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Blair Cook, Director of Clarke Inc
Many time CFO of both public and private companies, three current corporate director roles, CPA and Chartered Accountant. Provides professional development services to "big 4" public accounting firms.
This instructor has 28 courses »To Access This Course:
In this course we learn how to financially model a business using Excel. Financial models underpin strategic and business planning, solicitations for financing, budgeting and forecasting, business valuations, cash budgeting, capital budgeting, and so many other corporate finance purposes.
We concentrate on the preparation of a financial projection of the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flow. We use an approach that keeps model integrity and credibility top of mind throughout development.
Course Series
This course is included in the following series:
3 CoursesFundamental Skills for Finance Professionals
- Accounting 101: How To Do Basic Accounting In One Hour
- Learn Finance Principles in 1 Hour
- Financial Modeling Using Excel
10 CoursesFinance for Entrepreneurs
- Start-up Equity and Cap Table Basics
- Understanding Performance-Based Equity Awards
- Accounting 101: How To Do Basic Accounting In One Hour
- Learn Finance Principles in 1 Hour
- Financial Modeling Using Excel
- The Evolution of a Great Spreadsheet Report - How to Effectively Present Numbers in the Business World
- Creating a Winning Pitch for Venture Capital Investors
- Venture Capital Valuation Analysis Method
- Enterprise Risk Management 101
- The IPO Preparation Process - Preparing a Company to Access the Public Markets
Learning Objectives
- Identify a disciplined approach for using Excel to develop financial analysis
- Discover how to prepare financial projections of the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows
Last updated/reviewed: November 27, 2020
144 Reviews (472 ratings)Reviews
As a financial analyst for a public corporation, I have started working on financial models for new products and potential acquisitions. This lesson was very useful in giving me some best practices when completing models.
Good instructor. I was glad I already have experience with models or as the pace and volume of material was fairly significant.
This was a really good, but basic introduction to forecasting and modeling.
This course was great. Before and after spreadsheets were provided for each different lesson, allowing for hands on practice. The instructor was very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and I enjoyed listening to him. I would definitely seek out more courses with him as the instructor.
The only downside of this course is it could've been a little bit longer. So much great material and learning, but it only counts for 1.5 CPA CPE credits. Based on a 50 minute hour, an additional 8 minutes would've made it 2.0 hours. The instructor could've have elaborated more on some content, especially the NPV and IRR in the bonus lesson. Still one of the best online CPEs.
Financial modeling in Excel is the process of building a financial model to represent a transaction, operation & financial information to analyze how a change in one variable can affect the final return so as to make a decision on one or more of the aforementioned financial transactions. This course was presented in way that is easy to follow with the help of provided Excel workbook
I am new to modelling so much of the information is very useful. The course could have used more technical Excel instruction. I now realize that the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement should be modeled together.The people who would get the most out of this course are management accountants and any company management team member.
This is a great course. I recently start doing budget forecast for my company. I can see a lot of the similarity between this course and actual real life work. This course definitely help me to improve my understanding and the concept behind my work. I also like the few tricks that Blair shares at the end of the course.
Many courses move too slowly, this one moves at a good speed. This works well for those who already have exposure to the underlying concepts, it ties them together to show how to build forecasting spreadsheets in a very time-efficient way. For newcomers, they may want to pause frequently.
The instructor does a great job of keeping things moving along at a good pace. This course has a lot of good information, not only about using Excel, but also about the relationship between the financial statements and the various lines within the financial statements. A great course!
Simple but very effective presentation. I loved how brief the financial model was with enough information useful for reporting. Very useful and practical tips for both seasoned professional and those who are just beginning. Another excellent presentation from Blair Cook.
Great Course!! This course gave an excellent overview of Financial modeling using Excel. The separation of the the assumptions at the bottom of the model or on a separate tab is a fundamental step that if overlooked makes for an unruly and often error ridden model.
Thanks for Mr.Blair great work. He is one of my most favor instructors in CPE education. His opinions are insightful and her demonstration is so logical and attractive, although sometimes I did not get his idea, I still enjoyed his interesting presentation.
