The Complete Financial Analyst Course 2026

Master Microsoft Excel, the world's #1 office software for finance and accounting, from basic calculations to advanced functions like Vlookup, Index, Match, and Pivot tables that shape decisions.

Explore the structure of Excel sheets, including the ribbon and workspace. Add, delete, and navigate sheets with the Plus button, identify cell coordinates with the name box and formula bar.

Select a cell, enter text or numbers, and use enter or tab to move; escape cancels edits; F2 opens the formula bar. Delete clears content; Clear removes content and formatting.

Master cell formatting to make spreadsheets look professional. Adjust fonts, sizes, borders, fills, and alignment, and emphasize the header row.

Master selecting, inserting, deleting, and resizing rows and columns in Excel using mouse clicks, right-click inserts, keyboard shortcuts, and column width commands for precise sizing.

Learn to create Excel formulas by entering them in a cell. Use equals or plus, mix numbers with cell references like D7 and D8, and apply basic operators with parentheses.

Learn to use Excel functions, including the IF function, by inserting them into cells, selecting arguments, and evaluating logical tests with examples like C9 vs D9.

Format cells in Excel by applying number, currency, and date formats, using the home tab or format cells dialog, with ctrl+1 and options for decimals, 1000 separator, and color cues.

master efficient data editing in excel by using copy, cut, and paste commands with keyboard shortcuts (ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+x) and right-click options, including pasting into the top-left cell.

Learn to use paste special in Excel to paste only formulas or only values via the paste special dialog from the home tab.

Use alt+enter to insert a line break inside a single spreadsheet cell, moving the second part to a new line while staying in the same cell to save space.

Learn to split single-cell data into columns with Excel's text to columns, choosing delimited or fixed width, selecting space as the delimiter, previewing results, and finishing to organize data.

Learn to create easily printable Excel documents by setting and using the print area, organizing sheets and information flows, and selecting which parts to print in page layout.

Learn how to wrap text in Excel and automatically adjust a cell's row to fit long content, ensuring the text stays inside the cell borders.

Learn how to insert hyperlinks inside an Excel workbook to jump between sheets, using the insert tab and hyperlink dialog to link to a specific place within the document.

Learn how to use excel's freeze panes to keep column titles visible as you scroll through large datasets, including how to freeze and unfreeze the third row.

discover how the tell me what you want to do box helps you access Excel commands like freeze panes quickly, even after a month away from the program.

Learn how to create and customize an Excel pivot table to summarize volumes by year and product group, switching from count to sum for accurate totals.

Develop a professional-looking Excel sheet from the start by applying white cells, Arial 9 font, a narrower first column, and a bold blue title in cell B1.

Enable the developer tab and record a macro on a single sheet. Use the recorded formatting macro on new sheets to save time and ensure consistency.

Record and save macros in your personal macro workbook to reuse them across multiple workbooks, test them in new files, and run them via the developer tab.

Speed up Excel navigation with Ctrl+arrow keys to jump to the last non-blank cell in any direction, and use Ctrl+Shift+arrow to quickly select large cell ranges.

Master the F5 + Enter trick to jump between a formula and its inputs in multi-sheet models by double-clicking, then return with F5; adjust Excel options if needed.

Learn how to fix cell references in spreadsheets using dollar signs to create absolute and relative references, ensuring formulas copy correctly when dragging across rows or columns.

Learn to use excel's 'select special' to find and select cells by blanks, formulas, constants, or comments, then paste NA into those blank cells.

Learn to create dynamic names in Excel by linking cells and text formulas, using functions like and to reference company names, so the model updates automatically when inputs change.

Name cell ranges to improve readability and use them in formulas for two-year sales totals. Create named ranges like sales 12 and sales 13, then sum them in a formula.

Create and apply custom formats in Excel to add a thousands separator, display negatives in brackets, convert zeros to dashes, and set red for negative values using the four-position template.

Learn to apply custom number formats in Excel to display numbers as multiples while preserving their numeric value. Format cells, choose custom, and enter 0.0 x so calculations remain possible.

Learn to create a dropdown list in Excel using data validation, by selecting a range, choosing a list, and configuring error alerts.

