Best Excel Courses

Excel is a spreadsheet software used for financial modeling and data management, cleansing, and analysis using charts, graphs, and numerous other tools. Since its inception, many businesses and institutions have adopted Excel due to its ability to transform complex data into user-friendly organized information making it a cost-effective solution for various purposes.

Due to its flexibility, MS Excel forms the backbone of financial data analysis, which makes it the preferred analytical tool for most financial analysts. Since having excellent Excel skills can significantly impact the upward trajectory of your career, we bring you the most popular and practical Excel courses to hone your analytical skills for the finance profession.

Our Excel courses help you strive in real-world scenarios, whether it's working on ad hoc tasks or building complex financial models. However, before moving forward, we would like to remind you that each of our Excel courses takes you through the basics to the advanced concepts and are designed to provide value to Excel amateurs and experts alike.

Excel Modeling Course

The foundation course that will help you thrive in the most prestigious jobs on Wall Street.

What you will learn

• Excel formatting, and logical and data functions
• Excel Scenarios, data tables, and formula auditing to minimize errors
• Excel Math functions (how actual investment bankers use these in real life), Lookup, and finance functions
• Sorting, Filtering, pivot tables, and how to gain maximum efficiency while working in Excel

Requirements

• No prerequisites

Details

Our Excel Modeling Course will build your analytical skills to help you go from a novice to an Excel wizard. It provides you with the fundamental skills required on your journey to become a top financial analyst at an investment bank, private equity fund, hedge fund, or any other role requiring the use of Excel. With more than 105+ videos, we assure you that this program is suitable for everyone from the entry-level associates to the top-level executive.

Since this is a fundamental course, you must be wondering why not go for a free crash course available elsewhere?

First, this course is designed by industry experts to meet YOUR requirements while working in finance. The crash courses won't cover all aspects of practical knowledge you will need while working as a finance professional. There are always things that go unnoticed. Hence, it has been rightly quoted that "half knowledge can be more dangerous than no knowledge."

Secondly, our panel of experts is always at your disposal to guide you on this odyssey to conquer MS Excel.

Who should opt for this course

• Students looking to pursue a career in the finance industry
• Finance professionals
• Any other person looking to build up their Excel skills (Since most professions today require you to be an Excel wizard)

Financial Statement Modeling Course

Build a three-statement model for Nike Inc. to understand its performance and predict its future business potential.

What you will learn

• Build three statements, namely Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet from scratch
• Build and predict the net income and revenue based on predetermined drivers
• Understand the circularity that exists between the three financial statements
• Best practices while building three-statement models
• Understand how to build assumptions to make the model more robust

Requirements

• Basic understanding of working in Excel
• Fundamental knowledge about the three financial statements

Details

Financial statement modeling refers to linking the income statement, the cash flow statement, and the balance sheet into one dynamic model. They are used to forecast the performance of a business in the future. Since all three financial statements are dynamically linked, it enables the analyst to conduct sensitivity analysis based on assumptions about the company's future. The Three Financial Statement model is used to build more advanced financial models such as Discounted Cash Flow(DCF) Model, Leveraged Buyout(LBO) Model as well as M&A Model.

Go from novice to financial statement modeling wizard in this comprehensive and engaging online course with 60 mini-lessons. Learning how to build a three-statement model is a foundational skill in investment banking, private equity, corporate finance, hedge funds, equity research, corporate development, management consulting, and more. Once you learn how to link up the three statements in Excel, balance your balance sheet and complete this course, you will be ready for some of our more advanced financial modeling courses.

Who should opt for this course

• Students who are looking to make a career in the Investment Banking or Private Equity
• Financial Analysts
• Financial Consultants
• Anyone else who may be interested in pursuing a career in finance

Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Modeling Course

Learn how private equity firms screen companies to make leveraged buyout deals by practically creating an LBO model for Nike.

What you will learn

• Creating a robust LBO model to handle different scenarios
• The different sources and uses of funds in an LBO
• Debt structure, credit metrics, 2017 tax reforms, as well as valuation and transactions assumptions
• Calculating equity value, sponsor returns, and sensitivity analysis to give you an in-depth study of all the variables of the model
• Bonus learning modules on purchase price accounting, dividend recap, and add-on Acquisition Build

Requirements

• Basic understanding of working in Excel (Worry not! If you are a beginner, our PE instructor has still got you covered with thorough explanations for all the basic concepts.)
• Decent knowledge about the fundamentals of accounting
• Prior experience in finance is a plus but not essential
• Our Financial Statement Modeling course is an added advantage while building the LBO model
• The M&A Modeling Course is not vital. However, it is an added advantage if you have already completed it.

Details

LBO refers to the purchase of a company using primarily debt to finance the transaction. The expectation with leveraged buyouts is that the returns generated on the acquisition will far outweigh the interest paid on the debt to acquire it, making it possible to earn high returns by risking a small amount of equity investment. The assumption with an LBO transaction is that the buyer will sell the company in the future, mostly 3-5 years from the period of the transaction, to earn excess average annualized returns

In this course, we'll assume that Nike is taken private by a consortium of private equity megafunds. With 124 lessons, 8+ hours of video content, and a detailed case study framework, you'll learn exactly how to build a detailed leveraged buyout model with critical sensitivity analysis and detailed nuances only the most veteran private equity professionals know.

This course includes complex modules on the 2017 tax reform and bonus modules on purchase accounting in the context of an LBO, dividend recapitalizations, and how to build a roll-up strategy into your LBO model.

Who should opt for this course

• Students who are looking to make a career in the financial sector, especially in private equity
• Financial analysts
• Investment bankers

M&A Modeling Course

Learn the finance theory and the mechanics behind M&A by building a theoretical model of the buy-side case of Nike acquiring Lululemon.

What you will learn

• What is an M&A deal - the big picture?
• Different transaction types and their formulas
• A typical buy-side process including - initial contact and transaction assessment, detailed due diligence, agreement on price, and transaction closing
• Transaction related adjustments, accretion/ dilution analysis, merits of proposed M&A deal
• Sell-side process, M&A engagements, and the origin of M&A process
• In-depth M&A purchase price accounting

Requirements

• Basic accounting and Excel knowledge

Details

Mergers and acquisitions are financial transactions between two companies that change the ownership structure in either one or both companies. If company X purchases company Y and takes over its business, it results in the establishment of a new owner. This type of deal is called an acquisition. On the contrary, a merger occurs when two separately owned companies join forces to form a new company.

In this course, we'll assume Nike is acquiring LuLulemon and explore how a merger model works. With over 60 lessons and 3+ hours of video content, you'll learn the mechanics of M&A transactions by building your own M&A models, run an accretion dilution analysis, and be valuable to your deal team right out of training.

Who should opt for this course

• Equity Research professionals
• Students looking to build relevant skills to enter Investment Banking
• Professionals pursuing CFA or CPA

Valuation Modeling Course

Build a complete valuation model for Nike Inc. from scratch.

What you will learn

• The theory and logic behind valuations
• Trading Comps - fundamental concepts and applications and a step-by-step guide on building trading comps across four real companies
• The theory behind precedent transactions, the step-by-step process involved in the setup
• Benchmarking the outputs from our case study on trading comps of a real company
• Summarizing and benchmarking the output from transactions comp

Requirements

• Basic accounting and MS Excel knowledge
• Introductory knowledge about corporate finance

Details

Valuation is determining the fair price of an asset or a company. The three widely used valuation methods are DCF analysis, trading comps, and precedent transactions. Since we already have an in-depth course for Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model, we focus on relative valuation methods, i.e., trading comps and precedent transactions.

The trading comps method compares the target company with similar publicly traded companies using financial ratios. In contrast, the precedent transactions method compares the target company with comparable recently sold companies, publicly traded or privately owned.

Our Valuation Modeling course provides you with 170+ lessons, 10+ exercises, and real-life cases that will help you to build models like you would on a job. By the end of the course, build complete trading comps and precedent transaction models from scratch and interpret the results just like a true professional would.

Who should opt for this course

• Investment banking and Equity Research professionals
• Students looking to build relevant skills to enter Investment Banking
• Professionals pursuing CFA or CPA
• Financial Analysts

DCF Modeling Course

This course is an ultimate guide to building a discounted cash flow model based on the practical case of Nike Inc for aspiring investment bankers and professionals working in corporate finance.

What you will learn

• Locating information and drivers of free cash flow projections
• Calculate Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) and its implication on valuation
• Explore the difference between intrinsic and relative valuation, enterprise value vs. equity value, etc.
• Calculate and project Net Working Capital, understand the difference between Unlevered vs. Levered Free Cash Flow
• Derive a company's share price from the NPV of future cash flows

Requirements

• Proficiency in Excel is an added advantage but not essential
• Introductory knowledge of corporate finance and accounting

Details

Discounted Cash Flow method estimates the present value of the investment based on the future cash flows that it generates over a fixed period. The DCF model achieves this by translating the future cash flows into their present value using a discount rate. A present value that is higher than the investment indicates that the investment generates value. Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is the widely adopted discount rate because it considers the shareholder's expected rate of return.

This course consists of more than 75+ lessons and 5 hours of video content that helps you construct a DCF Model for Nike Inc and derive the company's share price from the Net present value (NPV) of future cash flows. In addition, it teaches you key terminologies associated with DCF and the calculation of WACC and its implications on valuation.

Who should opt for this course

• Students who are looking to pursue a career in Investment Banking and Corporate Finance
• Aspiring Financial Analysts
• Finance professionals looking to enhance their valuation skills

Real Estate Modeling Course

Build functional and dynamic real estate financial models to break into the real estate private equity industry or just to make investment recommendations based on your analysis.

What you will learn

• Multifamily modeling basics such as forecasting cash flows, calculating cap rate and IRR
• Difference between GP and LP and how to add value and develop multifamily and commercial properties
• Modeling cash flows for commercial real estate and exploring lease structures, tenant improvements, leasing commission, etc.
• Multifamily acquisition modeling case to refine your skills in forecasting the income statement, sensitivity tables, amortization schedule, etc.
• Case study based on the commercial NYC office to revise all the essential concepts in this course

Requirements

• Basic knowledge of MS Excel
• A basic understanding of real estate finance is recommended but not essential

Details

Suppose you develop an apartment building for $28 million and intend to sell it after 7 years. Would you earn a minimum of 13% annualized return on the investment? You also have rental units that you are looking to lease out. How would you measure your returns on those multiple rental units? Real Estate financial modeling helps to find out the answers to such questions.

We offer you a complete A to Z guide on building functional, dynamic real estate modeling courses from scratch. This course will strengthen your basics before heading on to the advanced concepts to help you break into the real estate PE industry. If you already work in real estate, this course will help you confidently analyze real estate and make decisions based on models or get higher compensation transitioning into commercial real estate acquisitions.

With over 60+ detailed lessons, this course will help you thrive in the most rigorous real estate interview and job by teaching you the best practices and foundations of real estate modeling.

Who should opt for this course

• Students and working professionals looking to build up their careers in the real estate private equity industry
• Real estate professionals looking to add valuable real estate financial modeling skills to assist clients better in buying, selling, or leasing properties
• Financial Analysts
• Investors who are looking to become real estate developers can use this skill to analyze the projected returns on real estate investments

More on Excel

To continue your journey towards becoming an Excel wizard, check out these additional helpful WSO resources.

• Excel keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac
• Advanced Excel formulas you must know
• Excel modeling best practices
• Developer tab
• INDEX MATCH formula in Excel