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

  1. Accounting 101: How To Do Basic Accounting In One Hour
  2. Learn Finance Principles in 1 Hour
  3. Financial Modeling Using Excel

10 CoursesFinance for Entrepreneurs

  1. Start-up Equity and Cap Table Basics
  2. Understanding Performance-Based Equity Awards
  3. Accounting 101: How To Do Basic Accounting In One Hour
  4. Learn Finance Principles in 1 Hour
  5. Financial Modeling Using Excel
  6. The Evolution of a Great Spreadsheet Report - How to Effectively Present Numbers in the Business World
  7. Creating a Winning Pitch for Venture Capital Investors
  8. Venture Capital Valuation Analysis Method
  9. Enterprise Risk Management 101
  10. 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: August 14, 2023
181 Reviews (645 ratings)

Reviews

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent course, the content is very useful and well present.

5
Member's Profile
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.

5
Anonymous Author
This course is packed with useful information for would-be financial modelers. I've done a bit of financial modeling in the past without any training and it's great to confirm the things I was doing right and areas I could improve on. I'm more comfortable building the financial statements forecast after taking this course. The time spent on this course is more than 1.5 hrs if you really want to get the most out of it. My accounting background helped me keep up with the pace and lesson as there was a lot of information being covered. It's time well-spent.

4
Member's Profile
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

4
Member's Profile
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.

4
Anonymous Author
instructor was detailed, dynamic, and engaging. I believe the slides could have been fewer in quantity, with more time spent on each slide, as I feel I was constantly flipping through slides at a rapid pace to keep up with the instructor. I appreciated the excel templates along with the solutions, so I could check my work during the course.

5
Anonymous Author
Kind of challenging, but well structured and clear. Be prepared to pause a lot while you work alongside the course with your own worksheets. Heavy emphasis on keeping data, calculations and reports segregated for the purpose if integrity and troubleshooting. Overall a good guide to producing reliable, intelligible and useful reports.

5
Member's Profile
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.

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent course from Blair, dove into some of these modeling concepts enough to give a good explanation without going so far as to lose sight of the intent. Forecasting has been a point of emphasis at my company, this course will help me apply what I've learned in an area we need it most.

5
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.

5
Member's Profile
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!

5
Anonymous Author
This is a great course for learning effective ways to model financial statements in Excel. It helps give pointers on how to avoid "hidden formulas" and complex calculations that can make it difficult to see how a model works. Blair is a great instructor and engages his audience.

5
Member's Profile
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.

5
Anonymous Author
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.

5
Member's Profile
Great course! Practical and engaging. Mr. Cook took many challenging concepts and boiled them down to be easily understandable. I also benefited from the the bonus lesson - Top 5 Excel features for modelers. Well done! I will look for other courses by Mr. Cook

5
Anonymous Author
I liked the course and learned some new Excel capabilities - the camera and direct-in-cell editing option, and that you can highlight more than one tab and make a change to all of them if the sheets are copies of each other. Good refresher on other concepts.

4
Anonymous Author
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.

3
Anonymous Author
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.

5
Anonymous Author
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.

5
Member's Profile
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

4
Member's Profile
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.

5
Anonymous Author
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.

4
Anonymous Author
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.

4
Anonymous Author
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.

5
Member's Profile
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.

2
Anonymous Author
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.

5
Anonymous Author
The instructor was engaging and thorough. I especially liked the tips about how to make your Excel model robust. A lot of ratios and other topics are mentioned, which can be a lot to process.

5
Anonymous Author
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.

3
Anonymous Author
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.

5
Member's Profile
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

4
Member's Profile
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.

4
Member's Profile
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.

5
Anonymous Author
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.

4
Member's Profile
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.

4
Anonymous Author
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

5
Member's Profile
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!

4
Anonymous Author
Good course. Provides a nice overview and example. The key for this lesson is the walkthrough and handouts to help the user visualize what the speaker intends.

4
Anonymous Author
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.

5
Anonymous Author
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

5
Member's Profile
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.

5
Anonymous Author
There was a lot in this course that I will use in the future. I am sure I will return to this lesson the next time I am building a financial model.

4
Anonymous Author
Very interesting and valuable information but I believe it could have been condensed somehow. The quality of audio made it easier to follow along.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course. I am able to take the information provided to help model my company's forecast. Don't skip the bonus material. Very informative!

5
Member's Profile
Very useful overview of the "structure" of a financial modeling workbook that insures assumptions remain apparent and not buried in formulas.

5
Member's Profile
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.

5
Member's Profile
Great course - very informative. A very good review for anyone who has either a little or a lot of experience building financial models.

5
Member's Profile
Great instructional video on how to build your own excel models, very informative, great instructor. Will follow more of Blair's courses.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course to learn about financial modelling using excel specially for CPA's! Appreciate all the excel tips given during the session.

4
Anonymous Author
useful modeling, good high level overview, minimum character requirement, minimum character requirement, minimum character requirement,

5
Member's Profile
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.

5
Anonymous Author
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!

5
Member's Profile
this course does a good job of simplifying a complicated topic and provides a good baseline knowledge to building forecasting models.

