Learn Top 10 Excel Features

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Last week, we had a lovely poll on what are your favorite features of Excel? More than 120 people responded to it with various answers. So I did what any data analyst worth his salt would do,

  • I downloaded all the 120+ comments data
  • I home brewed a large cup of coffee and started gulping it.
  • I started analyzing the comments

So here are the top 10 features in Excel according to you.

Learn top 10 Microsoft Excel features & become awesome

1. Excel Formulas

Writing simple formulas in Excel63 people (50%) said Formulas are their favorite feature in Excel. Of course, you can say, Formulas & Functions are Excel!!! . They are what Excel is made of. But then again, a surprising fact is very few people actually know how to use formulas. Most people would Excel as a glorified notepad or ledger – just to type data. Once you understand the power of formulas, then you can be an irresistible analyst. Your boss & colleagues will be all over you for insights & information, much like the girls in Axe commercials.

Resources to learn Excel formulas:

2. VBA, Macros & automation

55 people said VBA is what makes them use Excel. VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications, is a special language that Excel speaks. If you learn this language, you can make Excel do crazy things for you, like generate and email monthly reports automatically while you are busy reading this article.

Macros, little VBA programs are what you write to achieve this. Learning VBA can be quite fun, challenging & extremely rewarding experience. Once you learn VBA, suddenly your company will find you invaluable, thanks to all the time & effort you will be saving due to automation.

Resources to learn VBA:

3. Pivot Tables

Excel Pivot Tables53 people said they love Pivot tables. They save you a ton of time, let you create complex reports, charts & calculations all with few clicks. No wonder so many people love them.

Pivot tables are ideal tools for managers & analysts who always have to answer questions like,

  • What is the trend of sales in last 6 months?
  • Who are our top 10 customers?
  • Which button do I press for strong latte?

May be not the last one, but Pivot tables can answer almost any business question if you throw right data at them.

Resources to learn Pivot tables:

4. Lookup Formulas

25 people said lookup formulas (VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH etc.) are their favorite feature of Excel. Lookup formulas help you locate any information in your workbooks based on input criteria. By knowing how to write lookup formulas, you can build dashboards, make interactive charts, create effective models & feel pretty darn awesome.

Resources to learn lookup formulas:

5. Excel Charts

Excel charts help you communicate insights & information with ease. By choosing your charts wisely and formatting them cleanly, you can convey a lot. I guess, most people hate Excel charts (hence it is at 5th position), because they are hard to work with. You can loose a whole afternoon formatting the wedges of a pie chart. But thanks to resources like Chandoo.org, you know better to make a column / bar chart and be done in 5 minutes.

Resources to learn Excel charts:

6. Sorting & Filtering data

If Microsoft ever needs few extra billions of cash, they just have to turn sorting & filtering features in Excel to pay-per-use. These ad-hoc analysis features are so powerful & simple that any aspiring analyst must be fully aware of them.

Resources to learn sorting & filtering features:

7. Conditional formatting

Conditional formatting is a hidden feature in Excel that can make your workbooks sexy. Just add some CF to highlight your data and you will turn boring into interesting. With new features like data bars, color scales & icon sets, conditional formatting is even more powerful.

Resources to learn conditional formatting:

8. Drop down validation & form controls

In-cell drop down boxes to collect user inputs - created using data validationRight from my 3.5 years old daughter to CEO of a company, Everyone loves to be in control. So how can you make your workbooks interactive, so that end users can control the inputs ?

By using form controls & drop down lists of course.

Resources to learn dropdown lists, form controls:

9. Excel Tables & Structural References

Introduction to Excel tables, what are they and how to use them?Excel tables, a new feature added in Excel 2007 is a very powerful way to structure, maintain & use tabular data – the bread and butter of any data analysis situation. With tables, you can add or remove data, set up structural references, connect them to external sources (SQL server, ODBC etc.), add them to data models (Excel 2013 onwards), link them to PowerPivot (Excel 2010 onwards), format automatically, filter & sort with ease and still be out of office before lunch break. It is a pity Microsoft did not call them pixie dust or magic mix.

Resources to learn Excel tables:

10. PowerPivot, Data Explorer & Data Analysis features

PowerPivot - Introduction, what is it and how to use it?Although Excel in itself is quite powerful, it struggles to analyze certain types of data,

  • Combining multiple tables and creating reports from them
  • Processing data from difference sources and getting output to Excel
  • What if analysis, scenarios & optimization

This is where add-ins like PowerPivot, Data Explorer and Analysis toolpak come in to picture. They let Excel do more, just like bat-mobile lets batman kick more ass.

