Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
For nearly 20 years, since the emergence of PCs, Lotus 1-2-3, and Microsoft Excel in the 1980's, spreadsheet models have been the dominant vehicles for finance professionals in the business world to implement their financial knowledge. Yet even today, most Corporate Finance textbooks rely on calculators as the primary tool and have little (if any) coverage of how to build spreadsheet models. This book fills that gap. It teaches students how to build financial models in Excel. It provides step-by-step instructions so that students can build models themselves (active learning), rather than handing students canned "templates" (passive learning). It progresses from simple examples to practical, real-world applications. It spans nearly all quantitative models in corporate finance.
Why I Wrote This Book
My goal is simply to change finance education from being calculator based to being spreadsheet modeling based. This change will better prepare students for the 21st century business world. This change will increase student satisfaction in the classroom by allowing more practical, real-world applications and by enabling a more hands-on, active learning approach.
There are many features which distinguish this book from anything else on the market:
Teach By Example. I believe that the best way to learn spreadsheet modeling is by working through examples and completing a lot of problems. This book fully develops this hands-on, active learning approach. Active learning is a well-established way to increase student learning and student satisfaction with the course / instructor. When students build financial models themselves, they really "get it." As I tell my students, "If you build it, you will learn."
Supplement For All Popular Corporate Finance Textbooks. This book is a supplement to be combined with a primary textbook. This means that you can keep using whatever textbook you like best. You don't have to switch. It also means that you can take an incremental approach to incorporating spreadsheet modeling. You can start modestly and build up from there. Alternative notation versions are available that match the notation of all popular corporate finance textbooks.
Plain Vanilla Excel. Other books on the market emphasize teaching students programming using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) or using macros. By contrast, this book does everything in plain vanilla Excel. Although programming is liked by a minority of students, it is seriously disliked by the majority. Plain vanilla Excel has the advantage of being a very intuitive, user-friendly environment that is accessible to all. It is fully capable of handling a wide range of applications, including quite sophisticated ones. Further, your students already know the basics of Excel and nothing more is assumed. Students are assumed to be able to enter formulas in a cell and to copy formulas from one cell to another. All other features of Excel (graphing, built-in functions, Solver, etc.) are explained as they are used.
Build From Simple Examples To Practical, Real-World Applications. The general approach is to start with a simple example and build up to a practical, real-world application. In many chapters, the previous spreadsheet model is carried forward to the next more complex model. For example, the chapter on binomial option pricing carries forward spreadsheet models as follows: (a.) single-period model with replicating portfolio, (b.) eight-period model with replicating portfolio, (c.) eight-period model with risk-neutral probabilities, (d.) full-scale, fifty-period model with volatilities estimated from real returns data. Whenever possible, this book builds up to full-scale, practical applications using real data. Students are excited to learn practical applications that they can actually use in their future jobs. Employers are excited to hire students with spreadsheet modeling skills, who can be more productive faster.
A Change In Content Too. Spreadsheet modeling is not merely a new medium, but an opportunity to cover some unique content items which require computer support to be feasible. For example, the full-scale, real data spreadsheet model in Corporate Financial Planning uses three years of historical l OK data on Nike, Inc. (including every line of their income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement), constructs a complete financial system (including linked financial ratios), and projects these financial statements three years into the future. The spreadsheet model in Life-Cycle Financial Planning includes a detailed treatment of federal and state tax schedules, social Security taxes and benefits, etc., which permit the realistic exploration savings, retirement, and investments choices over a lifetime. The spreadsheet model in US Yield Curve Dynamics shows you 30 years of monthly US yield curve history in just a few minutes. The spreadsheet model in Three Valuation Techniques demonstrates the equivalence of the Adjusted Present Value, Flows To Equity, and the Weighte9Average Cost of Capital methods, not just in the perpetuity case covered by most textbooks, but for a fully general two-stage project with an arbitrary set of cash flows over an explicit forecast horizon, followed by a infinite horizon perpetuity. As a practical matter, all of these sophisticated applications require spreadsheet modeling.
