Help! #DIV/O! all over my model!

Hey everyone, working on my lbo model and all of the sudden I have #DIV/O! errors all over. Does anyone know why this happens or an easy way to figure out where the error is coming from or how to fix it? I really don't want to have to start over from the previous version.

Excel 2007 in case that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance.

16 Comments
 

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO u old fuck upgrade your windows 98 u slimey roasted corn dog -- btw +1sb made me laugh so hard

What concert costs 45 cents? 50 Cent feat. Nickelback.
 

this occurs when you are attempting to divide by zero or a blank cell. choose a #DIV/O! cell and trace precedents. if that takes you to a cell with a #DIV/O! error, then do it again until you find a 0 or blank.

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 

1) Fix your ref / mistake that caused the #DIV/0 - if you changed a reference by accident, press undo or something. This will not fix your model but is necessary for following steps 2) Ctrl-H, find: = replace with: WSO4Life 3) Replace 4) Calculate 5) Ctrl-H, find: WSO4Life, replace with: = 6) Replace 7) Profit.

This trick has saved me countless times.

 
"Sterling Archer"

...you work in PE and can't troubleshoot a model?

Mighta been a consultant before....but that's a bit stretching for benefit of the doubt.

Bottom line is that you have a circularity(most likely) and need to check out one of the lines involved in that circularity.

In the future make sure that when you have a circularity you build them with an "if" statement that allows you to manually set their values to some arbitrary number, then revert them. This breaks the circularity and stops errors from feeding forward so that it will calculate correctly when you put the formula back in.

The way most modeling programs teach you do this is a pain in the ass, they'll want you to copy-paste values in and out. You can do this in a pinch(like if you forgot to put a circuit breaker in) but in general adding your circuit breaker should be one of the first things you do in a model, and you should throw your if statement in as soon as you build your first circularity.

 

Sapiente dolorem ducimus enim dolorem doloribus est aliquam corporis. Nam occaecati dolor ex qui. Et voluptates delectus quos aliquid fugit quod non.

Saepe quae excepturi odio aperiam corrupti sint consequuntur. Eligendi delectus repudiandae voluptatem voluptatem libero recusandae voluptates dolor.

Et blanditiis nostrum quo eum molestias. Non quo repudiandae est et architecto rerum molestiae. Nam sint non id veniam magnam. Sequi aspernatur modi deleniti deleniti eaque unde. Blanditiis rerum alias magni omnis quam. Labore consequatur odio aut amet asperiores culpa autem harum.

Eum debitis error eos aut doloribus. Minus voluptas hic eos veritatis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”