Using Excel for Business Analysis - A Guide to Financial Modelling Fundamentals + Website

A clear, concise, and easy-to-use guide to financial modelling suitable for practitioners at every level
Using a fundamental approach to financial modelling that's accessible to both new and experienced professionals, Using Excel for Business Analysis: A Guide to Financial Modelling Fundamentals + Website offers practical guidance for anyone looking to build financial models for business proposals, to evaluate opportunities, or to craft financial reports. Comprehensive in nature, the book covers the principles and best practices of financial modelling, including the Excel tools, formulas, and functions to master, and the techniques and strategies necessary to eliminate errors.
As well as explaining the essentials of financial modelling, Using Excel for Business Analysis is packed with exercises and case studies to help you practice and test your comprehension, and includes additional resources online.
Provides comprehensive coverage of the principles and best practices of financial modeling, including planning, how to structure a model, layout, the anatomy of a good model, rebuilding an inherited model, and much more
Demonstrates the technical Excel tools and techniques needed to build a good model successfully
Outlines the skills you need to learn in order to be a good financial modeller, such as technical, design, and business and industry knowledge
Illustrates successful best practice modeling techniques such as linking, formula consistency, formatting, and labeling
Describes strategies for reducing errors and how to build error checks and other methods to ensure accurate and robust models
A practical guide for professionals, including those who do not come from a financial background, Using Excel for Business Analysis is a fundamentals-rich approach to financial modeling. Financial modelling is an essential tool for managing risk, planning projects, preparing business proposals, evaluating opportunities, and much more. But despite its importance, many professionals struggle to understand exactly what "financial modelling" really is. Put simply, it's a complex type of spreadsheet, not much different from the ones you create in Excel all the time. In Using Excel for Business Analysis: A Guide to Financial Modelling Fundamentals + Website, financial modelling expert Danielle Stein Fairhurst explains exactly how to utilise Excel for modelling, walking you through the principles, best practices, and tools that you need to understand in order to use this widely available software for business analysis.
Comprehensive yet accessible, the book is designed for professionals of all backgrounds and levels of experience looking to become familiar with financial modelling, introducing and explaining how to structure a model, the anatomy of a good model, rebuilding an inherited model, and much more. Covering Excel-based financial modelling tools and explaining, in detail, how to use the program to perform model display and model review, stress-testing, and other important topics, Using Excel for Business Analysis describes key strategies for minimising errors and presents other techniques for ensuring accurate and robust models.
Packed with indispensable coverage of both the essential concepts behind financial modelling and the practicalities of performing complex analysis, the book presents information in a clear, concise, step-by-step manner that makes it easy to use. Exercises and case studies are included throughout the text to help you practice and test your comprehension.
Containing everything you need to know in order to master the tools, formulas, and functions that allow for successful modelling, Using Excel for Business Analysis also provides readers with access to a companion website containing additional resources for a more immersive experience, making it the only book you need to understand and work with financial models. Praise for Using Excel for Business Analysis
"Danielle brilliantly manages the balance between business relevance and the necessary technical explanations expected from a book such as this. Her ability to walk in the shoes of the reader and deliver concise practical wisdom is unsurpassed. I highly recommend this book to anyone working with numbers, be it a Chief Financial Officer talking to the board or a Business Analyst starting their career. With Danielle's advice you can transform your career from successful to exceptional."
-Garth Holloway, Managing Director, SixFootFour Consulting
"Danielle's expertise and experience shines through in a very readable book, introducing the key concepts and considerations inherent in financial modelling. From novice to advanced modeller alike, readers are presented with many useful tips, tools, techniques, and pragmatic examples to refer to time and time again. Readily digestible, this book plugs a gaping academic hole that illustrates the risks and rewards of taking a spreadsheet by the throat and converting it into a robust, transparent, and flexible decision-making device. It will help you to 'Excel '."
-Liam Bastick, Managing Director, SumProduct, and Excel MVP
"Excel is a powerful and underestimated tool in many business environments. Whilst there are a number of books on the market that help explain the countless functions and features of the product, there are few if any that clearly articulate and teach the analyst how to unlock the power of Excel as an analysis and modelling tool for critical business decisions. Filled with easy to follow examples and based on many years of practical experience and education, Danielle Stein Fairhurst's book Using Excel for Business Analysis: A Guide to Financial Modelling Fundamentals has finally bridged that gap with a step-by-step approach to building models that address important real-world business questions."
-Michael Morgan, Country Manager (Australia), Intergen Business Solutions