Resources to learn more:

Learn all these features & more in one place

If you are looking to master all these top 10 features (and more) in one place, I highly recommend enrolling in my online classes. These training programs offer a step-by-step, in-depth, practical instruction on all areas of Excel, VBA, Dashboards & PowerPivot so that you can be awesome at your work. Click on below links to learn more.

Or if you prefer face-to-face training & live in USA, you are in awesome luck. I am visiting USA this summer to conduct advanced excel & dashboards masterclasses in Chicago, New York, Washington DC & Columbus OH.

Click here for details & to book your spot.

 

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62 Responses to “Introduction to Financial Modeling using Excel [Part 1 of 6]”

  1. John N says:

    Oooh! Chandoo - are you looking to outperform the Altman Z-Score?

    I'm all ears 😉

  2. apex says:

    Many thanks, Paramdeep. Looking forward to the remaining parts of the series

  3. Clarity says:

    Thank you Paramdeep. I look forward to following the series.

    Those interested in Financial Modelling may also find this site interesting:
    http://www.fimodo.com/

  4. Rohit1409 says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    Really looking forward for this awesome financial modeling journey 🙂

    All the very best..

    Regards

    Rohit1409

  5. Guru says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    it seems the future is not away when we will have a new software/spreadsheet as competitor to Microsoft Office/Linux etc.......Hats Off to you..

    KEEP SMILING
    GURU

  6. Paramdeep says:

    @apex, clarity: Thanks...
    @all: I do hope that you have started creating the model for the simple case given.. Lets see, what according to you all is the best way forward. So your views on the best practices for the template for valuation?

  7. Brian Clendinen says:

    The planning process varies depending on the project and type of data I am looking at.

    If I am doing a cost impact study based on actuals, verses a cost impact study to estimate future cost, verses reviewing historical data then creating a model, verse having to review historical data, apply it to a draft model, update the model based on the draft outputs and the presentation then sometimes repeat the process a few times.

    Revisions are an absolutely necessary part of corporate financial modeling especially for the presentation sections. A good presentation will be revised multiple time. There are just to many elements which cannot be planned for, especially with ad hoc reports/models.

    Revisions are leading cause of errors, and time spent tracking down errors. The more complex the model the more important revision control is. I would be interested in a section on revision control and good methodologies to determine the effect of changes on models. That is without having to due detail review of the whole model over again.

  8. Drew says:

    Hi Paramdeep,

    I can't wait for the continuation of this series. You have done a great job in making technical terms appear simple and easy to understand. This article is also very useful in our line of business, in fact i will be featuring this article in our site. Of course the credits will go out to you.

    Many thanks and keep it up!

    Drew

  9. @Drew: Thanks! Hope that you found the tutorials useful. Feel free to get back with any queries.

  10. [...] you are building financial models or any other type of excel based decision models, chances are, there will be multiple scenarios in [...]

  11. [...] Here is a free financial modeling course to help you get started. Spread some love,It makes you awesome! Tweet [...]

  12. [...] (if you don’t want to join Financial Modeling School, we are still friends Here is a free tutorial on excel financial modeling.) [...]

  13. nadeem says:

    chando bhai i m tired for looking financial modeling detail but i cant find it anyway. so plz kindly send me full detail of financial modeling from beginning levelo to final. where i learn complete modeling procedure n order to become professional

  14. @Nadeem Bhai,
    The 6 links to the tutorial at the top of this post, build a small integrated financial model step by step. We are also running a complete 8 weeks course on financial modeling (similar to excel school). But that is almost 50% complete right now. If you want to join, you can join the next batch (probably starting in Jan/ Feb)
    Feel free to get back, if you have any queries regarding the model/ steps in creating the same

  15. [...] you do not wish to join our course, we are still cool. Here is a 6 part training on financial modeling & 2 part training on project finance. They are free, fresh and [...]

  16. Lulama says:

    I want to learn how to build a financial model

  17. Dear Lulama,
    You can use this tutorial to learn to build a financial model. We also run a course on financial modeling and project finance modeling. The details can be obtained from:
    http://chandoo.org/wp/financial-modeling/
    You can consider joining that as well.
    I would strongly encourage you to join the newsletter to get the updates about financial modeling and the next batch starting for the course.

  18. Vivek Dharamshi says:

    I want to learn thorough excel and financial modelling thing !!! I am a chartered accountant..CAn you please suggest a detail syllabus that should be learn by me. Also suggest any classes that would cover everything in excel and financial modelling related things.. I stay in mumbai, so please suggest a class in mumbai or any books..byyee.. thanks ..

