Building Financial Models

Financial modeling is essential for determining a company's current value and projecting its future performance, yet few books explain how to build models for accurately interpreting financial statements. Building Financial Models is the first book to correct this oversight, unveiling a step-by-step process for creating a core model and then customizing it for companies in virtually any industry. Covering every aspect of building a financial model, it provides a broad understanding of the actual mechanics of models, as well as their foundational accounting and finance concepts.

Make informed business decisions with the beginner's guide to financial modeling using Microsoft Excel Financial Modeling in Excel For Dummies is your comprehensive guide to learning how to create informative, enlightening financial models today. Not a math whiz or an Excel power-user? No problem! All you need is a basic understanding of Excel to start building simple models with practical hands-on exercises and before you know it, you'll be modeling your way to optimized profits for your business in no time. Excel is powerful, user-friendly, and is most likely already installed on your computer—which is why it has so readily become the most popular financial modeling software. This book shows you how to harness Excel's capabilities to determine profitability, develop budgetary projections, model depreciation, project costs, value assets and more. You'll learn the fundamental best practices and know-how of financial modeling, and how to put them to work for your business and your clients. You'll learn the tools and techniques that bring insight out of the numbers, and make better business decisions based on quantitative evidence. You'll discover that financial modeling is an invaluable resource for your business, and you'll wonder why you've waited this long to learn how! Companies around the world use financial modeling for decision making, to steer strategy, and to develop solutions. This book walks you through the process with clear, expert guidance that assumes little prior knowledge. Learn the six crucial rules to follow when building a successful financial model Discover how to review and edit an inherited financial model and align it with your business and financial strategy Solve client problems, identify market projections, and develop business strategies based on scenario analysis Create valuable customized templates models that can become a source of competitive advantage From multinational corporations to the mom-and-pop corner store, there isn't a business around that wouldn't benefit from financial modeling. No need to buy expensive specialized software—the tools you need are right there in Excel. Financial Modeling in Excel For Dummies gets you up to speed quickly so you can start reaping the benefits today!

A proven guide to building financial models from scratch The Second Edition of Building Financial Models with Microsoft Excel + CD-ROM provides beginning and intermediate level computer users with step-by-step instructions on building financial models using Microsoft Excel 2007-the most popular spreadsheet program available. The accompanying CD-ROM contains Excel worksheets that track the course of the book and allow you to build your own financial models. This comprehensive resource also covers important topics such as the concepts of valuation, sensitivity analysis, and contribution margin. Offers accessible guidance on building financial models using Excel 2007 Illustrates how to integrate financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows Covers the basics of building and using a Capitalization Table Discusses how to best present a financial model Incorporating financial models into business decisions has become an essential element of good business practice, and this book will show you how to excel at this endeavor.

Learn to create and understand financial models that assess the value of your company, the projects it undertakes, and its future earnings/profit projections. Follow this step-by-step guide organized in a quick-read format to build an accurate and effective financial model from the ground up. In this short book, The Basics of Financial Modeling—an abridgment of the Handbook of Financial Modeling—author Jack Avon equips business professionals who are familiar with financial statements and accounting reports to become truly proficient. Based on the author's extensive experience building models in business and finance, and teaching others to do the same, this book takes you through the financial modeling process, starting with a general overview of the history and evolution of financial modeling. It then moves on to more technical topics, such as the principles of financial modeling and the proper way to approach a financial modeling assignment, before covering key application areas for modeling in Microsoft Excel. What You'll Learn Understand the accounting and finance concepts that underpin working financial models Approach financial issues and solutions from a modeler's perspective Think about end users when developing a financial model Plan, design, and build a financial model Who This Book Is For Beginning to intermediate modelers who wish to expand and enhance their knowledge of using Excel to build and analyze financial models

The go-to-guide for building projection models for financial analysis and valuation—updated with new content and materials Building Financial Models is considered the best guide to designing and building financial models for use in a wide variety of finance roles. This third edition of the popular resource features updated content, new materials, and a more accessible instructional layout supported by all new exercise files available to readers from a companion website. As with previous editions, the book offers a hands-on approach for creating a core model that is supported by broad coverage of cornerstone accounting and finance principles. The author, a seasoned developer and trainer with over 25 years’ experience developing financial models, takes you step by step through the entire process of developing a projection model. From the basics of accounting and Excel to the final “tips and tricks” for a completed model, you will be led assuredly through the steps of building an integrated financial statement model, one that can serve as the core for transactions or analysis in the LBO, M&A, business valuation model, or credit underwriting space. ●NEW: Updates on the latest Microsoft Excel shortcuts, functions, accounting concepts and modeling techniques●NEW: “Tips and tricks” on how to make your final model product both user-friendly and solidly built●NEW: Additional materials on valuation analysis and sections on scenarios and sensitivity analysis through the use of Data Tables●Online access to sample models you can download, and more

