Gone are the days when investing in a business required just money and a little bit of research. Nowadays, even a small investment requires research and analysis done by professionals. And that’s where financial modeling comes in handy. This skill is useful in various financial sectors such as investment banking, project finance, mergers, and acquisitions, etc. In this article, we will learn about some of the best institutions with an excellent financial modeling course syllabus that is available online. But before that let’s learn about financial modeling.
Financial modeling is a skill that is used to evaluate financial decisions that are/have been made that may impact the business. Financial models are used to make informed decisions about raising capital, budgeting and forecasting, making acquisitions, capital allocation, and much more by working professionals inside a company.
What is Financial Modeling?
Financial modeling is a valuation tool that uses a company’s past financial statements and assumptions about its future and constructs a mathematical model to perform financial statement analysis. It typically involves creating an income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and supporting schedules known as the 3 statement model.
Why Financial Modeling Course?
Financial modeling is slowly emerging as one of the most desired skills in today’s corporate world. And it comes as no surprise as the demand for a financial modeling analyst who can develop an effective model that helps companies track the growth and performance of the organization is very valuable. And therefore, the financial modeling course syllabus is ever increasing with new developments.
Whenever a company needs to make a financial decision regarding risk management, capital allocation, valuation of a company, valuation of assets, mergers & acquisitions, etc. a financial model depicts each scenario in the form of a model to understand its impact and outcome. Therefore, professionals with financial modeling skills have an edge over others.
How it Works
- Gather the organization’s past financial statements and analyze its performance on various financial parameters.
- This analysis is used to build a financial model which is then used to project the company’s financial performance in the future.
- This model is used by companies/investors to calculate a suitable valuation for the companies.
- Such research analysis is used in the areas of investment banking/equity research/financial KPOs that are assisting investment bankers/equity research firms, financial advisory firms, and project finance.
These models are most useful when pricing the products, asset or enterprise valuation (Discounted Cash Flow Analysis), LBO, option pricing, etc.
Career and Scope
There are many career opportunities for a financial modeling analyst in the finance sector. After the completion of the financial modeling course syllabus, one can choose from the below options for their career choice:
In Corporates
- i) Corporate development
- ii) Industry relations
- iii) Treasury
- iv) FP&A
In Banks
- i) Investment banking
- ii) Equity research
- iii) Sales & trading
- iv) Commercial banking
In Public Accounting
- i) Due diligence
- ii) Transactions advisory
- iii) Valuations
In Institutions
- i) Equity analyst
- ii) Portfolio management
- iii) Research analyst
Scope
There is a major requirement for every business/organization today to know their financial performance to make effective decisions about their investments. Since they want individuals with professional knowledge in that field, the demand is big. Financial modelers are hired by:
- Banks
- Equity research firms
- Credit rating companies
- Finance companies
- Project finance companies
- Consultancy firms
- Corporate finance companies
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Skills Required
With all of these diverse career options and many more, it would be right to assume that financial modeling analysts are very skilled in what they do. Here are some of the important financial modeling skills that they possess:
- Knowledge of inputting data into a spreadsheeting eg. Excel, understanding cell references, and building formulas.
- Understanding how balance sheets, income statements, and statements of cash flows relate to each other.
- Creating clear and easy to interpret financial models for complex business problems for effortless communication and decision making.
- A firm grasp of finance and accounting.
- Using data to build a forecast of the company’s future financial performance with elements of risk included.
Financial Modeling Salary and Details
Even though financial modeling is not a job title usually, companies still seek professionals with expertise in the various financial modeling course syllabus. The finance industry is the most lucrative when it comes to salaries so having a financial modeling analyst certification is also profitable.
In India, the national average salary for a Financial modeling Analyst is ₹7,60,644 per year. According to a survey, based on 107 salaries, an entry-level Financial Analyst with less than 1 year of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation (tips, bonus, and overtime pay) of 420,000.
