Financial modeling is an important term that one must understand in order to cope with the fast-moving world. Analyzing things before making any decision is very important, especially the financial ones. In simple words, financial modeling helps us to analyze the patterns towards which the market is moving and hence make sound decisions accordingly. Due to economic instability and random ups and downs in its nature, financial modeling is a skill that one must have in the industry. And in this article, we will learn about the available top financial modeling courses in Kenya.
What is Financial Modeling?
Financial modeling is a term that defines the understanding of a model. Here the real work is building a model which represents the real world’s financial situation. It is necessary to understand that it is a mathematical model which is designed to represent the value of a financial asset or portfolio of a business, any project, or any other investment in a very simplified form to understand.
A financial model is formed to forecast an organization’s financial performance over a particular span of time. We can also define Financial modeling as the process within which we make a summary of a company’s expenses and earnings in the form of a spreadsheet with help of excel, and thus is used to calculate and forecast how well the organization can perform in future and therefore helps in making sound decisions.
These financial models are typically created in the form of excel sheets with past data for making informed decisions. Therefore it is important for us to know about the available top financial modeling courses in Kenya.
Scope and Importance of Financial Modeling Course
The scope for the course of financial modeling is growing every day in the present day scenario since all companies need a good financial model to depict future economic endeavors in terms of investment and returns, depending on the past financial or economic history of data.
Typically a financial model has different uses for company executives, among them, financial analysts very often use it for analyzing and predicting how a company’s stock performance might get affected by future events and hence take decisions likewise.
The study of Financial Modeling helps us with adequate knowledge about financial documentation and their needs in making any vital decisions. It also helps us to gain knowledge about the financial statements that are required to be made, the cash flow and returns that we should keep in mind, future investment and growth scope, and valuation of the organization’s assets in any said venture.
In order to thrive in the real world with coping with finance-related affairs, one must have adequate knowledge of financial documents in order to decode these spreadsheets, a complete course on financial modeling can do wonders.
Financial modeling is an organized numeric presentation of a company’s endeavors in the past, present, and thus probable forecast of the future. The intention of making such a financial model is to make informed decisions. Company executives mainly use them to form an estimation of the cost required and profit returns for new developments.
Financial modeling as a career opportunity has a wide variety. These models are widely used by bankers, official accountants, industry consultants, company economists, portfolio managers of various organizations, quantitative analysts of an economic body, and financial planners of any organization.
All of these people are the ones who will benefit from foretelling a probable financial future of any particular organization. It is therefore important to have a strong understanding and knowledge of building a financial model. This knowledge of financial modeling can basically be imparted via a specialized course under a renowned institution or can also be built through much in-house training at financial services organizations.
Career Opportunities in Financial Modeling
As discussed earlier financial models are mathematical representations of data in a tabular form prepared by analysts on excel sheets. Therefore having a strong knowledge of excel is very important in order to grow a career as an analyst for financial modeling.
In today’s fast technologically growing world, having a career in financial modeling is quite a great deal, and for this, the specialists involved in the job must be skilled to use excel modeling, as this is the need for this era. Many businesses in today’s world give extra credit for having strong knowledge of excel sheets since all the work is carried through it.
Hence, organizations often tend to hire people with good knowledge of excel. If you are one of those persons who is looking forward to having a promising career in the field and wondering if this is a good career then look no further, stop by to have a look at the best financial modeling courses in Kenya both online and offline mode.
After completion of the course, the best institutes will even guide you with the job opportunities with the help of their dedicated placement cell. The career options that you will get after completion of the course include career options as an equity research person, corporate development person, investment banking person, the financial planning and analysis person.
Now before discussing the institutes providing financial modeling courses in Kenya, let us discuss the types of financial modeling you will encounter.
Types of Financial Models
Some common types of financial modeling used by the company for raw data collection and analysis to make a sound decision are discussed below
1. Three Statement Financial Modeling –
The type name itself defines that three important aspects are included in this type, this includes a company’s income statement, then the balance sheet of the company, and then the cash flow analysis. These are the three main things we get in a three-statement financial model spreadsheet, in simple words, this helps in better analysis.
