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This book was written from my course materials compiled over many years of training
in analytical courses in Australia and globally—most frequently courses such as
Financial Modelling in Excel, Data Analysis & Reporting in Excel, and Budgeting &
Forecasting in Excel, both as face-to-face workshops and online courses. The common
theme is the use of Microsoft Excel, and I’ve refined the content to suit the hundreds of
participants and their questions over the years. This content has been honed and refined
by the many participants on these courses, who are my intended readers. This book is
aimed at you, the many people who seek financial analysis training (either by attending
a seminar or self-paced by reading this book) because you are seeking to improve your
skills to perform better in your current role, or get a new and better job.
When I started financial modelling in the early nineties, it was not called financial
modelling—it was just “Using Excel for Business Analysis,” and this is what I’ve called
this book. It was only just after the new millennium that the term financial modelling
gained popularity in its own right and became a required skill often listed on analytical
job descriptions. This book spends quite a bit of time in Chapter 1 defining the
meaning of a financial model as it’s often thought to be something that is far more
complicated than it actually is. Many analysts I’ve met are building financial models
already without realising it, but they do themselves a disservice by not calling their
models, “models”!
However, those who are already building financial models are not necessarily
following good modelling practice as they do so. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the principles
of best modelling practice, which will save you a lot of time, effort, and anguish
in the long run. Many of the principles of best practice are for the purpose of reducing
the possibility of error in your model, and there is a whole section on strategies for
reducing error in Chapter 4.
The majority of Excel users are self-taught, and therefore many users will often
know highly advanced Excel tools, yet fail to understand how to use them in the
context of building a financial model. This book is very detailed, so feel free to skip
sections you already know. Because of the comprehensive nature of the book, much of
the detailed but less commonly used content, such as instructions for the older
Excel 2003 users, has been moved to the companion website at www.wiley.com/go/
steinfairhurst. References to the content on the website, and many cross-references to
other sections of the book, can be found throughout the manuscript. |
