Master Class in Financial Modeling

Master Class in Financial Modeling

Duration: 3 Days

Master Class Background

In today’s competitive business world firms are under unprecedented pressure to deliver value to their shareholders and other key stakeholders. Senior executives in all parts of the organisation are finding that again and again they are required to assess the future financial performance of business opportunities, investments, acquisitions and capital projects. All of these opportunities require building of financial models, challenging of the robustness of the key assumptions, the resilience of the calculations and the interpretation of likely outcomes.

This three day Master Class is a highly interactive and participative workshop that is designed to give senior financial executives an understanding of the core principle of financial modelling, equip them with a firm grasp of  sound modelling techniques , to allow them to improve their financial forecasting and business Investment decision making.

This Master Class uses a combination of participative seminars, discussions, case studies and problem solving to ensure that delegates learn and develop the confidence to use the various principles and techniques.

Who Should Attend this Master Class in Financial Modeling?

  • Accountants
  • Financial Modelers
  • Financial controllers
  • Finance Staff
  • Business and financial Analysts
  • Commercial sales  personnel
  • Strategy Directors / Heads
  • Business Owners / Managing Directors
  • Plus anyone who needs to improve their understanding of financial Modelling

By Attending This Highly Interactive Master Class You Will Be Equipped With The Skills To:

  • To provide a sound understanding of financial modelling concepts and principles
  • To provide a good working knowledge of the most useful techniques to in Excel for Financial Modelling
  • To provide expertise in assessing business problems and designing appropriate solutions
  • Identify the key components of working capital and how they can be managed to generate strong cashflow
  • Evaluate pricing decisions based on an understanding of the nature of business costs and their impact on gross margin and break-even sales; managing pricing, discounts and costs to generate strong business profits
  • Understand the role of business finance in formulating and implementing competitive business strategy; and the various approaches to investment and  performance measurement
  • Apply and interpret techniques for assessing and comparing investment opportunities in capital projects, business acquisitions and other ventures; To be equipped to test the business opportunity and evaluate the best course of action

Training Methods

  • This three day Master Class is a highly interactive and participative workshop that is designed to give senior executives an understanding of and the practical ability to use the key business financial skills to improve their business decision making.
  • The Master Class uses a combination of participative seminars, discussion, case studies and problem solving to ensure that delegates learn and develop the confidence to use the various principles and techniques.

Master Class Outline

Day 1 – The business context for financial modelling

  • Why build a financial Model?
  • What types of Model are there?
  • The traps of traditional modeling
  • Planning the process and control points
  • Defining the winning end game

The importance of good design

  • Key steps in model building
  • Best practice guidelines
  • Designing for flexibility and scalability
  • Designing for consistency
  • Designing for external review and testing
  • Designing in checks and balances

Avoiding common modelling errors

  • Controlling the data integrity
  • Hunting and removing circularities that will  kill your model
  • Use of VBA pros and cons
  • Use of macros when and why

Resilience testing of a model

  • Precedents and dependents
  • Evaluate formula dialogue box
  • Goal seek

Day 2 – Building an integrated Model

  • Why build an integrated model.
  • Adding Integration to an existing model
  • Setting the start position
  • Logic lops and how to overcome them
  • Error checking model integrity

Managing and improving cash flow

  • Forecasting your cash requirement
  • Understanding and avoiding the over-trading trap
  • Leveraging your  working capital
  • Sources of finance and their advantages and disadvantages
  • Optimizing Equity structures
  • Unlocking the funds tied up in fixed assets: asset backed loans, HP finance and leasing
  • Dealing with differences – updating, timing , significance, profile
  • Final sign off

Financial Model Auditing

  • Why Audit
  • Excels Auditing Tools
  • Demonstration
  • Documentation

Incorporating risk management into your model

  • The difference between risks and issues
  • The role of the risk management log
  • Who should own the risk
  • What to do with the risk you can’t avoid 
  • Contingency  & probability

Day 3 – Financial based decision making

  • What is your objective?
  • Make your report stand out
  • Plan , Draft , Edit,
  • Why do some reports fail to achieve their objective?
  • Planning for the meeting – roles, responsibilities, socializing
  • Differences of opinion

Presenting your answer

  • Graphs
  • Scenarios
  • Data tables
  • Solver

Investment appraisal

  • Understanding the ‘time value’ of money
  • Common methods used for investment and project appraisal IRR & NPV
  • Using discounted cashflow techniques for investment appraisal
  • Project investment and capital budgeting decisions

Can I trust this Model?

  • Why review
  • When to do it
  • Who is best placed to review it
  • What you need before you start
  • Mathematical and principles integrity

Pre – course requirements

Delegates will need a basic understand of mathematics and should be familiar with the calculation of ratios, percentages and averages. Calculators will be required. Bring a laptop with Excel, this is a hands on course!