5
Member's Profile
Really enjoyed this course. The instructor did a great job breaking down the material and explaining. Highly recommend this course.

4
Anonymous Author
Interesting and informative course. Good examples and spreadsheets to try hands-on, but doing that takes longer than stated time.

5
Member's Profile
Good instructor. I was glad I already have experience with models or as the pace and volume of material was fairly significant.

4
Anonymous Author
Challenging course; good presenter. Would be more helpful if there were extended periods of time to work through the examples.

4
Member's Profile
The course was very good overall. I was hoping it would cover discounting, nominal vs. real, and other valuation model items.

5
Member's Profile
I was impressed with how much content was covered in the allotted time. Good overview on how to build a basic financial model.

4
Member's Profile
this was a very well presented look at modeling financial statements using excel. Many helpful best practices were provided.

4
Anonymous Author
This is a great course for those new to accounting concepts, or for those who have forgotten what they learned in college.

5
Member's Profile
A bit confusing considering I took a financial modeling course, some material contradicted. However, overall, well done.

4
Member's Profile
Very good basic course in modeling without getting too caught up in Excel functions and shortcuts or accounting jargon.

5
Member's Profile
Great course, very informative. I especially liked the bonus lesson, it taught me a few excel tricks I was not aware of.

4
Anonymous Author
Overall a good course - some of the Excel functions used assume a version of Excel that not all participants may have.

5
Anonymous Author
amazing course for someone new to building models. I learned a lot and will definitely take away some new techniques.

4
Anonymous Author
I liked the level of detail and clear, understandable explanations as well as the tips and tricks for using excel.

5
Anonymous Author
I'm a CPA and work in Excel a lot for basic budgeting and modeling. Great refresher course and some helpful tips!

5
Anonymous Author
Enjoyed the course. Will take a bit longer than the allotted time if you follow along in excel but was worth it.

4
Anonymous Author
Very informative and provides great models to start with. The tips and tricks mentioned are also super helpful.

5
Member's Profile
The course is very refreshing and I learnt a lot... specially effective uses of some of the excel functions.

4
Anonymous Author
This is, in no way, a 1.5 hour course if you are to attempt to "Learn by Doing" as instructed on slide 11.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course with a solid overview. It reviews the material thoroughly and also has great best practices

5
Member's Profile
Simply the best instructor I have found on Illumeo. Extremely thorough, technical and practical.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was very challenging. However, it was educational. The time allotted was appropriate.

5
Member's Profile
Fast moving and easy to follow. The worksheets were great to follow and makes a great template.

5
Member's Profile
A good review blending coverage of excel and financial modeling. My thanks to the presenter.

5
Anonymous Author
It is not easy course, but certainly improve your knowledge of financial modeling and excel.

5
Anonymous Author
Very informative. Approach was logical and instructor very easy to listen to and understand

5
Anonymous Author
I am not a financial analyst, but I earned a lot from this course that I can use every day.

5
Member's Profile
These are fantastic models - very comprehensive of how and why to build them like he does.

5
Member's Profile
Well organized and a thorough presentation. Enjoyed working along with the examples.

5
Anonymous Author
I do a lot of modeling, but it is good to go back to the basics and get a refresher.

Anonymous Author
Was pretty confusing if you don't do a lot of balance sheet and cash flow budgeting.

4
Anonymous Author
This course is a good, basic overview of modeling. Some surprising new information.

5
Anonymous Author
Good review of important concepts to think through when building a financial model.

5
Member's Profile
Lot's of good information and very useful tips. Very well organized and presented.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent introduction to preparing a comprehensive integrated financial model.

4
Member's Profile
Reinforces a lot of what I have been doing for 30+ years and adds a few shortcuts

4
Anonymous Author
This course provided a great overview of modelling financial statements in excel.

5
Member's Profile
Highly recommend this course before diving into the budgeting process next year!

1
Member's Profile
Personally, I do not think this was a good learning tool for financial modeling.

4
Anonymous Author
Very practical and useful. Need some accounting background to understand it.

5
Member's Profile
Really enjoyed this course. Very detailed and informative. Highly recommend.

4
Anonymous Author
I have watched several of Blair's courses. Always informative and well done.

4
Member's Profile
This was a really good, but basic introduction to forecasting and modeling.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was beneficial to my understanding of complex financial models.

4
Member's Profile
Very helpful to confirm the principls i need to keep in mind when modeling

Anonymous Author
Good approach for those newer to modeling. Some handy excel tips included.

