Category: financial modeling

New Excel Functions: Power Query, XLOOKUP, & Others

New Excel Functions—for some of us, every Excel update is like Christmas morning. Others shudder at the thought of using Excel (though that probably means you’d have a tough time as a management consultant). Those who know the power of Excel know it offers much more in the way of simplicity than complexity. A little…

Case Interview Math: 3 Tips To Crush It

Case Interview Math – horror stories from friends and contacts (or perhaps your own experience) are probably going through your head just at reading the term. We hear them all the time too. As one of the top reasons for rejection in a consulting interview, case interview math presents a unique barrier to entry. Why…

How Consultants Use Excel

This article is for anyone who wants to understand how consultants use Excel. Whether you are an aspiring consultant or already on the job, a better understanding of how consultants use Excel is one of the keys to drastically increasing your productivity. Consulting Excel skills is honestly something that you can't get too much of!…

Investment Banking Financial Models vs. Consulting Financial Models

Investment banking and management consulting are two of the most sought after - and thus competitive - industries in the business world. Both are extremely data driven and involve varying levels of financial modeling. In this article, we will be discussing the similarities and differences between investment banking financial models and financial models used in…

Investment Banking Analyst: A Day in the Life vs. Consulting

Investment banking is an industry infamous for its notoriously long hours. When I was looking into how to become an investment banker, I first asked, "What is investment banking?" Then, I remember asking - “Why on Earth do investment banking analysts need to be in the office for so long?” It all came down to…

Break Even Analysis

All companies have the goal of being profitable, but before they can get there, the first step is to break even. Once a company is able to reach a point where they aren’t losing money, they can then ideally scale up and experience exponential growth. There are many ways to run break even analysis, the…

Financial Modeling 102: 4 major types of consulting models

Today we continue our series on financial modeling (or financial modelling for you internationals) for consulting. Financial modeling scared the pants off of me until I figured out how useful it was, and I was even more motivated to be good at it when I realized how awesome it made me look as an analyst.…

Financial Modeling 101: 6 Features Of A Killer Consulting Financial Model

Strategic thinking. Passion for results. Creativity. Structure. These were the key words used during information sessions, interview introductions and sell weekends to describe my future life in consulting. As I look back on it now, they are the words that the partners used to describe Bain's solutions and partnership strategy with clients, but these words…