Premium Package

Financial & Valuation Modeling
Certification Program

While EBITDA is a popular measure of profitability, companies increasingly use "adjusted EBITDA" to present profit and show higher EBITDA by excluding significant line items, most notably stock based compensation. We begin by explaining why EBITDA has become more popular than straight cash flow or GAAP profits. We'll build upon this to judge the appropriateness of the most common adjustments that companies now make to EBITDA. We'll use real company filings to examine the most common adjustments today's companies make to EBITDA to show: When using EBITDA is preferable to net income or cash flows, and when it isn't; The rationale for adding back stock based compensation, and how this can lead to overvaluation; The appropriate and inappropriate use of other common adjustments to EBITDA.

How do buy-side investors make investment decisions? How do they know where to begin? How do they pick a company to analyze? Ultimately, how do they analyze that company and arrive at an investment thesis? Here, we take the first step toward understanding and analyzing a stock from the perspective of a buy-side investor.We begin with a look at the due diligence and financial analysis process investors use to examine investment opportunities and progress to examine the variables buyside investors consider in real life when making the final decision on whether to “pull the trigger.”

Convertible Debt. Convertible Preferred Shares. Warrants. Stock Options. Restricted Stock. In the context of valuation, it's always difficult to accurately quantify all potential claims against the common equity pot. This teach-in will provide a solid foundation for all grey areas in calculating diluted shares outstanding, both from stand-alone and M&A valuation perspectives. We will show you: how to calculate dilution from the exercise of stock options and/or warrants using the Treasury Stock Method; best practices in treating convertible securities and the respective implications on valuation; how to best deal with restricted stock given the context (standalone valuation vs. M&A context).

Designed for incoming and prospective DCM/Capital Markets analysts and interns with no prior DCM experience, this course will provide an insider's prospective of what you''ll be doing on the job. We'll focus on industry knowledge not taught in school and demystify industry jargon. We start with the basics: what DCM actually does, what a DCM desk looks like and how to use the turret; We'll show you how to make a great first impression from Day 1 and walk you through the DCM pitchbook and the DCM transaction roles and responsibilities you need to know.

Corporate finance bankers interact regularly with their product partners in debt capital markets, yet many have a limited understanding of the key drivers behind DCM business. This webinar begins by introducing you to the key DCM business lines, including Loan Syndication, Debt Origination, Liability Management and Risk Management. Next, it examines the ways DCM bankers interact with corporate clients and concludes by explaining how the bank makes money (with just the right amount of bond math).

There are some line items on a company’s financial statements that consistently pose challenges for analysts and associates. Here, we focus on the line items on the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement that arise when companies make investments in other companies. Using real-life examples, we answer the following questions: What are “non-controlling interests,” “equity investments” and “available for sale” securities? How do non-controlling (minority) interests and other investments flow through a 3 statement model? How are deferred taxes accounted for in such investments? How should models be adjusted when investments are made at higher than book value?

The unique business model of banks means that the financial statements and core drivers often pose unique challenges in analysis, forecasting and valuation. In this Webinar, we will take the first step toward understanding and analyzing bank financials. It will cover: A bank's major financial statements and how they differ from those of other industries; the key linkages between the financial statements; how a bank's business model and regulatory considerations are reflected in the statements; and how to quickly analyze bank financials.

Maritime companies have a unique business model which leads to financial statements, forecasting and valuation techniques that are a little different from those of a "typical company." In this webinar, we will take you through a quick analysis of maritime financials and answer the following: What a non-maritime company's major financial statements look like and how they differ from those of other industries; What key linkages exist between the financial statements; How a maritime company's business model and regulatory considerations impact financial reporting.

While the terms “hedge fund” and “long/short” are tossed around frequently, there's little clarity on how these strategies work in practice. Led by Mike Kimpel, Wall Street Prep instructor and adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School's popular Value Investing Program, this teach-in will walk you through the most common "value investing" strategies deployed at "long/short" hedge funds. We will examine real-world case studies to answer the following: What does a long/short investing strategy aim to achieve? What are the typical types of fund strategies? What does long investing look like in practice? What does short investing look like in practice?

Designed for IB, PE and real estate investment professionals, this course will show you how to construct a commercial real estate model in Excel in order to evaluate investment opportunities. We will cover: How to navigate Argus and how to link it into an Excel model; Basic lease structures and how each type differs; How to understand key revenue, operating expense and cash flow drivers of a commercial real estate model; Calculating unlevered and levered returns for a commercial property; Deal financing and source & uses of funds.

Designed for incoming and prospective financial market professionals and investment bankers, this course will use real examples to demonstrate the various use cases for Foreign Exchange (FX) Options. We'll start with an overview of FX options trading conventions and decode some trader jargon before answering: Who trades FX options and why? How do you price an option? What causes the value of an FX option to go up or down? What are some different FX option strategies and why would one use them? At course conclusion, you'll have a strong grasp of how corporates, banks, and investors use FX options to hedge against, or make money from, moves in the underlying FX market.