There is a proper process involved in this method, this includes a spreadsheet software that helps to link these three above-mentioned financial statements and then bind them with a formula so that each account can be connected within the system.
With the help of this, the companies or organizations then use the collected required information on the three statements financial model to evaluate and improve their financial or economic strategies and therefore positively affect the income and cash flow.
2. Discounted Cash Flow Financial Model-
Discounted cash flow financial model is a simple model that promotes the establishment of the facts obtained through a three-statement financial model to determine and hence display an organization’s net value at the present moment. This value helps investors or potential clients and partners to understand how a company’s cash flow in the future may affect equity or shares or any other things that hold a contribution to a company’s valuation in near future.
3. Budget Fiinancial Modeling
This type of financial model is generally used by financial analysts or the person in concern with finance for economic analysis and thereby it also helps to plan a company’s annual budget. The main motive to use this type of financial modeling by companies is to generate quarterly or monthly values in the present scenario so that the company can use this data to push the financial processes related to its business operations and likewise leverage from the same.
This type of financial modeling also generates any business’s income statements. So, in short, this type of modeling is for planning and leveraging short-term economic endeavors.
4. Forecast Financial Modeling
As the name suggests, Forecast Financial modeling helps financial analysts to create a model of a company’s budget for the financial year. It helps the organization to plan and analyze the accumulated raw data which later is produced in an excel sheet for the purpose and hence predict costs within a company’s budget.
Organizations also use this type of financial modeling vaguely to determine the expenses that can be incurred through their various business operations. Therefore forecast financial modeling is very useful and helps a company to predict future costs that might be encountered while producing a product or service.
5. Merger Financial Model
This type of financial model comes in handy when an organization is planning for a merger or a company acquisition. The main work of an analyst here is to determine the pro forma value and likewise determine whether they have the financial capacity to merge with other businesses.
This type of model also helps determine the income or stock share of a company and hence contributes to the same purpose, which is evaluating if it is worthy of a merger or not.
Here are the most-trusted Online Financial Modeling Courses
You can use this type of financial modeling for evaluating a leveraged buyout (LBO) transaction, which means the process of acquisition by a company that is dependent on its funding by using a large amount of debt. This type of financial model has requirements for different finance values like cash flows, revenues of the company, and also the liability values. The main profit from an LBO model is that one can easily analyze the relationship that a company’s accumulated debts hold with its cash flow processes.
7. Public Offering Financial Model
As the name suggests, this type of financial model helps analysts to place the determined value on businesses before their initial public openings. This type of financial model requires a proper data analysis to be done by the analysts among the comparable companies in the market. It has also a role in helping to analyze the assumed value that investors might want to pay for a new business or takeovers.
So far we have learned that financial modeling has a wide scope and need in this fast-growing world. Now further, let us discuss the financial modeling courses in Kenya available both online and offline mode.
Top 6 Financial Modeling Courses in Kenya
1. IIM SKILLS
IIM Skills is the best institute out there that you can trust and choose for the Financial Modeling Courses in Kenya. This is an online platform that gives you the flexibility of availing of this highly demanding and professional course right from your home. This is the best skill development and training institute that offers an up-to-date curriculum.
IIM Skills offers comprehensive courseware and training programs in the most required important fields. The course duration ranges 3 months and is designed in a manner that meets all the needs of professionals in companies, students from the required backgrounds, workers who are of entry levels, moms who stay at home and wish to work, and also people who wish to have a work-from-home professionals career.
This is a career-oriented course that comprises a combination of theory and practicals. The program that IIM Skills offers is a job-oriented program that is relevant to the industry and applicable in accordance with the present-day scenario. The curriculum for the course is designed after a thorough study in such a way that it provides the best possible education to the students and professionals.
