Excel-based services

We use Microsoft Excel extensively in our work to analyse companies, value them, build tables and charts for reports and presentations and for internal needs. With this expertise, we can offer you a wide range of services involving the use of the powerful spreadsheet package that Excel represents.

Data entry/search

We regularly sift through SEC filings, press releases and other documents in search for important information. Importantly, our financial background and experience allow us to execute such tasks thoughtfully, understanding what we’re doing and not simply executing work mechanically like robots. We also usually know where to look for particular data. We are also efficient at importing data into Excel from PDF files.

We use various productivity tools (including tools developed by us using Excel’s VBA) that greatly speed up importing of data into Excel, while minimizing human error at the same time. Often, we can gather data from SEC filings within hours, which means overnight delivery in most cases (for our North American customers, due to time zone differences). For example, it may take just 4 to 6 hours for us to input 5 years worth of financials (including quarterly data for 3 years) into a historical model provided by the client (this is a typical time, but the actual execution time may vary significantly with the complexity and volume of data in SEC filings).

Financial modelling services

We have extensive experience building financial spreadsheet models in Microsoft Excel and offer various services in this regard:

  • gathering historical data from financial reports/SEC filings, including filling in model templates provided by the customer;
  • building forecasts of financial statements (including full balance sheet and cash flow statements) with scenarios;
  • completing models (e.g. when you have the income statement forecast done, we can add forecasts of balance sheet and cash flows);
  • updating existing financial models (e.g. if you have a financial model that simply needs to be updated with recently released financials).

Our guiding principles in financial modelling are:

  •  Total control over input variables;
  •  Minimizing human error; and
  •  Appealing appearance and easy to use interface.

We employ validation checks wherever possible (checking total assets against total liabilities and ending cash in cash flows against cash in balance sheet are just the tip of the iceberg). At the same time, we minimize the amount of manually enetered data in a model to a single number for each parameter (so if your want to change something, you only change a parameter once, and the change propagates throughout the whole model). Our proprietary Excel tools allow us to process data with minimum manual work, minimizing human error. We always try to make our models transparent for the user, commenting on assumptions, allowing the final user to make their own judgement. We also always mark clearly cells that have manual inputs versus those that don’t, so that you can update the model quickly and easily if you need to.

Excel programming

Given our expertise with Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), we may consider other Excel programming/modelling projects. VBA is an extremely powerful tool that goes beyond recording simple macros (although macros are also a powerful extension of Excel’s functionality). VBA allows creating customised user interfaces and automation procedures that can simplify and speed up a user’s experience.

You can see just how well we can handle Excel and VBA by watching this small video that demonstrates a tool we have developed for internal use (note that it is not for sale). It should give you an idea about our Excel expertise. (Note that the video lacks commentary).