Financial Modeling for Corporate Finance?

Hey guys, looking into breaking into corporate finance and was wondering what the best self study financial modeling program out there? I have solid excel skills but am a novice when it comes to financial modeling. Also, am a novice when it comes to VBA/macros.

I want to learn how to do financial valuations (ie DCF valuations), variance analysis, forecasting, and any other essential technical skills needed to become an financial analyst. I've heard mixed reviews regarding WallStreetPrep, and simon benninga's financial modeling book. Any advice regarding making this career transition would be great. Thanks..

 

I know you want to get ahead and learn a bit of modeling but a little advice from my personal experience is wait until you know exactly what you will be doing before you invest a lot of your time and money. The methods and procedures vary significantly from company to company and a lot of the things you learn may turn out to be useless and a waste of time. I tried to practice a lot of modeling (DCF's, valuation, etc) with sample models and macabacus before I started work and transitioning into corp fin but it didn't provide me the ROI I had hoped for. My advice for you would be to just get a high level understanding of what certain models do and are used for whilst starting off. Once you know exactly what you will be doing, learning a program/macro to tune your skills and boost efficiency would be super helpful.

However, with that said, I will say that it is still good to know these things and have a general high level understanding. One awesome thing was that doing all of this helped me brush up on my excel skills and learn a bunch of new tricks that served to be useful down the road.

 
Best Response

It sounds you don't want to do CF. You're describing the type of modelling that's done in banking. It's very very rare to get hired at entry level into the internal strategy/M&A group of a large company. Other than that group, no other groups in CF do DCF modelling or any type of advanced valuation modelling. The finance skills you'd learn from WallStreetPrep are not relevant for entry level CF.

 
Thurnis Haley:

It sounds you don't want to do CF. You're describing the type of modelling that's done in banking. It's very very rare to get hired at entry level into the internal strategy/M&A group of a large company. Other than that group, no other groups in CF do DCF modelling or any type of advanced valuation modelling. The finance skills you'd learn from WallStreetPrep are not relevant for entry level CF.

Agreed

 

I work in corporate finance and the areas you mentioned (DCF valuations, variance analysis, forecasting) are a major part of my job so those are all worhwhile areas to gain knowledge in based on my experience.

It isn't discussed much here, but I'd consider the CMA if I were you. You don't need the 150 credits the CPA requires and it is directly relevant to most corporate finance and accounting type jobs. I finished the exams right before I started this job and it was a big help since it covers DCF, forecasting, WACC, basic accounting, etc. If you're going to invest the time studying anyway, might as well get a few letters after your name as a result.

 

I would agree with this (as well as a number of the other posters)....really depends on your job.

My job involves DCF/IRR, understanding lease accounting for project budgets, running our five year forecast, and valuations of targets (my desk is also the first one our Chief Strategy Officer comes to when needing anything quantitative, but I'm housed in the corporate finance function)

I've been working a lot on our capital structure recently, but our bankers handle all of our issuance structure runs.

a number of my colleagues can only name drop vlookups and pivot tables without actually knowing how to use them...

Director of Finance and Corporate Development: 2020 - Present Manager of FP&A and Corporate Development: 2019 - 2020 Corporate Finance, Strategy and Development: 2011 - 2019 "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin
 

If you're still looking for a course it depends on your budget and area of corporate finance you're interested in.

The wall street prep course is good at around $500 (I forget the exact price), its comprehensive and it has videos to help you understand the content.

If you're interested in project finance modelling there aren't as many around and you'll need to look around a bit to find one. But the more standard modelling courses will still provide you with the basic modelling skills you will need for the area.

 

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