Based on 166 salaries, the average total compensation for an early career Financial Analyst with 1-4 years of experience is $493,366. Based on 53 salaries, a mid-career Financial Analyst with 5-9 years of experience earns an average total compensation of 950,000. An experienced Financial Analyst with 10-19 years of experience earns an average total compensation of 978,631 based on 13 salaries.
List of Top 10 Financial Modeling Courses
Before we get into the top 10 financial modeling course syllabus offered, here are some of the parameters you must keep in mind while selecting:
- Course syllabus and contents
- Practical aspects
- Offline availability of materials
- Internships opportunities
- Placement and package offered
- Hands-on live assignments and projects
- Worth and validity of the certification
Here is a list of the top 10instites with the best financial modeling course syllabus online along with other important details.
1. Udemy- Introduction to Financial modeling for Beginners
This is a 6-hour on-demand video course created by Simon He and Brandon Young, two highly experienced financial analysts with over two decades of experience in finance across multiple industries. This course is for beginners. You learn the basics of financial modeling, like using Excel to create a financial model.
Plus, it’s the best budget option for anyone starting as a beginner in financial modeling. This course tackles what’s useful and needed for financial modeling in the real world. The content is demonstrated using a lemonade stand model.
Students should be able to fully understand the key concepts in finance and financial modeling techniques by the end of the course, be able to use over a dozen useful Excel features and techniques, and be able to build three distinct financial models from scratch.
Certification
A certificate of completion is provided.
What You Learn
- Understand the financial modeling process
- Understand the essentials of financial modeling using Excel
- Understand the core concepts of finance
- Use excel to build a financial forecast model, reporting model, and financial decision-making model.
2. Udemy- Beginner to Pro: Financial Modeling and Valuation
This course is also available on Udemy and offers 12-hour on-demand video content with 534 downloadable resources. This financial modeling course syllabus contains beginner and intermediate training in Excel teaches how to build sound financial models and provides a thorough understanding of the mechanics of company valuation.
This Course Contains 5 Smaller Courses Namely
- Beginner and Intermediate Excel training
- Advanced Excel functions, Pivot tables, Formatting, and Charts
- Building Financial Model
- DCF and LBO
- Capital Budgeting case study
Certification
A certificate of completion is provided.
What You Learn
- Using raw data extraction to build P&L statements
- Building Cash Flow statements
- Building Valuation models from scratch
- Creating models with multiple scenarios
- Discover how to value a company
- Design professional and good-looking advanced charts
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3. Financial modeling and Valuation Analyst (CFI):
Being one of the leading online certification institutes, Corporate Finance Institute CFI’s FMVA Certification is for determined financial analysts who aspire to become world-class financial analysts. CFI’s alumni work with great businesses such as Amazon, Deloitte, PWC, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, etc. The FMVA ’s financial modeling course syllabus offers 3-step courses, over 6 months, which you can complete at your own pace. These are:
Step 1: This includes 7 optional preparation courses to help you review the financial modeling basics.
Step 2: This includes 11 main courses. These include Financial Analysis Fundamentals, Building a 3 Statement Financial Model, Budgeting and Forecasting, Dashboards and Data Visualization, Advanced Financial Modeling & Valuation, Business Valuation modeling, Scenario, and Sensitivity Analysis, PowerPoint and Pitchbooks, and FP&A Monthly Cash Flow Forecasting.
Step 3: This includes 9 elective finance courses out of which 3 are to be selected.
Certification
Students need to pass with 80% to get FMVA certification.
