Golden Rules of Model Design

• What is best practice in design?
• Why design? Standard models - can they work?
• Design rules, a framework for establishing scope

Excel Set-Up

• Essential add-ins
• Calculation options
• Window colour
• Consistency of formats - styles and templates to make it quick and easy

Key Model Elements and Control Methods

• Log sheet, control panel, version control and saving procedure
• Modular design - how and why

Integrating Financials

• Approach to building integrated financial statements, incorporating historic and forecast operating financials

Code Writing - Best Practice

• Problem-solving strategies: How to ask the question
• Strategies for developing reliable simple code
• Practical code building techniques
• Flags in problem solving

Working with Scenarios

• Different methods to select the scenarios - numbers, data validation, simple VIsual Basic (VB) tools
• Choosing between Choose, Vlookup, Hlookup, Index and Offset to build a best practice scenario manager

Managing Quality

• Internal audit - managing quality in your own models
• Formal control procedures and third party model audit - lessons to be learned
• Building diagnostic tests

Time Flexible Models

• Creating a reliable, flexible time framework
• Change the start date and time-frame of forecasts
• Change the timing of inputs flexibly
• Delay sensitivities

High Resolution Models

• Flexible consolidate quarterly and semi-annual models into annuals
• Depreciation - cascade versus schedule
• Strategies for avoiding circularity

Debts and Circularity

• Debt modelling without circularity
• Problems of circular models
• ‘Solving’ circularity with switches and macros
• Some more VB basics

Auditing

• Auditing tools
• Quickly identifying inconsistencies
• Finding links