Introduction to Microsoft Excel

This is the beginning of my blog, Excel Tips and Tricks. I know that there are many resources out there for spreadsheet tips and financial modeling guides, but this blog will be a tutorial based on my fifteen years of financial model development. I will provide step by step information in the posts to come on practical spreadsheet development.

My steps will range from basic model input to some more advanced approaches that incorporate some of the built-in functions that are rarely used. In addition, the later posts will delve into basic VBA coding to simply certain functions that you may require on a regular basis in your own programming.

The other element to this blog is to illustrate features that can be performed by others for the benefit of small businesses that lack a true CFO or financial person. Having worked with small business in the past (business plan writing, strategy assessment, financial modeling), I know that focusing on the day-to-day operations is the critical element, and some of the necessary financial planning takes a back seat at time. Financial models can be a powerful tool for assessing the prospects and strategy of a business, and is a function that is best outsourced for small businesses.

In any event, I hope that you, the reader, will find this tutorial helpful and allow you to become a better financial modeler in the upcoming weeks and months. Developing spreadsheets may not be fund for everyone, but the final product should, at a minimum, accomplish your specific goals and provide some sense of reward to the creator.