What You Learn
- Developing best practices for layout, design, and structure of financial models
- Accounting, finance, and financial analysis concepts
- Learn Advanced Excel spreadsheet skills
- Understand presentations, charts, and graphs
- Learn to perform scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis, accretion/dilution analysis, and other advanced modeling practices
- Calculate the value of a company using comparable company analysis, discounted cash flow (DCF) modeling, and precedent transactions
- Gain the skills and knowledge and on-the-job experience
4. Financial Modeling Foundations by LinkedIn Learning (Lynda):
This course, created by Michael McDonald- a researcher and finance professor at Fairfield University is ideal for beginners in financial modeling. This financial modeling course syllabus comes with 3.5 hours of on-demand video and exercises, you will be taught how to create financial models in Microsoft Excel that can be used in a variety of careers (eg. commercial banking, investment banking, corporate finance).
Certification
A certificate of completion is provided.
What You Learn
- Using Microsoft Excel to build financial models
- Learning how to do financial forecasts in a model to predict a firm’s future
- Evaluating financial models to answer the firm’s questions
- How to make financial models easier to read, avoid problems like circular references, and build in advanced tools like scenario analysis
5. IMS Preschool FM certification Course
NSE India, the largest provider of financial certifications, has certified IMS Proschool’s financial modeling course. It can be pursued both online as well as in class. The course will take 3-4 months to complete. The career paths that the students can apply for include Investment Banking, Equity Research, Credit Research, Project Finance, Financial Research, Market Research, Portfolio Management, Treasury Management, and Wealth Management Online/Classroom.
What You Learn
- Skills for core finance roles
- Used for making financial decisions
- Learn to evaluate projects
- Learn to value companies/businesses
6. Coursera- Business Statistics and Analysis Specialisation by Rice University
This course, offered by the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, offers in its financial modeling course syllabus, 4 courses that are followed by a capstone project to equip learners with important conceptual and applied skills so that they can learn how to analyze and model data for businesses using Excel spreadsheets.
This Specialisation is Offered at 3 levels:
- First, you’ll gain a basic understanding of various tools and techniques in data analysis and modeling and why they’re needed.
- Second, you’ll learn the tools used to analyze data, Excel spreadsheet tools, and various business statistical tools.
- Third, you’ll learn to apply the tools to various business processes and interpret and analyze the results from the data.
What You Learn
- How to use business data analysis tools and techniques
- Knowledge of Advance Excel
- Understand how to build various charts like line, bar and pie charts, pivot charts, scatter plots, and histograms on your own
- How to build a regression model and estimate it using Excel
- Acquire relevant and practical skills that you can immediately and effectively transfer to your workplace for use in a variety of business sectors.
- Use real-world data demonstrations, exercises, and practical assignments for a better understanding
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7) Udemy- Financial Modeling for Startups and Small Businesses
This Financial modeling Course on Udemy is intended for entrepreneurs or business owners who want a better understanding of the new business as well as get a better handle on their business. The course is taught by Evan Kimbrell and Symon on Udemy, both skilled with years of experience with startups, mergers, and acquisitions, venture capital, and private equity firms.
The course includes 11.5 hours of completion time with 80 lectures, 2 articles, 76 downloadable resources, and real-world examples. You get full lifetime access to the resources as well.
What You Learn
- Building financial model for new ventures
- Using data to forecast cash flow needs for the business
- Building customized business models for different businesses
- modeling of business expenses and revenues.
8) Coursera- Business and Financial Modeling Specialisation by Wharton
This course, offered by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, includes five classes to move you from a basic to advanced financial modeling analyst. This specialization can be availed by even beginners with no specific background in finance. It teaches the concept from the ground level to the top. Only Knowledge of high-school-level maths is required. This course is offered for 2 months (10 hours per week).
Certification
Students will earn a shareable certificate of completion of the financial modeling course syllabus for each course.
What You Learn
- Basics of quantitative modeling and create your quantitative models
- Understand how to use spreadsheets to map and predict data
- Measure and manage risk
- Learn how to incorporate risk and uncertainty into your models.
