Model Optimisation – Turning theory into practice
“FAST financial models, with transparency at their core, are designed to satisfy key stakeholders quickly and easily that their objectives are being met”
Author Archives: Andrew Berkley
Modelling foreign exchange gains and losses
If any financial modelling topic requires clear thinking then it is foreign exchange (“forex”). That’s because it calls upon domain knowledge from at least three different areas. You need to have a working understanding of accounting (noting that accounting standards in in respect of forex are far from simple), a passing knowledge of treasury and […]
Modelling Standards do not equal Standard Models
Can one model do everything?
New ebook: Business Analysis Lifecycle
“Communicating with people in the real world can be a challenge for those who live in the model world”
Nine things to think less about when building a FAST model
So what happens to all that spare thinking time? Where does it go?
Should FAST be good for everything?
Standards in themselves do not promote good or best practice. They simply promote a way of doing things that is commonly understood by the community that chooses to adopt them.
Spreadsheets: critical to business decision making globally
Warren Buffet famously said “Beware of geeks bearing formulas”.
The advantages of the OFFSET function in Excel…
“My flight is being called and I still cannot think of a single advantage to using OFFSET”
The best way to test a financial model is by splitting roles
“There is no software to my knowledge that can help with conceptual testing. For the moment we must continue to rely on our own intelligence and understanding.”
The Excel modelling guru
Like most stereotypes, the Excel modelling guru is an amalgam of different people that we all recognise
The Listening Online Course
In all of our online courses – whether free or not – we want to engage with you as much as we can
The more we give away; the more people want to buy from us
“If the stuff shared for free is good, then how much better must the stuff they charge for be?”
What if my existing model isn’t FAST?
“Nobody likes my answer – which is to rebuild the model using a modelling standard”