All the precision of financial modeling--and none of the complexity Evidence-based decision making is only as good as the external evidence on which it is based. Financial models uncover potential risks on a company’s balance sheet, but the complexity of these instruments has limited their effectiveness. Now, Mastering Financial Modeling offers a simplified method for building the fast and accurate financial models serious evidencebased decision makers need. What sets this practical guide apart is its "learning-on-the-job" approach. Unlike other books that teach modeling in a vacuum, this superior method uses a diverse collection of case studies to convey each step of the building process. "Learning on the job" connects the dots between the proper Excel formulas and functions and the real-world situations where you want to use them. By learning through association, you can absorb the information quickly and have it ready to use when you need it. The book starts right off on building models--from creating a standalone cash flow model through integrating it with an income statement and balance sheet. Along the way, you will master the skill set you need to build advanced financial models. With only a basic knowledge of accounting and finance, individual investors and financial professionals alike can: Create a core model and customize it for companies in most industries Understand every working component of a financial model and what each one tells you about a company Format cells and sheets in Excel for easily repeatable modeling Written with the practitioner in mind, Mastering Financial Modeling shows you how to ensure your model is ready for real-world application by safeguarding it against modeling errors. It covers a full array of Excel's builtin auditing and testing tools and illustrates how to build customized error-checking tools of your own to catch the inaccuracies that typically fall through the cracks. Get the most out of your data with Mastering Financial Modeling. Mastering Financial Modeling brings the power of financial models down to earth and puts it in the hands of investors, bankers, and private equity professionals who don't have a passion for crunching numbers. Nowhere else can you get step-by-step instruction on building these valuable tools from an elite World Bank investment officer. Starting from the ground up, Eric Soubeiga shows you how to interpret and build financial models in Microsoft Excel that will accurately assess any company’s valuation and profit potential. Even if you have unsuccessfully tried financial modeling in the past, this book will reach you because it associates every lesson to the business world you work in daily. Chapter by chapter, you will master financial modeling, and in the end, you will: Command authority over building every aspect of a financial model Be capable of explaining the accounting and finance concepts behind the mechanics of modeling Confidently determine a company’s ability to generate cash flows for its capital investors with discounted cash flow (DCF) modeling Execute powerful spreadsheet calculations in Excel Most importantly, as a decision maker, the insight you bring to the table through your sophisticated understanding and application of financial modeling will benefit every stakeholder. See what leading professionals around the world already know--Mastering Financial Modeling is the most comprehensive guide on the market for designing, building, and implementing valuation projection models. What it does from there is up to you.

A comprehensive guide to building financial models Building Financial Models with Microsoft Excel + CD-ROM provides beginning or intermediate level computer users with step-by-step instructions on building financial models using Microsoft Excel-the most popular spreadsheet program available. The accompanying CD-ROM contains Excel worksheets that track the course of the book and allow readers to build their own financial models. This comprehensive resource also covers important topics such as the concept of valuation, the concept of sensitivity analysis, the concepts of contribution margin and financial ratios and the basics of building and using a Capitalization Table. K. Scott Proctor, CFA, is the Director of Investor Analytics at SNL Financial, a financial information provider.

Written by the Founder and CEO of the prestigious New York School of Finance, this book schools you in the fundamental tools for accurately assessing the soundness of a stock investment. Built around a full-length case study of Wal-Mart, it shows you how to perform an in-depth analysis of that company's financial standing, walking you through all the steps of developing a sophisticated financial model as done by professional Wall Street analysts. You will construct a full scale financial model and valuation step-by-step as you page through the book. When we ran this analysis in January of 2012, we estimated the stock was undervalued. Since the first run of the analysis, the stock has increased 35 percent. Re-evaluating Wal-Mart 9months later, we will step through the techniques utilized by Wall Street analysts to build models on and properly value business entities. Step-by-step financial modeling - taught using downloadable Wall Street models, you will construct the model step by step as you page through the book. Hot keys and explicit Excel instructions aid even the novice excel modeler. Model built complete with Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, Balance Sheet, Balance Sheet Balancing Techniques, Depreciation Schedule (complete with accelerating depreciation and deferring taxes), working capital schedule, debt schedule, handling circular references, and automatic debt pay downs. Illustrative concepts including detailing model flows help aid in conceptual understanding. Concepts are reiterated and honed, perfect for a novice yet detailed enough for a professional. Model built direct from Wal-Mart public filings, searching through notes, performing research, and illustrating techniques to formulate projections. Includes in-depth coverage of valuation techniques commonly used by Wall Street professionals. Illustrative comparable company analyses - built the right way, direct from historical financials, calculating LTM (Last Twelve Month) data, calendarization, and properly smoothing EBITDA and Net Income. Precedent transactions analysis - detailing how to extract proper metrics from relevant proxy statements Discounted cash flow analysis - simplifying and illustrating how a DCF is utilized, how unlevered free cash flow is derived, and the meaning of weighted average cost of capital (WACC) Step-by-step we will come up with a valuation on Wal-Mart Chapter end questions, practice models, additional case studies and common interview questions (found in the companion website) help solidify the techniques honed in the book; ideal for universities or business students looking to break into the investment banking field.