Fairhurst Danielle Stein - Financial Modeling in Excel for Dummies

Financial Modeling in Excel For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017936812

ISBN: 978-1-119-35754-4; ISBN 978-1-119-35755-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-35756-8 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

I discovered financial modeling in Microsoft Excel when I worked in investment banking in London (as most young Aussies do). Back then, it wasnt even called financial modeling, but I was hooked. Since those days, Ive devoted my entire career to working in Excel and building models for the purpose of business cases, reports, budgets, and dashboards. Ive worked with hundreds of clients in many different countries to help build their models for them or train them on how to build their own. Financial modeling in Excel takes me all over the world and I hope that it brings you the same fun and excitement!

I wrote this book based on the experiences Ive had with the many insightful people Ive trained or worked with over the years. I cover the tools and techniques that are the most commonly needed for building models. This book is aimed at people who have a good smattering of Excel knowledge but want to improve their skills to perform better in their current roles or to get better jobs.

After reading this book, youll know exactly what a financial modeler does and how to apply the principles of financial modeling to your work. You may not call yourself a career financial modeler. Instead, you might think of yourself as a casual modeler maybe its a side interest for you, or its just one part of your job. But after reading this book, you may be bitten by the modeling bug and want to pursue a full-time career in this field!

You dont have to read this book from cover to cover feel free to jump around and read the sections that are of most interest to you! In most cases, I demonstrate the tools and techniques covered by applying them to a simple model usually what I would expect to be just part of a full financial model. In , you create three full financial models from start to finish. I encourage you to read this book with Excel open and not too far away because youll want to try out many of the exercises and techniques described in these pages.

I assume just a few basic things about you. It goes without saying that youre highly intelligent because you recognize the value of having financial modeling skills. But I also assume that you have the following:

• A PC with a relatively recent version of Excel installed: The screenshots and instructions in this book relate to Microsoft Excel 2016 and its capabilities. If youre using a Mac, or a previous version of Excel, you might find some of the instructions slightly different, but you should be able to find your way around.
• A working knowledge of Excel and a use for it: I dont assume that youre an Excel expert, but you should at least know your way around and perhaps have created at least a few basic calculations before.
• Some kind of financial background: You know what a set of financial statements looks like, you know what revenue is, and you know how interest calculations work. Some of the complexities are explained in this book, but I assume that these kinds of basic financial concepts are not entirely new to you.

This book is jam-packed with tips, tricks, warning, and ways to work smarter, faster, and more accurately.

Anything marked with the Tip icon will make your financial modeling quicker or easier.

If I mark it with the Remember icon, its really, really important and you should pay special attention.