A Helpful Add-On for Your Modeling Productivity
(and Stage 6 of FMWC Regular Competition)
Stage #6
Stage #6 of the Financial Modeling World Cup will present a very interesting Case #3 (the one that typically gives the most points) developed by Harry Gross, our current leader in the U-25 rankings. The case is named “Layton’s Lender” and will show the participants best practices in scenario analysis and project finance modeling.
Instead of building a model from scratch, this time, you will be given a very high quality pre-created model. Your goal will be to introduce different scenarios into it and to answer the usual types of questions (like what will the IRR and/or the NPV of the project be in the different scenarios).
Product Review by Andrew Grigolyunovich
Evaluate Formula
Analyzing someone else’s model could be done much easier with OAK – Operis Analysis Kit. This is a great Excel add-on tool initially developed by Operis for their internal model audit needs. I have tested it myself and really liked the functionality they offer. Before I installed the OAK add-in, I frequently used the “Evaluate Formula” functionality, but it is limited to one level of precedents. OAK is great in that it allows tracing multiple levels of precedents of a formula – all in a single screen.
Precedent Tools
Another great tool that helps with model navigation is the 1-9 precedent tools. Essentially, this tool allows you to trace nth precedent with a single click of a button and without Excel’s arrows. At Operis, they say that these are primary Excel navigation tools, on par with Ctrl+ArrowKey and PageUp/PageDown.
Named Ranges
Additionally, I have a confession to make. I am not fond of named ranges and use them only when absolutely needed to (like in dynamic charts). I hate auditing other people’s models full of named ranges even more. OAK is a great help as it can replace all the named ranges with cell references in one click.
These are just a few of the many advantages and functionalities that OAK provides. It might be a very good idea to install OAK well before the stage so that you get accustomed to its functionality. Here is a link to start your free trial:
OAK has also offered our readers an exclusive offer running until the end of September 2022.
Use the coupon code FMWC2022 to get your first year of OAK at £199.
P.S. The Stage #6 case is absolutely solvable without OAK – it is not our intention to force FMWC participants to install it. However, OAK is a great tool that I tested myself, and it might be helpful for you this time. It will not score points for you, it will not write formulas for you, but it might help to understand the pre-created model more quickly. Operis gives a 15-day free trial period, so in my opinion, it is well worth trying out.
