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If everyone took our Excel courses, they would...

have more time for qualitative analysis.
stop spending “dumb time” in Excel.
not get the equivalent of “writer’s block” in Excel.
become superstars in number crunching.

Less fiddling with Excel - more business logic and analysis.

Practical Techniques

Inspired by real use-cases, we review extremely common spreadsheet scenarios.

Keyboard-Only

Finish our training without touching the mouse a single time - it only slows you down.

Futureproof

Rely on time-tested fundamentals, not just the latest bells and whistles.

Who needs this?

Students and professionals in spreadsheet-heavy roles:

Finance Data Analysis Business Intelligence Consulting Accounting Recordkeeping Sales Research Education

… or anyone who spends too much time in Excel.

  • Become fluent in the most valuable Excel functions
  • Practice building dynamic formulas, following best practices
  • Get introduced to intermediate/advanced concepts and macros

Course Sections

Excel Fundamentals for the Finance Professional

Focus on the building blocks of Excel functions: mathematical, financial, logical, date/time, and formatting.

Go from an unformatted template to a fully finished capstone model with proper anchoring and data tables.

Advanced Excel for Data Analysis

Despite the increasing size of data in modern usage, Excel is still in many cases the right tool for analyzing data sets.

Crunch numbers in record time using pivot tables, SUMIF, SUM+IF, VLOOKUP, subtotals, and more!

Excel Charting & Graphing Techniques & PPT Integration

A picture is worth a thousand words. Excel charts and graphs are infamous for being difficult to wrangle, which is why this course exists.

This isn’t a standard bar chart tutorial. We review waterfall charts, football fields, dynamic ranges, how to properly embed charts into PowerPoint (hint: don’t use a link), and a few handy macros.

WST Macros

Once you know Excel like the back of your hand, it’s time to save even more time with WST’s very own Excel add-in, which gives you even more keyboard shortcuts, convenient features, and auditing tools.

A valid license is required. See our WST Macros page for details.

Training Methodology

Our approach is to teach you how to fish, rather than give you a fish.

We don't give a one-way lecture where you memorize every cell and formula.

We nudge you toward uncovering answers on your own by leading with the right questions.

The end result? Longer-term knowledge retention that will last an entire career.

I believe three things set WST apart: the instructors who are at the top of their fields, the emphasis on advanced Excel techniques, and the quality of the templates …
We'll arm you with the Excel knowledge you need to cut down your spreadsheet hours:
  • All the core Excel functions and formula patterns
  • The right way to keep your spreadsheets dynamic and robust
  • Best practices for charting/graphing, and exporting them (to PowerPoint or anywhere else)
We can't think of a better way to turbo-charge your Excel productivity.

Get Started

Our Self-Study platform lets you learn at your own pace via instructor-led videos.

Jump start your Excel learning today!

All prices are in USD and denote six (6) months of access. Terms apply.

Detailed Curriculum

Package: Technical Applications - Excel

When Excel and Office 2007 first debuted, Excel power-users around the world collectively groaned with a massive headache. While there are certainly key enhancements to Excel 2007 that we like, navigating the new “ribbon” caused some grief as users were forced to re-learn how to use Excel. Thankfully, most of the shortcut accelerator keys are still in place. But change is never easy, so we created this short tutorial on getting you up to speed real quick - the one stop source on mastering Excel 2007. Embrace it, Excel 2007 is here to stay.

  • Goal: communicate the key differences in Excel 2007 vs. Excel 2003 pertaining to financial professionals
  • If you don't want to spend hours figuring out how to navigate the new interface, then you're at the right place
  • No need to spend hundreds of dollars on a book that you won't read
  • We'll teach you the key things in a fraction of the time
Prerequisites
  • Excel Fundamentals for the Finance Professional
Video Length / Estimated Total Course Time

0.5 hour / 1 hour

This course focuses on how learning the fundamental building blocks of Excel so you can begin to take advantage and leverage all of Excel’s true capabilities. In order to efficiently build models and crunch large data dumps in Excel, one must master the basics before the advanced content. Learn relevant financial formulas, proper navigation, formatting of files and worksheets, creating calculations in cells, and linking between worksheets/tabs. Functions and tools covered in this course include: mathematical, financial, logic, date/time formulas; data manipulation; anchoring; data tables; and building a capstone model. Emphasis will be on using shortcut keys, simplifying steps, and manipulating data. You will leave with techniques you can use immediately, allowing you to work faster and with less effort.