Designed for prospective or incoming healthcare IB/PE analysts & associates as well as anybody interested in learning about the healthcare sector, this course will introduce you to industry sub-sectors and explore the key financial and operating metrics, drivers, industry jargon, valuation methodologies, trends and regulatory concerns of each.

This course uses transactions such as Monsanto/Syngenta, Sanofi/Medivation and Anthem/Cigna to explain the most common defense mechanisms, tools and strategies companies use to defend against hostile takeovers. Specifically, we answer the following questions: What are the considerations for a tender offer and how does it differ from a proxy contest? What are preventive defense mechanisms such “poison pills” and “staggered boards” and how do they protect a company? What strategies can companies invoke when facing an activist hedge fund? Are companies under any obligation to accept a hostile bid if it is higher than other bids?

Designed for incoming and prospective PE associates as well as investment bankers and lenders working with PE clients, this mini-course is a step-by-step walkthrough of the key phases of the private equity deal process. We bring you through the major PE deal checkpoints (Pre-Deal,First Round Bid/IOI,Diligence Deep Dive/LOI, Post-LOI, Closing) and describe how junior professionals can add value to the deal team.

This course is designed for incoming restructuring bankers and current bankers looking to further their restructuring or distressed debt knowledge. It provides an in-depth overview of restructuring and identify the skills you'll need in the early days of your restructuring IB career. We begin by introducing the restructuring process as well as common pitchbook and financial analyses in restructuring IB. From there, we take more in-depth look at the analyses and modeling-related techniques utilized by analysts and associates early in their restructuring banking careers. This course assumes little to no prior knowledge of restructuring.

Ever wonder how companies actually make the earnings forecasts that they communicate to Wall Street? Enter the FP&A professional — one of the most technically rigorous corporate finance career paths. FP&A professionals work closely with the CFO, Director of Finance and other stakeholders to provide them with the information they need to make strategic and operational decisions. Here, we'll take a look at the role an FP&A professional by discussing: Why FP&A is critical in today's competitive business environment; How FP&A differs from traditional finance and accounting roles; The skills a qualified FP&A professional should possess.

Proficiency in Excel is a fundamental part of the finance job description. And while the Windows version of Excel reigns supreme on the job, in our MBA and undergrad classes we still get the question all the time: “What about Excel on a Mac?” In this course, we introduce Mac users to the basics of Excel. We will cover topics such as: The Mac Excel Layout and Ribbon; Editing and Working with Numbers and Operators; Formatting and Navigation (Worksheets, Workbook, Rows & Columns); Working with Rows & Columns; Time-Saving Tools (Anchoring Cells, Formula Auditing, Interpreting Errors, Find and Replace); Introduction to Functions (SUM, Average, IF and nested IF). The only way to learn Excel is by doing, so you’ll be completing Excel exercises every step of the way.

For finance professionals, proficiency in Excel is a fundamental part of the job description. Whether you currently work in Excel at a beginner or intermediate level, this course will take you to the next level and turn you into an advanced "power" user. We'll start with the basics before we quickly introduce you to lesser known time-saving keyboard shortcuts and powerful Excel functions and features that you can immediately put to use on the job. The only way to learn Excel is by doing, so you'll be completing Excel exercises alongside the instructor at every step of the way.

You know by now that Excel proficiency is a must for any successful finance professional, but it's those who venture into Excel's advanced functionality that will become standout analysts. This webinar will teach you how to: Unlock the Developer Ribbon in order to use VBA; Manipulate cells and sheets, whether they're hidden or not; Record, modify and write macros from scratch; Set up special commands when a button is pressed, a cell is selected, or a cell's value is changed; Run through your code, line by line, to debug.

You’re heading to a friend’s wedding and you’re about to board your plane when you get a call from your office saying you’ve been staffed and need to come back ASAP. What do you do? Becoming a successful banker is not just about modeling and technical skills. In this course, we talk about the specific tactics and strategies you can employ on day 1 that have nothing to do with modeling. Specifically, you’ll gain tools to handle common challenges and situations. Conducted by Matan Feldman, Founder and CEO of Wall Street Prep, this course will give you actionable tools for differentiating yourself as a junior bankers from day 1.

The unique business model of insurance companies is reflected in their financial reporting, and leads to a differentiated approach towards analysis, forecasting and valuation. In this webinar, we will take the first step towards understanding and analyzing such financials to answer the following: What a non-life insurer’s major financial statements look like and how they differ from those of other industries; What key linkages exist between the financial statements; How an insurer’s business model and regulatory considerations impact financial reporting; How a quick analysis of insurance financials is done.