4
Member's Profile
Useful ideas about good planning in the beginning to save headaches later.

5
Anonymous Author
A lot of information, valuable guidance to establishing structured models.

5
Member's Profile
Good course and reminder of how to set-up a model to allow for changes..

3
Member's Profile
it was a long course but I would suggest it for a college finance student

5
Member's Profile
The course was very informative and will be useful in my day to day role.

4
Anonymous Author
This had great information but seemed like a lot to cram into one course.

5
Member's Profile
The instructor made an otherwise dry subject, interesting. Kudos to him!

4
Anonymous Author
Another solid course from Blair Cook. I will refer to this in practice.

4
Member's Profile
Good calss for modeling tips and how to design an integrated workbook

4
Anonymous Author
This was a great course to grasp the concepts of financial modeling.

5
Member's Profile
Many helpful tips that I will incorporate into my existing methods

5
Member's Profile
This was an excellent prep for a job interview- Thank you, Blair!

5
Member's Profile
This was a good refresher of the basics of financial modeling.

4
Anonymous Author
should be broken down between statement or more time allotted

4
Member's Profile
Good concepts, but he goes very fast when working in excel.

5
Member's Profile
Great course, very happy with the length of content and exam.

3
Member's Profile
There was a lot of information that was sometimes confusing.

5
Member's Profile
The was a very good session on Excel and formulas, very nice

5
Member's Profile
Excellent course. Very informative and very well presented!

5
Anonymous Author
This was a really great and in depth overview of modeling.

5
Anonymous Author
Great for someone just learning to build a financial model.

4
Member's Profile
This is a great course for those new to financial modeling

4
Anonymous Author
Liked the course. Nice pace. Very useful insights gained.

5
Anonymous Author
Instructor moves at a perfect speed. An excellent course.

4
Member's Profile
The instructor was easy to follow and clear to listen to!

5
Anonymous Author
This class was pretty hard for me even though I love exel

4
Anonymous Author
Good tips with added bonus features available in Excel.

4
Anonymous Author
Good overview of using Excel to create financial models.

3
Member's Profile
works for what i need to renew my cpa and cia licenses.

4
Member's Profile
This course was fairly basic in the beginning lessons.

5
Member's Profile
Good explanations and content. Effective instructor.

5
Anonymous Author
The sample excels and solutions were very helpful.

5
Anonymous Author
Great review of both financial and modeling basics

3
Anonymous Author
The tips and tricks at the end were very helpful.

4
Anonymous Author
Great presentation & illustration with examples.

5
Member's Profile
This courses delivered in a very effective way.

5
Anonymous Author
Complex issues explained in detail. Informative

5
Member's Profile
One of the best modeling lessons I've taken!

5
Member's Profile
Excellent course for finance professionals.

4
Anonymous Author
The exam answer choices should be rephrased

5
Member's Profile
Nice overview and some very helpful tips

5
Member's Profile
A thrill for finance Excel enthusiasts.

5
Member's Profile
Good combination of use and application

4
Anonymous Author
Difficult material, but very helpful.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent class as usual from Blair.

5
Member's Profile
EXCELLENT AND INFORMATIVE LESSON!

5
Anonymous Author
Great instructor, great overview!

5
Anonymous Author
Very informative and organized!

4
Member's Profile
Liked the Start and Solutions.

4
Member's Profile
This is tougher than I thought

5
Anonymous Author
Good step-by-step presentation

3
Anonymous Author
Challenging, but informative.

3
Anonymous Author
interesting, lot of material

5
Member's Profile
Well organized and presented.

5
Member's Profile
I enjoyed taking this course!

5
Member's Profile
Great! great! great course!

5
Member's Profile
Tough, but very informative

5
Member's Profile
Great course on modeling!

5
Member's Profile
Convenience interesting

4
Member's Profile
useful and relevant!

5
Member's Profile
Very Professional.

4
Member's Profile
some good ideas

5
Member's Profile
Hard, but like.

5
Member's Profile
very informaive

4
Anonymous Author
great overview

5
Anonymous Author
Great overview

5
Member's Profile
great details

5
Member's Profile
good lecture.

4
Member's Profile
great lesson!

5
Anonymous Author
Great course!

5
Member's Profile
Great Course

5
Member's Profile
Great Course

5
Member's Profile
Good course!

4
Member's Profile
Great Class

Anonymous Author
good course

5
Member's Profile
Excellent!

5
Anonymous Author
Very good.

5
Anonymous Author
great!

4
Member's Profile
its ok

5
Anonymous Author
Great!

5
Anonymous Author
Great

5
Anonymous Author
A+

4
Anonymous Author
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 .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Financial Modeling Using Excel
  Planning your Financial Model9:19
  Building a Model Template12:29
  Projecting the Income Statement13:13
  Projecting the Balance Sheet16:37
  Projecting Cash Flows14:22
  Advanced Financial Modeling13:58
Conclusion/Bonus Lesson
  BONUS LESSON: Top 5 Excel Features for Financial Modelers 7:49
Continuous Play
  Financial Modeling Using Excel 1:31:50
Lesson and Solutions
  Start and Solution 2XLSX
  Start and Solution 3XLSX
  Start and Solution 4XLSX
  Start and Solution 5XLSX
  Start and Solution 6XLSX
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
  Slides: Financial Modeling Using ExcelPDF
  Financial Modeling Using Excel Glossary/IndexPDF
REVIEW & TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam