# Learn Financial Modelling

Practical skills, courses, teachers, tools, and Excel resources for learning how to build financial models.

Canonical: https://finamodel.com/learn

## Jump Right In

- [Blog](https://finamodel.com/blog) - guides and tutorials
- [FAQs](https://finamodel.com/faq) - clear answers by topic
- [Templates](https://finamodel.com/templates) - editable Excel models
- [Examples](https://finamodel.com/examples) - completed financial models
- [Videos](https://finamodel.com/videos) - curated video walkthroughs and tutorials

## How to Learn Financial Modelling

[Watch: What is financial modelling?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgAAJQKaaSc)

Financial modelling combines accounting, business analysis, Excel, and clear thinking. The fastest way to improve is to build and review real models, not memorise formulas in isolation.

Start with the three financial statements, then learn how operating assumptions feed revenue, costs, working capital, capital expenditure, debt, cash flow, and valuation. Build each schedule separately before linking the complete model.

A reliable model should be easy to follow and difficult to break. Assumptions should be visible, formulas traceable, statements balanced, and outputs responsive when the main drivers change.

## Financial Modelling Skills to Learn

1. **Excel foundations:** Shortcuts, cell references, core formulas, formatting conventions, and model navigation.
2. **Accounting and the three statements:** Understand how the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement connect.
3. **Historical data and assumptions:** Collect source data, clean the historical periods, and separate inputs from calculations.
4. **Revenue and cost forecasting:** Translate business drivers into revenue, margin, headcount, and operating expense forecasts.
5. **Supporting schedules:** Build working capital, fixed asset, depreciation, tax, debt, and equity schedules.
6. **Three-statement modelling:** Link the schedules into balanced forecast financial statements with clear model checks.
7. **Valuation and returns:** Apply DCF, comparable companies, precedent transactions, LBO, and returns analysis.
8. **Scenarios, review, and presentation:** Add sensitivities, test assumptions, audit formulas, and present decision-ready outputs.

## How to Practise Financial Modelling

Use templates as teachers, not shortcuts. Inspect the structure, rebuild the logic, and test whether you understand the result.

1. **Inspect:** Start with a completed model and identify the outputs, assumptions, and main schedules.
2. **Trace:** Follow important formulas backwards until you can explain where each result comes from.
3. **Rebuild:** Recreate one schedule in a blank workbook without copying the original formulas.
4. **Stress-test:** Change the key assumptions and check that the model responds logically and still balances.
5. **Audit:** Check formulas, hardcodes, units, signs, assumptions, and model checks for errors and inconsistencies.
6. **Explain:** Summarise the model's logic, conclusions, sensitivities, and limitations in plain language.

## Paid Financial Modelling Courses

- [CFA Institute - Financial Modeling Practical Skills Module](https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfa-program/candidate-resources/practical-skills-modules/financial-modelling) - A practical three-statement modelling module covering forecasts, schedules, model design, and troubleshooting.
- [Corporate Finance Institute - Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®)](https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/certifications/financial-modeling-valuation-analyst-fmva-program/) - A broad certification covering three-statement models, valuation, budgeting, forecasting, and presentation skills.
- [Coursera · Wharton - Business and Financial Modeling Specialization](https://www.coursera.org/specializations/wharton-business-financial-modeling) - A beginner-friendly series on spreadsheets, quantitative models, risk, scenarios, and business decisions.
- [Career Principles - The Financial Analyst Program](https://www.careerprinciples.com/courses) - Hands-on training across Excel, accounting, valuation, and financial modelling for analyst roles.
- [Wall Street Prep - Financial & Valuation Modeling Certification](https://www.wallstreetprep.com/self-study-programs/premium-package/) - Practitioner-led training in financial statements, DCF, comps, M&A, and LBO modelling.

## Financial Modelling Educators to Follow

- [Kenji Explains](https://www.youtube.com/@KenjiExplains) - Excel and practical financial modelling. Clear, project-based videos on Excel, three-statement models, valuation, and analyst workflows.
- [Aswath Damodaran](https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/New_Home_Page/teaching.html) - Valuation and corporate finance. NYU Stern professor with free classes, webcasts, spreadsheets, and lecture notes on valuation.
- [Matan Feldman](https://www.wallstreetprep.com/self-study-programs/premium-package/) - Investment banking and transaction modelling. Wall Street Prep founder and former JPMorgan banker focused on professional modelling practice.
- [Tim Vipond](https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/author/tim-vipond/) - Corporate finance, FP&A, and valuation. CFI co-founder and instructor teaching financial modelling, scenario analysis, dashboards, and valuation.
- [Ian Schnoor](https://smith.queensu.ca/faculty_and_research/faculty_list/schnoor-ian.php) - Advanced modelling and model review. FMI executive director and university lecturer focused on modelling standards, valuation, Excel, and model auditing.
- [Danielle Stein Fairhurst](https://plumsolutions.com.au/elearning/) - Excel modelling and best practice. Financial modeller, Microsoft MVP, author, and instructor teaching practical model design from beginner to advanced level.
- [Paul Pignataro](https://www.nyschooloffinance.com/) - Investment banking and private equity. Author and instructor covering three-statement models, DCF, comparable companies, M&A, and transaction analysis.
- [Liam Bastick](https://sumproduct.com/biographies/) - Model design, auditing, and Power BI. SumProduct founder, author, and long-time trainer in financial modelling, valuations, strategy, Excel, and Power BI.
- [Ben Chon · rareliquid](https://rareliquid.com/) - Investment banking models and careers. Former JPMorgan banker sharing free technical walkthroughs, finance career guides, and practical banking instruction.

## Financial Modelling Communities

Join the [r/financialmodelling community on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialmodelling/) to ask technical questions, share approaches, and learn from practitioners across FP&A, investment banking, valuation, and corporate finance. It is a useful place to troubleshoot formulas, get feedback on model structure, discuss careers, and discover learning resources. Remove confidential data before sharing any workbook or screenshot.

## Why Learn Financial Modelling?

- Turn operating assumptions into forecasts and funding plans.
- Understand how business decisions affect profit, cash flow, and value.
- Compare scenarios, risks, investments, and strategic options.
- Communicate financial conclusions with a transparent analytical model.
- Spot errors, cash constraints, value drivers before decisions are made.
- Create reusable planning tools that stay useful as assumptions change.

## Who Should Learn Financial Modelling?

- Students preparing for finance internships and modelling tests
- Analysts and associates building job-ready technical skills
- Accountants moving into forecasting, FP&A, or valuation
- Founders and operators planning growth, runway, and fundraising
- Investors and entrepreneurs evaluating companies or projects

## Financial Modelling Career Opportunities

- **Investment banking and M&A:** Build valuation, merger, financing, and accretion-dilution models to advise on transactions.
- **Private equity and venture capital:** Evaluate operating cases, capital structures, exit assumptions, and investor returns across scenarios.
- **FP&A and corporate finance:** Translate business drivers into budgets, rolling forecasts, cash plans, and management decisions.
- **Equity research and asset management:** Forecast earnings and cash flow, value companies, and test the assumptions behind investment views.
- **Transaction advisory and consulting:** Normalise historical performance, quantify deal adjustments, and assess commercial or financial scenarios.
- **Real estate and project finance:** Project revenue, development costs, debt service, cash waterfalls, and risk-adjusted returns.
- **Startup finance and strategic finance:** Model revenue drivers, hiring, burn, runway, and future funding needs as the business scales.
- **Corporate development and strategy:** Assess acquisition targets, synergies, purchase prices, and the long-term economics of strategic choices.

## Financial Modelling Tools and Software

- [Claude for Excel](https://www.anthropic.com/news/advancing-claude-for-financial-services) - **AI spreadsheet agent · Beginner:** Reads, builds, edits, and audits Excel workbooks while explaining its changes and referenced cells.
- [Shortcut](https://shortcut.ai/) - **AI spreadsheet agent · Beginner:** Works inside Excel to build models, write formulas, automate analysis, and maintain traceable changes.
- [Tracelight](https://tracelight.ai/) - **AI modelling and review · Intermediate:** Builds and reviews Excel models, traces formula logic, compares workbooks, and produces linked outputs.
- [Macabacus](https://macabacus.com/lp/financial-modeling-excel-trial) - **Excel modelling add-in · Intermediate:** Adds modelling shortcuts, formula auditing, model checks, formatting, and Excel-to-PowerPoint links.
- [UpSlide](https://upslide.com/en-gb/) - **Excel and PowerPoint workflow · Intermediate:** Provides model construction, formula auditing, workbook cleaning, and live links from Excel to presentations.
- [Hebbia](https://www.hebbia.com/) - **AI research and model inputs · Intermediate:** Extracts cited data and assumptions from filings, presentations, and data rooms for use in Excel models.
- [OpenAI Codex](https://openai.com/codex/) - **Workflow automation · Advanced:** Builds scripts and repeatable workflows for collecting data, transforming inputs, and automating model processes.
- [Abacum](https://www.abacum.ai/) - **AI-native FP&A · Intermediate:** Connects business data for budgeting, forecasting, scenario planning, headcount planning, and financial reporting.
- [Fathom](https://www.fathomhq.com/) - **Forecasting and reporting · Beginner:** Creates three-way forecasts, scenarios, microforecasts, consolidated reporting, and management dashboards.
- [Lucanet xP&A](https://www.lucanet.com/en/solutions/financial-planning/) - **Connected financial planning · Advanced:** Combines planning, forecasting, reporting, scenarios, and operational data in a collaborative workspace.
- [Quantrix](https://quantrix.com/) - **Multidimensional modelling · Advanced:** Builds large driver-based models with readable formulas and dimensions instead of cell-by-cell logic.
- [Finamodel](https://finamodel.com/templates) - **Templates and model examples · Beginner:** Provides editable Excel templates and completed models to inspect, rebuild, and adapt.