  • Mathematical functions: SUM, MAX, AVERAGE, MEDIAN, MIN
  • Financial functions: PV, FV, RATE, NPV, IRR
  • Logic Functions: IF, nested IF, CHOOSE, AND, OR
  • Date Functions: MONTH, DAY, YEAR, WEEKDAY, EO MONTH
  • Time Functions: HOUR ,MINUTE, SECOND, TODAY, NOW
  • Formatting: fills, copy formulas, paste special
Prerequisites
  • Data Manipulation: TEXT, CONCATENATE, ROUND
  • Anchoring and locking cell references
  • Build simple capstone financial model that encompasses efficiencies, shortcuts and sensitivity analysis
  • Shortcuts and working with Add-ins
Video Length / Estimated Total Course Time

3 hours / 5 hours

This course focuses on how to effectively and efficiently utilize Microsoft Excel for data analysis. A financial analyst will not only use Excel to build financial models, but also to crunch a large data dump. Learn how to minimize as much manual labor as possible, thereby saving time and performing more detailed analysis quickly. Apply commonly-used formulas in new and different ways; uncover often over-looked Excel formulas; streamline number crunching and analysis via functions and tools including pivot tables, sumif, sum+if, transpose, working with arrays, vlook-up, subtotals, and regression analysis; enhance your spreadsheets with drop-down boxes, data validation techniques, automation of alternate row shading; take Excel to the next level with an introduction to building and automating simple macros and more!

  • Learn the most useful and overlooked Excel shortcuts to make life easier!
  • What are the different ways to make your Excel worksheet into a model instead of just a flat analysis? Learn different "switches alternatives" (if, choose, offset)
  • Learn data validation techniques to dummy proof your model!
  • Perform basic regression analysis using least squares approach
  • How do you perform one-dimension and two-dimensional sensitivity analyses using data tables?
  • Utilize the vlookup function to its fullest to streamline tedious lookup jobs
  • Pivot Tables: Everybody's heard of it but who knows how to use it! Learn how to summarize and dissect large amounts of data for analysis!
  • Pivot Tables: Even better - add built-in and custom calculated fields to really use pivot tables to the max!
  • Utilize the sumif formula and sum+if array functions to simplify complex conditional calculations
  • Learn how to use the subtotal formula and function to minimize errors
  • Combine subtotal with AutoFilter options to easily crunch all sorts of data!
  • Automate alternate row shading in a table of data using complex conditional formatting
  • Learn how to use the transpose array function
  • Add some spice to your Excel analysis and models using drop-boxes
  • Introduction to recording macros, modifying and coding macros and creating macro icons
Prerequisites
  • Knowledge of Excel and fundamental concepts in finance and valuation (since data is finance oriented)
  • Company Overview and Basic Financial Modeling
Video Length / Estimated Total Course Time

3.5 hours / 5 hours

“A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” - but what happens when you have the perfect image in your head but you can’t get Excel to graph it the way you want? Ever get annoyed at constantly having to go back into “Source Data” whenever you add an item to your data series? Or how about getting the perfect sized bar or line without resorting to using a ruler to literally draw it on! This course builds upon our Advanced Excel for Data Analysis course and focuses advanced charting & graphing techniques and how to properly integrate with PowerPoint. A critical, must-take course especially for professionals that have to create graphs in their presentations, reports and slides. As usual, we emphasize and teach all the best practices and focuses on our core Excel learning goal: automation, automation, automation! Leave nothing to chance, there is always a way to simplify and automate your charting & graphing approach. This jam-packed session includes: waterfall charts, football fields, dymamic ranges, and much much more! Learn the best practices of integrating into PowerPoint, when to embed, link (never) and copy as picture, as well as add to our Excel macros with a couple handy PowerPoint macros.

  • Creating Price Volume chart with call-out box annotations with perfect alignment
  • Calculate and create dynamic moving average charts
  • Construct Indexed Stock Price History graph with automated information box
  • Build historical industry graph summarizing average, high low bars detailing valuation spreads
  • Construct combination charts and graphs including precise annotations and secondary axis formatting
  • Properly structure beta and volatility analysis and regression on multiple axis
  • Construct historical and projected linear regression graph with automated best fit lines
  • Assemble and understand logic behind "step charts" with X and Y Error bars to connect the dots
  • Create dynamic charts and graphics that automatically update as additional source data is added
  • Build Shares Traded at Various Prices graph with absolute perfectly sized and aligned graphs
  • Create simple column and cumulative column (or bar) chart (multiple stacked chart)
  • Learn how to create complex, combination charts such as double stacked charts
  • Go all out by building a "football field" valuation range chart that combines triple stacked charts with XY scatter plot to automate current stock price line
  • Construct waterfall chart that graphically summarizes sum-of-parts valuation
  • Learn best practices of bringing Excel charts and exhibits into PowerPoint
  • Avoid the forbidden linking between files and learn when to embed vs copy/paste as picture
  • Learn the fastest and best ways to work in PowerPoint without the mouse
  • Facilitate chart and graph placement in PowerPoint with our custom PPT macros
Prerequisites
  • Basic Financial Modeling
  • Advanced Financial Modeling - Core Model
  • M&A Deal Structuring
  • Merger Modeling Basics
  • LBO Overview
  • Quick & Dirty LBO Modeling
  • Efficiency in Excel
Video Length / Estimated Total Course Time

3.5 hours / 5 hours

Have more questions?

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