- How to get optimum results by proper decision making
- Model potential risks, current realities, alternative scenarios, and projected performance in business scenarios
9. EduPristine
EduPristine, in collaboration with BSE Institute, teaches financial modeling course syllabus for people in Investment Banking, Project Management, Equity Research, Business Planning & Strategy, Private Equity Funds, and Commercial Banking. It provides you with practical and experiential training along with soft skill training to get you market-ready.
EduPristine gives 14 days (70 hours) of extensive classroom training with pre-recorded lectures and comprehensive study notes. After enrolling you also get a 24*7 Learning Management System (LMS) access with 1-year validity.
What You Learn
- Learn Excel concepts, Tax modeling, Equity modeling
- Case Study FMCG
- Performing sensitivity analysis, Contribution Analysis
- M&A, DCF (Discounted cash flows)
- modeling a financing plan
- Macros, Charting and Project Finance
- Accenture Case Study
10. The Investment Banker by Financial Edge
This course is for aspiring financial analysts with a business degree who want to learn the financial modeling practices used in investment banking. This course teaches the concepts taught at some of the largest investment banks. This course covers accounting, financial modeling, M&A and LBO analysis, and valuations (including discounted cash flow and WACC). In this course, you’ll get access to four self-paced online courses with more than 260 practice exercises.
Certification
Students will earn a skills certificate or a certificate of completion after they pass each online class. You’ll earn a micro-degree certificate after program completion demonstrating your subject matter expertise in investment banking.
What You Learn
- Three statement model, 10 steps in building a three-statement model and linking three financial statements
- Assumptions
- Cash flow statement
- Income statement and income statement forecasting
- Operating profit and EBIT
- Balance sheet and balance sheet forecasting
- M&A or merger model
- DCF or discounted cash flow
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q.1 Is financial modeling a good career?
Financial modeling is beneficial for anyone interested in Accounts and Finance. As you don’t need any experience with the finance industry before you start your study, there is no necessity to not pursue this field. Most courses only require you to know mathematics and basic Excel. The financial modeling course syllabus will cover the basics and teach you more. Many businesses are now actively looking for professionals with this expertise on hand so it’s a very valuable skill that you possess.
Q.2 Does financial modeling have any scope in India?
Yes. The financial modeling course syllabus is different from financial accounting, audit, tax collection, and many more finance industry jobs. Though you are not required to have any formal degree in commerce graduates, CAs, CFAs, Engineers, and MBAs are preferred. Indian KPOs (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) hire Indians and many of them do financial modeling. The people called executive assistants to directors/CEOs are supposed to know the preparation of financial models. With the nature of businesses getting complex, uncertain, and invisible in the future, and the cost of financial modelers getting affordable (for simpler requirements), the future should be good.
Q.3 How can I become an expert in financial modeling?
Becoming an expert in financial modeling is the same as becoming a finance expert. As you grow with experience and practice in any field, financial modeling is no different. The talented practitioners become specialized. A good career in finance does not depend upon the number of degrees but the skillset, and your skillset will build the more you practice. As the financial modeling course syllabus expands with time, one cannot be expected to learn everything or be up-to-date with the current trends. Adopt efficient learning practices. Practice with real data. Practice building Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow statements. Become proficient at building Three-Statement Model, LBO, DCF
Q.4 Why hasn’t financial modeling been automated?
Even with the advancements in automation tools, it is not possible to replicate every human behavior. Every business has some uniqueness about it, not to mention different sectors would have different sets of business drivers. Financial modeling is dependent on humans although AI can ease the burden but can’t take it all on itself. Is AI able to read a business plan, ask relevant questions, or create different scenarios based on the data produced? The answer most likely is NO.
Q.5 What is a good financial model?
A good financial model is:
- Easy to understand – The best financial models all have one thing in common: simplicity of design.
- Easy to use – A badly designed model can be difficult to understand and affect productivity.
- Reliable – It allows you to map your qualitative insights into quantitative conclusions.
- Focussed on the key issues – It removes unnecessary detail, so not much time is wasted in the development of immaterial items.