Nothing conveys complex information more quickly and effectively than a well-built and visually appealing infographic. They are designed to entertain as well as inform, and the popularity of the infographic in social media has made them an effective way to distill complex information and draw attention to issues that may have otherwise been overlooked.
During this webinar, online trainer, Danielle Stein Fairhurst led us on a short technical demonstration of how to create scenarios using plain Excel without any add-ins or other software. Reduce uncertainty in decision making using built-in standard Excel tools to reduce volatility in outcomes by performing sensitivity and scenario analysis to mitigate risk. Danielle demonstrated tools such as manual selection, data tables and scenario manager, and then took some brief questions relating to scenarios from the general attendees.
You can view the recording below. The recording features several Excel files and if you would like a copy of the accompanying Excel files as well as the Power Point Slides, please enter your details to access the Files.
No, it’s not a silly question and since the “Modern Excel” was introduced in 2010, the changes have been pretty subtle and it can be a little difficult to tell the difference.
There are a few rules for model design that should be followed when designing the layout of a model. Most experienced modellers will follow these instinctively, as they are generally common sense.
Extract from Using Excel for Business Analysis, Chapter Two
Model design and structure can be one of the most difficult parts of building a financial model. Typically, modellers will work from back to front when building their model. The output, or the part they want the viewer or user to see, will be at the front, calculations will go in the middle, and source data and assumptions should go at the back. The image below shows an example of what your tabs in a well-structured model might look like.
I’ve been showing this video supplied by Microsoft in my training recently, and lot of people have asked me for a copy, so here it is! Some of my favourite new features in Excel 2016 are:
Structured Reference Tables have been around for a while, but have become a lot more powerful in recent versions of Excel. They can be extremely useful when using Excel for the purpose of data analysis and modelling but I’m always surprised by the number of people coming along on my training courses who’ve never heard of them, let alone seen them used.
The Table feature in Excel (not to be confused with PivotTables or Data Tables!) is a great tool for organising and analysing large amounts of data. For this reason, like PivotTables, they are sometimes not used in pure financial modelling, but as a very useful tool in reporting and analysis, they are also worth a brief mention. See this article for more information about the use of Tables in Financial Modelling.
The two useful features of a Table are:
