionals working in data-rich environments who need to analyse data for informed decision-making. Examples of such roles include:

• Financial analysts
• Accountants
• Budget controllers
• Project managers
• Business owners/consultants

Prerequisites

An intermediate level skill in Excel e.g. prior experience with functions such as VLOOKUP, IF, etc.

Delivery style

This course is interactive and hands-on. We will start with a brief introduction to a topic, followed immediately by practical exercise to get first-hand exposure to that topic.

Delivery modes

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught workshop using your own device
• Online workshop via the platform Zoom

Materials

You will gain access to teaching material covered in the course. All course materials are provided electronically using Dropbox. Printing services are not provided.