As the demand for energy and infrastructure projects increases, understanding project finance mechanics is becoming an increasingly valuable skill set for investment bankers as well as corporate and project finance professionals. This webinar will introduce you to key project finance topics including: The drivers for project finance/the "who" and "why;" Sources of project finance; How the typical project finance deal structure differs from that in corporate finance.

This webinar is designed to help participants understand the structure and layout of the O&G financial reports. We start by looking at different O&G accounting methods and their impact on financial statements. We then touch on the differences between 1P, 2P, and 3P reserves before spending the rest of the time analyzing and interpreting O&G financial statements, footnotes, and disclosures, and on performing O&G ratio analysis.

One of the first things investment banking analysts hear when they get to their desks is the importance of mastering shortcuts in Excel. But there’s another Microsoft program junior bankers spend even more time in that gets a fraction of the attention: PowerPoint. In this course, you’ll gain skills that will reduce the amount of time it takes you to create and update pitchbook slides by 60%. We'll focus on 4 key time-saving techniques: hold shortcuts, hybrid shortcuts; ribbon guide shortcuts and QAT guide shortcuts.

Designed for incoming and prospective investment bankers, private equity associates and lenders, this course will show you how professionals analyze private companies in order to evaluate investment opportunities, drive valuation, inform a sell-side and/or buy-side process and generally assess overall financial health. Part one will cover private company analysis in early stages of the investment process, and will answer: Historically and today, how healthy is the company? What does the company's financial future look like? What challenges exist when working with a private company? What's different when analyzing a private vs public company?

Part 1 of this 2-part course will show you how professionals structure and calculate waterfalls — the method in which distributions are split between sponsor and investor. It will will cover the basics of private equity real estate waterfalls, including: The rationale behind why waterfalls exist; Whole fund carry vs deal-by-deal carry; Multiple hurdle rates and a Catch-up; Common calculation mistakes to avoid; A dynamic waterfall model illustrating the distribution of cash flows.

Junior bankers who aspire for advancement often struggle with the challenge of stepping out of their technically oriented analyst/associate role and into a more customer- and relationship-oriented role of a senior banker. "Moving from Junior to Senior Banker: Skills for Negotiating Transactions" covers: Power and leverage in a negotiation; When should you make the opening bid; How to counter hardball tactics; How to deal with liars or unethical negotiators; How to break the zero sum model and create value for your clients; The importance of framing; How the nature of the relationship drives the negotiating style.

There's probably no area of M&A more challenging than understanding the differences between deals structured as stock sales or asset sales/338 elections. We begin with an explanation of how the decision to structure a deal as either a stock sale or an asset sale/338 election creates significant tax and accounting implications for both buyer and seller. Next we examine the buyer/seller benefits and drawbacks of each deal structure before showing how a negotiation can resolve buyer/seller benefits and drawbacks. We'll conclude with a look at the deal structure's impact on financial models.

This course is meant to introduce newbies to a high level overview of financial restructuring and set the stage for further more advanced analysis. The first few lessons demonstrate using simple examples how companies find themselves in distress. The next several lessons illustrate how financial restructuring can be used to cure the distress. The last several lessons dive deeper into priorities, valuation of firms under distress, and considerations for distressed debt investors.

While mergers and acquisitions capture headlines, global spin-off transactions quietly reached a record high of over $250 billion last year. So why would a company want to spin off or divest a subsidiary? And how exactly is it done? With a specific look at eBay's 2015 spin-off of PayPal, here we will examine the value proposition of spin-offs and other popular divestiture mechanisms to answer the following: When does a divestiture make strategic sense? How exactly does a company carry out the separation? How do divestitures impact financial statements? What are the tax consequences of divestitures?

Commodity prices are volatile. For companies in the business of producing or selling commodities, revenue and cash flow forecasts rely heavily on the price at which they can sell their commodities in the future. So heavily, in fact, that firms aggressively use hedging strategies to protect against changes in commodity prices. In this course designed for Oil and Gas investment banking, private equity, and research professionals, we'll demystify how oil and gas producers use hedges and how to adjust financial models to correctly reflect them.

The rapid growth as an asset class of publicly traded partnerships known as Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) was a financial success story of the last decade. However, given the current commodity price environment, the premise of the MLP model has come under review. This course begins with an overview of the MLP asset class including a look at its many sub-sectors and risks. It progresses with a look at MLP valuation, including modeling the accretion/dilution of an acquisition or project and understanding the tax implications of investing in MLPs.

M&A accounting and purchase price allocation in particular are challenging concepts for practitioners to understand and correctly implement into models. In this webinar, we'll take the first step towards understanding the general PPA process and procedures to answer the following: What is purchase price allocation and how is it performed? What is the PPA impact on financial statements? What are the key differences between PPA requirements for public companies vs. privately-held businesses? How do we handle complexities around various purchase considerations?