I have an accounting background, but was struggling to follow the instructor. He talked and navigated through Excel files so quickly, that I had a hard time keeping up. Luckily one can repeat the video and read the text as often as one wishes.
Great content. Explains concepts of modeling very thoroughly, and also includes several useful tips and tricks for modeling specific scenarios. The Excel tips at the end also included some useful functionality I wasn't previously aware of.
Sometimes it went a little fast and I had to pause the video. I spent about 50% more time on the lesson than the CPE indicated. Very useful for the first time modeler or for someone who hasnt been taught modeling in a classroom setting
Great templates. Must have a good accounting background to understand where the assumptions come from and how they are inter-related or you would not get much out of this course. Took much more than 1.5 hour to really do the exercises.
Good course to introduce aspects of financial modeling. It moves a little fast to follow along with excel in the moment, but as someone with previous experience modeling, I found it more beneficial to just watch through.
The presenter is very engaging and very effective. The examples provided are very helpful. There are various useful tips provided that are easy to apply.
The time allotted for the course is about right.
Wonderful course!!! The course provided a lot of insights into the complexities and challenges of preparing financial models. The instructor has made many complex items look simple. Well done.
Some really good content on the set-up of a financial model. Good tips on structure and and financial statement set-up. Bonus lesson had some cool tidbits. Final exam questions were obtuse.
Great tips for modeling financials within excel. Instructor provides both tips to improve assumptions as well as pitfalls to avoid in order to improve accuracy of financial modeling.
I like that this was a hands-on course but with that I think this should've been at least a 2CPE credit because you'll spend much more than the 1.5hr video finishing up the course.
The pace of the course was good. I thought it was a solid intro to financial modeling. Would definitely recommend this course to anyone new to the world of financial modeling
This course is great in the sense that it clearly separates all the assumptions, formulas and reports to demonstrates how a forecast can be made. It is very easy to follow.
The instructor did an excellent job pointing out common mistakes made when modeling and showing ways to avoid these mistakes. A lot of material to absorb in 1.5 hours.
Instructor was knowledgeable and engaging. I would recommend this course for anyone involved in balance sheet, cash flow, working capital, P&L budgeting and forecasting.
A really solid class on financial modeling. Clearly the presenter knows the content based on years of experience. Well worth the 1.5 hours at the intermediate level.
Good course - lots of good information I wish others would incorporate in their models to make them more useful to others. However, too long for the content included
Great course. Really enjoyed the bonus lesson...i look forward to using the hints...thank you!
Also, great presenter...can really tell that he likes what he does!
Course was well structured with plenty of examples. However, at times, the overview of the models skipped how some calculations were added to the template.
This is a great class to introduce you to financial modeling. It is pretty fast pace but if you slow down and use the material it's easier to pick it up
Very good course. It's a lot of material, and considering the time to work on the files, it should be more than 1.5 CPE, at least 2.0 or even 2.5.
Very interesting and valuable information but I believe it could have been condensed somehow. The quality of audio made it easier to follow along.
Its a good course for the basics. Was hoping for a bit more in terms of excel efficiencies and tricks, etc. Didn't really provide that.
Great course - very informative. A very good review for anyone who has either a little or a lot of experience building financial models.
Great course to learn about financial modelling using excel specially for CPA's! Appreciate all the excel tips given during the session.
Blair may have just unseated my previous favorite presenter. He knows more about excel in his finger than I do in my Head. Well done.
There is a lot of information in this course that is very valuable--you just might have to review it more than one time to get it all!
this course does a good job of simplifying a complicated topic and provides a good baseline knowledge to building forecasting models.
Really enjoyed this course. The instructor did a great job breaking down the material and explaining. Highly recommend this course.
Interesting and informative course. Good examples and spreadsheets to try hands-on, but doing that takes longer than stated time.
Challenging course; good presenter. Would be more helpful if there were extended periods of time to work through the examples.
The course was very good overall. I was hoping it would cover discounting, nominal vs. real, and other valuation model items.
I was impressed with how much content was covered in the allotted time. Good overview on how to build a basic financial model.
This is a great course for those new to accounting concepts, or for those who have forgotten what they learned in college.