List of contents

Preface xi

CHAPTER 1 What Is Financial Modelling? 1

What's the Difference between a Spreadsheet and a Financial Model? 3

Types and Purposes of Financial Models 4

Tool Selection 5

What Skills Do You Need to Be a Good Financial Modeller? 10

The Ideal Financial Modeller 16

Summary 19

CHAPTER 2 Building a Model 21

Model Design 21

The Golden Rules for Model Design 22

Design Issues 24

The Workbook Anatomy of a Model 25

Project Planning Your Model 27

Model Layout Flow Charting 28

Steps to Building a Model 28

Information Requests 35

Version-Control Documentation 36

Summary 37

CHAPTER 3 Best Practice Principles of Modelling 39

Document Your Assumptions 39

Linking, Not Hard Coding 39

Only Enter Data Once 40

Avoid Bad Habits 41

Use Consistent Formulas 41

Format and Label Clearly 41

Methods and Tools of Assumptions Documentation 42

Linked Dynamic Text Assumptions Documentation 48

What Makes a Good Model? 51

Summary 52

CHAPTER 4 Financial Modelling Techniques 53

The Problem with Excel 53

Error Avoidance Strategies 54

How Long Should a Formula Be? 59

Linking to External Files 61

Building Error Checks 63

Avoid Error Displays in Formulas 66
Circular References 67

Summary 70

CHAPTER 5 Using Excel in Financial Modelling 71

Formulas and Functions in Excel 71

Excel Versions 73

Handy Excel Shortcuts 74

Basic Excel Functions 76

Logical Functions 82

Nesting: Combining Simple Functions to Create Complex Formulas 84

Cell Referencing Best Practices 86

Named Ranges 89

Summary 92

CHAPTER 6 Functions for Financial Modelling 93

Aggregation Functions 93

LOOKUP Formulas 100

Other Useful Functions 106

Working with Dates 115

Financial Project Evaluation Functions 121

Loan Calculations 126

Summary 131

CHAPTER 7 Tools for Model Display 133

Basic Formatting 133

Custom Formatting 133

Conditional Formatting 139

Sparklines 143

Bulletproofing Your Model 147

Customising the Display Settings 151

Form Controls 157

Summary 171

CHAPTER 8 Tools for Financial Modelling 173

Hiding Sections of a Model 173

Grouping 178

Array Formulas 179

Goal Seeking 184

Pivot Tables 186

Macros 190

User-Defined Functions (UDFs) 198

Summary 200

CHAPTER 9 Common Uses of Tools in Financial Modelling 201

Escalation Methods for Modelling 201

Understanding Nominal and Effective (Real) Rates 206

Calculating Cumulative Totals 209

How to Calculate a Payback Period 210

Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) 214

Building a Tiering Table 216

Modelling Depreciation Methods 219

Break-Even Analysis 227

Summary 233

CHAPTER 10 Model Review 235

Rebuilding an Inherited Model 235

Auditing a Financial Model 245

Appendix 10.1: QA Log 250

Summary 250

CHAPTER 11 Stress-Testing, Scenarios, and Sensitivity Analysis in Financial Modelling 251

What's the Difference between Scenario, Sensitivity, and What-If Analysis? 252

Overview of Scenario Analysis Tools and Methods 253

Advanced Conditional Formatting 261

Comparing Scenario Methods 264

Summary 273

CHAPTER 12 Presenting Model Output 275

Preparing an Oral Presentation for Model Results 275

Preparing a Graphic or Written Presentation for Model Results 276

Chart Types 279

Working with Charts 291

Handy Charting Hints 295

Dynamic Range Names 297

Charting with Two Different Axes and Chart Types 300

Bubble Charts 302

Waterfall Charts 307

Summary 316

About the Author 317

About the Website 319

Index 321

About the author

Product details

• Authors: Danielle Stein Fairhurst
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.09.2012
• EAN: 9781118132845
• ISBN: 978-1-118-13284-5
• No. of pages: 336
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Business > Business administration