At the completion of the course program, IIM Skills awards the learner with a globally accredited certificate. Another important benefit of the course is that even after completion of the course, the institute offers lifetime access to resources and study materials, and recordings are available in a system that is updated on a regular basis, which is also known as Learning Management System (LMS).
The course program has many free sophisticated tools to offer a student that is used in an industry like advanced Excel and PowerPoint. The course program is mainly meant for and is beneficial for students of CFA, students of CA, MBA students, and also other than this finance professionals. It is also for those who hold any technical degree like B.Tech, Engineering, etc.
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2. Corporate Finance Institute
Corporate Finance Institute is a very famous and one of the old names that pop up in our mind when we talk about financial modeling courses in Kenya. This course that they are offering is a specialized course that sharpens our skills to an extent so we do not face any difficulty in the job environment.
They offer an ample amount of interactive assignments, which is also one of the main highlights of the institute. In order to make their student’s jobs ready, they often make the students go through practical case studies and attend MCQs. The institute has a very impressive detailed library related to finance.
CFI is one of the best institutes offering Financial Modeling Courses in Kenya. The institute also offers live classes with recordings as well. The course duration is 4-6 months.
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3. Upskill Development Institute
It is a very short online course available out there but is the best. The main motive of the course is to train their students well and make them job-ready by sharpening their skills in using excel spreadsheets so that they can do better analysis and hence be an asset to the organization they are working for.
They offer both recorded live classes and also regular field classes with different fee structures. You can enroll as per your requirement. There are many short courses like this but this one is the best. This type, of course, is mainly for those who want to sharpen their skill while they are already engaged in an organization.
4. KnowledgeHut
KnowledgeHut is again a very renowned online platform for learning. It provides a very useful and professional course in financial modeling so that the students shape the misconceptions that linger around in the multinational bodies in regard to finance. The professionals that teach in the institute provide very hands-on practical case studies for learning experiences.
The institute provides the facility of online classes, study materials, and also recording for the sessions. The institute is known to provide a good set of knowledge and skill-based training for use of excel sheets and hence preparing financial models. They also provide a proper certificate at the end of the program.
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5. Kenya School of Monetary Studies
This institute in Kenya offers an Executive Diploma in financial modeling. With the increasing demand of the present era, the school has updated itself accordingly. The school name itself gives us the idea that the school offers courses mainly in finance. Among these courses, it also offers the best financial modeling courses in Kenya.
The only criteria are that the student must have a bachelor’s degree or must be in the finance sector. The course gives a very strong learning skill in excel understanding which ultimately helps in creating better outputs in real-world scenarios, that is in the companies.
6. Star College of Management
The star college of management is one of the best institutes for financial modeling courses in Kenya. It comprises many finance-related courses. The faculties they hold are all very professional and skilled. They train their students very well to face the outer world by continuously teaching the skills to grow a perfect financial model via excel and thus they also set up regular exams to ensure their mastery in the field and also to judge the progress of the students.
The curriculum they have is very vast, some of the included ones are sensitive analysis using tables of data, GAAPs in Financial Modeling, Analysis of financial statements, Enterprise and Equity valuation process, the flow of cash for performance appraisals, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the basic criteria for financial modeling courses in Kenya?
Ans. The basic criteria for pursuing financial modeling courses in Kenya is that one must be graduated or must have some experience in the finance sector.
2. What is the salary structure for financial analysts?
Ans. The average annual salary structure of a financial analyst is around four lakhs per annum.
3. Why is financial modeling used?
Ans. Financial modeling is mainly used for forecasting an organization’s financial performance over a particular span of time so that it can make sound decisions regarding profits and investments.
Conclusion
Financial modeling is a must-do course for those who are in the finance field, they are skilled in excel and other necessary things related to financial modeling. It is very likely that they will be able to do their jobs better and in a more skilled way. This will help organizations to build a better financial model and likewise plan their investments, acquisitions, and profit returns. With this, the analysts of the organization will also have better growth in their careers. Overall it will thus become a win-win situation for all. So, now stop searching and enroll in one of the listed financial modeling courses in Kenya.