  19. Hi Vivek,
    We do conduct the financial modeling course online as well as in Mumbai. We start with the basics of excel and build a completely integrated financial model in the class. For details you can look at:
    http://chandoo.org/wp/financial-modeling/
    or
    http://www.edupristine.com/courses/financial-modeling/prisitne-fm-offering

  20. Immanuel Nashivela says:

    Please describe to me various type of financial modela and demonstrate how a model can be build.

    Regards,

  21. Dear Immanuel,
    This series of articles does exactly that. If you go step by step through the articles and create the excel sheets on your own, you will understand how to create an integrated financial model.
    Alternatively, if you are looking for video sessions, you can consider joining our course:
    http://chandoo.org/wp/financial-modeling/
    It is expected to reopen somewhere in mid july.

  22. Benjamin Burt says:

    Thanks Paramdeep this is great!

  23. [...] Few months ago, we learned how to create a project valuation model in Excel as part of our series on Financial Modeling in Excel. [...]

  24. Marius Bouwer says:

    Paramdeep Hi! A bit ignorant here, but let's ask anyway. Can I access "recorded" video sessions apart from following the step by step articles?

    Thanks!

  25. @Marius: Yes, we do have a training program with recorded video sessions. If you are interested, you can enroll for the same. The details can be obtained from: http://chandoo.org/wp/financial-modeling/

  26. Rachit Sharma says:

    i want to know about the scope of financial modeling.i also want to know after doing financial modeling course what are the job prospect, like where i can found job so plz send me full detail of financial modeling from beginning levelo to final.

  27. Charsiew says:

    I am interested to join your Financial modelling class cos am involved in a new business. But I have a Macbook Air with Excel for Mac installed. Would that work with your program?

    • Dear Charsiew,
      The complete training program is built using Excel 2007 with MS windows. Though there is nothing specific to Microsoft in the training. I think a few people have joined the program and are using MAC. If you write an email to me on paramdeep @ gmail.com, I can send you the email ids of those participants and you can get to know their feedback and difficulties in using the program.

  28. Karan Chhabra says:

    This is great, when does the next batch start?

  29. Seun says:

    Paramdeep, thanks. I'm venturing into financial modelling for the first time and from the little I've read from your website already, I'm sure I'll find your resources very useful; thanks once again.

  30. dikshita says:

    hie ppl...I jst wantd a small favour cn smone help me out in calculating EBITDA, along with its working,  from wipros annual report 2011-2012, link -   http://www.wipro.com/investors/annual-reports.aspx
    ...PLZ plz... i am having a submission tommorow.

  31. Arthur D says:

    Nice article.

    In designing Excel Financial Models I design the user interface as friendly as possible and structuring the input variables in the workflow of the client's operations so that they can flow through the impact of the input variables in Excel using buttons and macros and giving the model transparency.

    Cheers
    Arthur

  32. […] 4) http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/07/21/financial-modeling-introduction/  Chandoo has a great 6 step guide which goes through financial modeling from start to finish. Includes loads of pdfs to download including cheat sheets and case studies. Definitely a good place to start learning how to get to grips with financial modeling and Chandoo is well known for its Excel tutorials so if anything doesn’t make sense about the terms used to talk about formatting etc. then the answer can surely be found elsewhere on the website (and often already has hyperlinks added to skip straight to those sections as they are talked about within the financial modeling article!) […]

  33. Excellent site. Lots of helpful info here.
    I am sending it to a few buddies ans also sharing in delicious.
    And certainly, thanks in your effort!

  34. […] Introduction to Excel Financial Modeling […]

  35. Financial Modeling Team says:

    Another step to build any financial model is to do a financial analysis beforehand. This normally helps to design and come up with good projections.

  36. Aman Thakur says:

    Wow great information even I would like to learn financial modeling thanks for sharing this.

  37. Shoaib says:

    Looking For Full details On financial modelling. thank you for sharing this part!

  38. Riya Sharma says:

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    I am sending it to a couple of mates and additionally partaking in scrumptious.

    Undoubtedly, thanks in your exertion!

  39. Thanks for sharing very useful information

  40. Digital Marketing Agency says:

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  41. Brij Bhushan says:

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    Have a Nice Day!

  42. Jatin IIADM says:

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  43. I appreciate your effort of writing a value able piece of content.

  44. I really appreciate the effort

  45. Suman says:

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  46. Steve says:

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  47. Steve says:

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  48. I have to agree with all your inclusions.such a piece of great information that will be very useful for students

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