Conventions Used In This Book
This book uses a number of conventions.
Time Goes Across The Columns And Variables Go Down The Rows. When something happens over time, I let each column represent a period of time. For example in capital budgeting, year 0 is in column B, year 1 is in column C, year 2 is in column D, etc. Each row represents a different variable, which is usually a labeled in column A. This manner of organizing spreadsheets is so common because it is how financial statements are organized.
Color Coding. A standard color scheme is used to clarify the structure of the spreadsheet models. The printed book uses: (1) light gray shading for input values, (2) no shading (i.e. white) for throughput formulas, and (3) dark gray shading for final results ("the bottom line"). The accompanying electronic version of the book (a PDF file) uses: (1) yellow shading for input values, (2) no shading (i.e. white) for throughput formulas, and (3 green shading for final results ("the bottom line"). A few spreadsheets include choice variables. Choice variables use medium gray shading in the printed book and blue shading in the electronic version.
The Time Line Technique. The most natural technique for discounting cash flows in a spreadsheet model is the time line technique, where each column corresponds to a period of time. The time line technique handles the general case of the discount rate changing over time just as easily as the special case of a constant discount rate. Typically one does have some information about the time pattern of the riskfree rate from the term structure of interest rates. Even just adding a constant risk premium, yields a time pattern of discount rates. There is no reason to throw this information away, when it is just as easy to incorporate it into a spreadsheet. I use the time line technique and the general case of changing discount rates throughout the capital budgeting spreadsheet models.
Explicit Inflation Rate. A standard error in capital budgeting is to treat the cash flow projections and discount rate determination as if they came from separate planets with no relationship to each other. If the implicit inflation rate in the cash flow projection differs from the implicit inflation rate in the discount rate, then the analysis is inconsistent. The simple fix is to explicitly forecast the inflation rate and use this forecast in both the cash flow projection and the discount rate determination. The capital budgeting spreadsheet models teach this good modeling practice.
Dynamic Charts. Dynamic charts allow you to see such things as a "movie" of the Term Structure of Interest Rates moves over time or an "animated graph" of how increasing the volatility of an underlying stock increases the value of an option. Dynamic charts are a combination of an up/down arrow (a "spinner") to rapidly change an input and a chart to rapidly display the changing output. I invented dynamic charts back in 1995 and I have included many examples of this useful educational tool throughout this book.
Craig's Challenge
I challenge the readers of this book to dramatically improve your finance education by personally constructing all 53 spreadsheet models in all 20 chapters of this book. This will take you about 27 to 53 hours depending on your current spreadsheet skills. Let me assure you that it will be an excellent investment. You will:
gain a practical understanding of the core concepts of Corporate Finance,
develop hands-on, spreadsheet modeling skills, and
build an entire suite of finance applications, which you fully understand.
When you complete this challenge, I invite you to send an e-mail to me at cholden@indiana.edu to share the good news. Please tell me your name, school, (prospective) graduation year, and which spreadsheet modeling book you completed. I will add you to a web-based honor roll at:
http://www.spreadsheetmodeling.com/honor-roll.htm
We can celebrate together!
The Spreadsheet Modeling Series
This book is part a series of book/CDs on Spreadsheet Modeling by Craig W. Holden, published by Prentice Hall. The series includes:
Spreadsheet Modeling in Corporate Finance,
Spreadsheet Modeling in the Fundamentals of Corporate Finance,
Spreadsheet Modeling in Investments, and
Spreadsheet Modeling in the Fundamentals of Investments.