Sort multiple columns using a custom sort to organize a table by a chosen criterion, such as volume, and display top-selling products from largest to smallest.

Master time-saving Excel shortcuts and quick access toolbar tricks to speed up data work. Use keyboard shortcuts, navigate the ribbon with Alt, and customize commands for quick one-click actions.

Identify and fix numbers stored as text in Excel by multiplying by one to reveal formatting issues, such as comma versus dot decimal separators, and quickly correct them.

Master find and replace in Excel to update formulas and references across workbooks. Choose scope: active sheet, selected area, or entire workbook, with exact or partial matches.

Use find and replace to apply uniform formatting across an Excel workbook, such as changing the totals' dark blue fill to white and adding borders by choosing format from cell.

Turn off Excel's background error checking to remove green flags and keep your spreadsheets clean and professional when sharing or presenting.

Discover beauty saving in Excel, the professional way to save files, by selecting A1 across all sheets so every sheet opens at A1 for tidy sharing.

Master the power of the F2 key to quickly edit formulas, view inputs highlighted in the worksheet, and edit directly in the formula bar without using the mouse.

Learn how to use conditional formatting in Excel to quickly visualize data with data bars, color scales, and icon sets, including traffic light rules and custom thresholds.

Master the if function in Excel by learning how to set a logical test, specify true and false outputs, and see how it underpins sumif, sumifs, countif, and countifs.

Enlarge the Excel formula bar to view long, nested functions by dragging the lower border or clicking the arrow, so you can see the entire function.

Master sum, sumif, and sumifs in Excel to add numbers in a range and sum only those meeting criteria, illustrated with country and Champions League examples.

Learn how Excel count functions tally cells: Count counts numbers, CountA counts non-empty cells, CountIf applies a single condition, and CountIfs handles multiple conditions.

Master how to use the average and averageif functions to compute the arithmetic mean, applying ranges and criteria to analyze team performance such as games played and Champions League points.

Master essential Excel text functions to extract and format text, including left, right, and mid. Convert case with upper, lower, and proper, and join strings with and, concatenate, and &.

Learn to add text in formulas using quotation marks, concatenate cells with ampersands, and manage spaces to join a country's name and its capital in Excel.

Explore max and min functions to find the highest and lowest values in a range, using an array of numbers to reveal Bayern Munich’s 90 points and Hamburger's 27.

Explore how Excel recognizes formulas when you start with either equals or plus, both signs triggering a function.

Apply the round function to round numbers in financial models to a chosen number of digits. Round cell values to decimals for precise modeling outcomes.

Discover how to use VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP to pull data from a source table by a lookup value, including exact and approximate matches, column or row indexes, and absolute references.

Explore how index and match work together to replace vlookup, using array references to locate exact positions and retrieve values from a table.

Discover how XLOOKUP replaces VLOOKUP and Index & Match in Office 365, using lookup value, lookup array, and return array to deliver exact or closest matches.

Master Excel's iferror function to trap spreadsheet errors when calculating the percentage of points earned out of the total points, and display not available when data is missing.

Rank a value within a range using the rank function, compare it to the range of cells, and dynamically link results to other sheets with VLOOKUP for flexible financial analysis.

Learn to use the choose function in Excel to build financial models and scenario analysis. Select from optimistic, base, and worst cases across multiple years by changing a single index.

Apply goal seek in Excel, a part of what-if analysis, to find inputs that yield a chosen target result. Set the target cell, the desired value, and the changing cell.

Explore how to perform sensitivity analysis with Excel data tables, varying interest rate and borrowing period to see how the repayment amount changes.

Explore discounting cash flows to present value and calculating net present value in Excel, including the initial investment, to assess project feasibility using manual calculations or the built-in NPV function.

learn to compute the internal rate of return (irr) in excel and interpret it as the discount rate that makes npv zero. compare irr to financing costs for investment decisions.

Compute a complete loan schedule with the pmt function, showing monthly payments, interest vs. principal, and remaining balance for a $300,000 loan at 3% over 10 years.

