Financial Modelling for Businesses

About the course

Financial modelling is one of the most valuable skills for anyone working with numbers, whether you’re a student starting your finance career, a professional looking to advance, or a business owner trying to make better decisions.

This practical course takes you from the fundamentals of financial modelling to building professional, real-world models using Excel.

You’ll learn how to build models from scratch, structure assumptions, forecast revenue and expenses, create integrated financial statements, analyse scenarios, value businesses, model cash flow, and use your models to support real business decisions.

You don’t need to be an expert in finance or Excel. We start with the fundamentals and gradually build more advanced models using practical examples.

By the end of the course, you’ll have the knowledge and confidence to build financial models for business planning, budgeting, forecasting, investment analysis and valuation.

What you’ll learn

• Build professional financial models in Excel
• Build integrated three-statement models
• Forecast revenue, expenses and cash flow
• Create budgets and financial forecasts
• Perform scenario and sensitivity analysis
• Analyse business profitability and cash flow
• Build models for real-world business decisions
• Present financial models professionally

Course content

8 modules, 67 lessons

1. 1Introduction to financial modelling7 lessons

   • What is financial modelling?
   • Why financial modelling matters
   • Where financial models are used in the real world
   • Types of financial models
   • Financial modelling for careers and business
   • Common modelling mistakes
   • Principles of a good financial model
2. 2Excel skills for financial modelling9 lessons

   • Essential Excel formulas
   • Relative vs absolute references
   • IF, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS and other key functions
   • Lookup functions
   • Date and time functions
   • Financial functions
   • Formatting and model presentation
   • Building efficient and scalable spreadsheets
   • Excel shortcuts for financial modelling
3. 3Building a financial model from scratch11 lessons

   • Understanding the model structure
   • Historical financial data
   • Assumptions and drivers
   • Revenue modelling
   • Cost and expense modelling
   • Working capital
   • Capital expenditure
   • Depreciation
   • Debt and interest
   • Creating a model timeline
   • Building a professional model structure
4. 4Three-statement financial model11 lessons

   • Income statement
   • Balance sheet
   • Cash flow statement
   • Linking the three statements
   • Revenue and expense forecasting
   • Working capital assumptions
   • Capex and depreciation
   • Debt schedules
   • Retained earnings
   • Balancing and checking the model
   • Building an integrated three-statement model
5. 5Budgeting & financial forecasting10 lessons

   • Budget vs forecast
   • Top-down vs bottom-up forecasting
   • Revenue forecasting
   • Expense forecasting
   • Headcount forecasting
   • Cash flow forecasting
   • Monthly and annual forecasts
   • Variance analysis
   • Actual vs budget vs forecast
   • Building a management forecasting model
6. 6Scenario & sensitivity analysis9 lessons

   • Base, upside and downside cases
   • Scenario assumptions
   • What-if analysis
   • Sensitivity tables
   • Revenue and margin sensitivity
   • Understanding key business drivers
   • Scenario comparison
   • Building a dynamic scenario model
   • Using models for decision-making
7. 7Cash flow & business planning9 lessons

   • Understanding business cash flow
   • Cash runway
   • 13-week cash flow forecasting
   • Working capital management
   • Receivables and payables
   • Inventory assumptions
   • Funding requirements
   • Identifying potential cash shortfalls
   • Building a cash flow planning model
8. 8Professional financial modelling project1 lessons

   • Build a complete financial model from scratch