评分
评分
评分
评分
这本书的深度和广度真是让人眼前一亮。我原以为它会是一本偏向基础理论的入门读物,但读下来才发现,作者在构建模型和应用实战方面有着非常独到的见解。尤其是在现金流折现(DCF)模型的构建上,它没有停留在教科书式的简单介绍,而是深入探讨了如何处理各种复杂的现实情况,比如周期性资本支出、营运资本的动态变化,以及如何将不确定性融入到基础模型中。书中的案例分析尤其出色,不是那种空泛的理论堆砌,而是紧密结合了实际企业财务报表中的数据,手把手地教你如何将Excel的强大功能发挥到极致,实现真正有洞察力的财务预测。对于那些希望从“会做报表”迈向“会用模型驱动决策”的专业人士来说,这本书提供了极佳的路线图。它教会你如何搭建一个健壮、灵活且易于审计的金融模型,这在日常工作中是至关重要的技能。
评分我接触过不少关于金融建模的书籍,但坦白说,大部分都显得有些陈旧或者过于侧重于某些特定行业。然而,这本著作的视角却非常开阔,它不仅仅局限于传统的估值领域,而是将企业融资、资本预算和风险评估等多个关键职能有机地整合在“建模”这一核心框架下。作者在讲解如何利用敏感性分析和情景模拟来量化管理层的决策风险时,逻辑清晰得令人叹服。我特别欣赏作者在讲解边际贡献和边际税率如何影响长期价值创造时所采用的精妙代数推导,这使得复杂的概念变得直观易懂。它不仅仅是一本“操作手册”,更像是一本“思维指南”,指导读者如何从财务数据的表象深入到驱动企业价值的核心机制,非常适合那些渴望提升战略财务思维的读者,它提升的不仅仅是你的Excel技能,更是你的商业洞察力。
评分这本书的阅读体验出乎意料地流畅,尽管主题非常专业。很多技术性的金融书籍往往会因为冗长和晦涩的术语而劝退读者,但这里的作者似乎深谙如何以一种清晰、有条理的方式呈现复杂信息。例如,在讲解如何将杠杆和非杠杆现金流进行有效分离,并正确应用加权平均资本成本(WACC)时,作者采用了分步解析的方法,每一步都有明确的理由和财务学基础支撑。对我个人而言,最价值连城的部分是关于“预留期”和“终止值”的计算方法论探讨,它细致地比较了永续增长法与退出倍数法的优劣及其适用边界,这在我以往的工作中一直是个模糊地带。读完这部分内容,我感觉自己在进行长期项目评估时,信心大增,不再是简单地套用公式,而是真正理解了背后的经济逻辑。
评分与其他侧重于金融工程或纯粹会计处理的书籍相比,这本书的重点明显更偏向于“决策支持系统”的构建。作者花费了大量篇幅讨论如何设计一个“用户友好”的模型,这意味着模型不仅要数学上正确,还要在业务层面易于理解和迭代。书中关于如何设计输入变量的清晰度、如何利用数据透视表和图表清晰地展示模型结果的章节,简直是实战的宝典。我尤其赞赏作者对“模型维护成本”和“假设的透明度”的强调,这反映出作者对模型在真实企业环境中长期生存的深刻理解。很多模型在初始建立时很完美,但随着时间推移和管理层变动而变得僵化,这本书提供的框架有效避免了这种情况,确保了模型的生命力和可信度。
评分如果你想找一本能让你对公司财务健康状况进行“深度体检”的书,那么这本书绝对是首选。它不满足于仅仅计算净现值(NPV)或内部收益率(IRR),而是将这些指标置于更宏大的企业战略背景下进行考察。书中关于如何处理折旧与摊销的税盾效应,以及如何精确计算剩余经济增加值(EVA)的建模技巧,非常精妙且实用。特别是关于流动性风险和营运资本周转速度对模型稳定性的影响分析,给出了非常具体和可操作的建模建议。这本书的价值在于,它将晦涩的财务理论转化成了可以被量化、预测和管理的具体工具,对于希望在并购尽职调查或内部投资评估中掌握主动权的财务专业人士来说,这是一本不可或缺的工具箱。
评分 评分 评分 评分 评分本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息,本站不存储任何数据与内容,任何内容与数据均与本站无关,如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度,google,bing,sogou 等
© 2026 qciss.net All Rights Reserved. 小哈图书下载中心 版权所有