Learn date functions in Excel, including day, month, year, and date calculations; use EOMONTH and EDATE to compute last-day dates, maturity dates, and date differences for financial analysis.

Review your data source before you start working on it by inspecting the P&L sheet, identifying revenue and cost signs, partner numbers, external transactions, and ensuring year-to-year data alignment.

Order the source worksheet by labeling columns, including b as p&l account, e as amounts, and d as name of partner company, and applying filters to refine the data.

Create a unique code by combining the P&L account and partner company with the and function, then paste special values to organize data across three years.

consolidate codes for 2016, 2017, and 2018 into a single sheet to classify data by p&l category, then remove duplicates to prevent double counting for the database.

Learn to use VLOOKUP to populate a database sheet by pulling the P&L account, partner company number, and name of partner company for 2016-2018, with exact-match lookups and fixed references.

Apply SUMIF to fill the database sheet for FY16, FY17, and FY18 by summing source codes, reversing signs, and verifying that each year's total sums to zero.

discover how to replace vlookup with index and match to preserve original sheet layout and allow right-side lookups. apply exact-match lookups to pull p&l accounts across fy16–fy18.

Learn how XLOOKUP replaces VLOOKUP and INDEX&MATCH, fix references, handle NA errors, and retrieve multiple return columns by pasting across sheets and years.

Map each row to a p&l category to create a concise profit and loss statement by grouping items into macro categories such as net sales, direct costs, and personnel costs.

Map subledger rows to general ledger categories to simplify a complex P&L, grouping revenues, costs, and operating expenses into 21 concise lines from 104.

Build a P&L statement by copying categories from the database, removing duplicates, and ordering revenues, direct costs, and operating expenses to derive gross margin, EBITDA, EBIT, EBT, and net income.

Format a professional Excel P&L for euro in millions across FY16-FY18, using borders, color, bolding, and paste special formatting to emphasize EBITDA and net income, with right-aligned numbers.

Learn to populate the P&L sheet using SUMIF, fix the criteria and sum ranges, copy formulas across years, convert results to millions, and verify accuracy with rounding.

Use the countif function to test whether values in the P&L range appear in the database, quickly flagging zero matches and discrepancies.

Learn to build and format a profit and loss model in Excel by calculating percentage variations and incidence on total revenues, using universal formulas and paste special formatting.

Apply sumifs to compute revenues by product group, financial period, and store type from a 15,000-row database, using fixed references and paste special formulas for efficient analysis.

Explore creating Excel charts to visualize data, including Excel 2016's waterfall and treemap charts, and progress from basics to more advanced, combined charts.

Learn how to insert the main chart types in Excel, including column, bar, line, and pie charts, using the insert tab and recommended charts; switch chart types with ease.

Master Excel chart customization with Chart Tools, adding chart elements such as axis title and data labels, switching rows/columns, and editing the data range.

Learn to customize Excel charts by changing fonts to Arial, adjusting grid lines, colors, and axis scale, resizing to quarter page, and refining data series for a polished look.

Learn to create a bridge (waterfall) chart in Excel 2016, showing revenues and expenses flowing to EBITDA, by selecting data, inserting a waterfall chart, and setting the point as total.

Learn to create treemap charts in Excel 2016 to visualize two categories: country and city, and their tourist numbers, by selecting data and inserting a treemap chart for dual-category comparison.

Represent trends in data with sparklines in a single cell, choosing line, column, or win/loss types, and customize marks, styles, and data ranges.

Create polished P&L charts in Excel to clearly convey messages to decision makers, applying professional formatting techniques for good-looking, effective visuals.

Create a stacked column chart to show revenue development by year with net sales, other revenues, and recharges, and add a secondary axis for the gross margin percentage.

Learn how to create and format a doughnut chart to show a revenue breakdown for FY18, including data selection, labeling, title, colors, hole size, and an attached total box.

Create an area and line chart for revenues and gross margin %, format with Arial 8, gridlines 75% transparent, and place gross margin on a secondary axis as a line.

Learn how to create a bridge chart, a waterfall chart showing how 2017 EBITDA changes due to revenues, variable costs, and opex to reach 2018 EBITDA in Excel.