A bit confusing considering I took a financial modeling course, some material contradicted. However, overall, well done.
Very good basic course in modeling without getting too caught up in Excel functions and shortcuts or accounting jargon.
Overall a good course - some of the Excel functions used assume a version of Excel that not all participants may have.
Enjoyed the course. Will take a bit longer than the allotted time if you follow along in excel but was worth it.
Simply the best instructor I have found on Illumeo. Extremely thorough, technical and practical.
This course was very challenging. However, it was educational. The time allotted was appropriate.
Fast moving and easy to follow. The worksheets were great to follow and makes a great template.
A good review blending coverage of excel and financial modeling. My thanks to the presenter.
It is not easy course, but certainly improve your knowledge of financial modeling and excel.
Very informative. Approach was logical and instructor very easy to listen to and understand
I am not a financial analyst, but I earned a lot from this course that I can use every day.
These are fantastic models - very comprehensive of how and why to build them like he does.
Well organized and a thorough presentation. Enjoyed working along with the examples.
Was pretty confusing if you don't do a lot of balance sheet and cash flow budgeting.
Excellent introduction to preparing a comprehensive integrated financial model.
Reinforces a lot of what I have been doing for 30+ years and adds a few shortcuts
Highly recommend this course before diving into the budgeting process next year!
Personally, I do not think this was a good learning tool for financial modeling.
Very practical and useful. Need some accounting background to understand it.
Really enjoyed this course. Very detailed and informative. Highly recommend.
I have watched several of Blair's courses. Always informative and well done.
This course was beneficial to my understanding of complex financial models.
Very helpful to confirm the principls i need to keep in mind when modeling
Good approach for those newer to modeling. Some handy excel tips included.
Useful ideas about good planning in the beginning to save headaches later.
it was a long course but I would suggest it for a college finance student
The course was very informative and will be useful in my day to day role.
The instructor made an otherwise dry subject, interesting. Kudos to him!
Another solid course from Blair Cook. I will refer to this in practice.
Good calss for modeling tips and how to design an integrated workbook
This was a great course to grasp the concepts of financial modeling.
Many helpful tips that I will incorporate into my existing methods
This was an excellent prep for a job interview- Thank you, Blair!
should be broken down between statement or more time allotted
Good concepts, but he goes very fast when working in excel.
There was a lot of information that was sometimes confusing.
The was a very good session on Excel and formulas, very nice
Excellent course. Very informative and very well presented!
This was a really great and in depth overview of modeling.
This is a great course for those new to financial modeling
Liked the course. Nice pace. Very useful insights gained.
Instructor moves at a perfect speed. An excellent course.
The instructor was easy to follow and clear to listen to!
Good tips with added bonus features available in Excel.
Good overview of using Excel to create financial models.
works for what i need to renew my cpa and cia licenses.
This course was fairly basic in the beginning lessons.
Good explanations and content. Effective instructor.
Great review of both financial and modeling basics
The tips and tricks at the end were very helpful.
Great presentation & illustration with examples.
This courses delivered in a very effective way.
Complex issues explained in detail. Informative
One of the best modeling lessons I've taken!
Excellent course for finance professionals.
The exam answer choices should be rephrased
Nice overview and some very helpful tips
A thrill for finance Excel enthusiasts.
Good combination of use and application
Difficult material, but very helpful.
Excellent class as usual from Blair.
EXCELLENT AND INFORMATIVE LESSON!
Great instructor, great overview!
Very informative and organized!
Liked the Start and Solutions.
This is tougher than I thought
Good step-by-step presentation
Challenging, but informative.
interesting, lot of material
Well organized and presented.
I enjoyed taking this course!
Great! great! great course!
Tough, but very informative
Great course on modeling!
Convenience interesting
useful and relevant!
Very Professional.
some good ideas
Hard, but like.
very informaive
great overview
Great overview
great details
good lecture.
great lesson!
Great course!
Great Course
Great Course
Good course!
Great Class
good course
Excellent!
Very good.
great!
its ok
Great!
Great
A+
ok
Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Intermediate
Prerequisite: Basic proficiency with accounting and Excel
Advanced Preparation: None
Education Provider Information
Company:
Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact:
For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .