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Courses

Vector’s modelling courses are thoughtfully designed to complement your financial modelling needs, building your essential skills.

1. FOUNDATION

The perfect balance of Excel skills and working practices – attend this course to establish or refresh the way you use Excel to develop or use models in your role. The context of course is delivered by building a Cashflow model with a general focus on simple debt and setting up scenario analysis – all with the intention of cementing Best Practice Modelling.

The learning objectives are:

  • Work more efficiently and faster in Excel.
  • Make less errors and learn how to find them.
  • Learn the critical Excel functions to power almost any model.
  • Develop transparent, user friendly, formula.
  • Develop a scenario manager and learn how to use it effectively.
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2. PROJECT FINANCE

Attend this course if you are in a sector which requires you to create or interpret analysis using cashflow centric financial models which you either need to build, adapt or interrogate. The focus is on constructing your own project finance specific calculations starting from a cashflow model. Throughout the course we emphasise the market nuances and underlying intent of the common structures, fees and ratios. This course assumes you have a good working knowledge of Excel or have been on our Foundation course – Project Finance requires very few Excel functions but working confidently in Excel is a pre-requisite.

The learning objectives are:

  • Construct timing flags.
  • Construct a funding waterfall.
  • Calculate a sculpted debt repayment profile.
  • Calculate interest and fees.
  • Calculate DSCR / LLCR and discuss other variants including common errors.
  • Integrate debt and equity into three-way financial statements.
  • Understanding of the intent and approaches for a Debt Service Reserve a/c.
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3. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Building a balanced Balance Sheet integrated with a Cash Flow Statement and Income Statement is a cornerstone of financial modelling. In this course, you’ll begin with a blank worksheet containing existing operational and capital calculations, and you’ll construct the statements from scratch. We will guide you step-by-step, sharing our proven approach used in real transactions. This ensures clarity in every calculation, and when the Balance Sheet falls out of balance, you’ll know exactly how to fix it quickly. You’ll also build essential sub-calculations, reinforcing the importance of Control Accounts. By the end of the course, you’ll create statements where the Balance Sheet balances from the very first entry—just like our professional process. A solid working knowledge of Excel is required (or completion of our Foundation course). While Financial Statements require only a few Excel functions, confidence in using Excel is essential.

The learning objectives are:

  • Construct a Balance Sheet, Cashflow and Income Statement.
  • Understand ‘what-goes-where’ and why.
  • Solve a Balance Sheet that is not balancing.
  • Develop supporting calculations such as Working Capital, Depreciation, Dividends.
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4. ADVANCED DEBT

Modelling debt quickly becomes very interesting and highly dynamic. This course focuses on solving common debt mechanisms by integrating Excel with Visual Basic routines. No prior knowledge of VBA is needed, as we build routines step-by-step in a logical and robust manner, teaching you how to make your debt calculations come to life. The tools you’ll learn on this course represent over 90% of the methods we use to solve complex capital structures in client models. Just like mastering a few powerful Excel functions, gaining proficiency with a handful of VBA routines unlocks the ability to tackle almost any scenario with ease.

The learning objectives are:

  • How to control the spreadsheet from VBA .
  • Create controlled loops to search for solutions.
  • Incorporate constraints such as maximum gearing / tenor.
  • Understand the “Debt Triangle” (Amount, DSCR, Tenor).
  • Solve circularities in a controlled way.
  • Incorporate tolerances.
  • Develop a User-Friendly Debt Sizing routine.
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5. RENEWABLES

Modelling a renewable energy (Wind / Solar) project is not computationally difficult, unless it’s a portfolio… however these projects require specific calculations which, if you are a lender or advisor, are important to understand. We give you a Developer’s perspective on the way these projects come to fruition and all the stages up to Operations – all in the context of the financial model and it’s required functionality. Nick has been in renewables since 2007 and has been the Chief Analytic Officer for a 20GW+ portfolio of wind and solar assets – adding real life depth to the modelling. A solid working knowledge of Excel is required (or completion of our Foundation course). While Renewable Projects require only a few Excel functions, confidence in using Excel is essential.

The learning objectives are:

  • Understand how to implement dynamic timing and what happens on the key dates.
  • Calculating Solar and Wind Generation with a focus on what the terms represent – what is modelled and what is inherently included in various factors.
  • Different “P” values and what they mean.
  • Modelling Contracted vs Merchant revenue – and the effect on debt sizing.
  • Different ways to model Capex.
  • Project and Equity return calculations and common errors.
  • Calculating the Levelised Cost of Electricity avoiding common errors.
  • Setting up Scenarios for different equipment configurations and “Scenarios-of-Scenarios”.
  • What to consider in modelling a portfolio – detailed walkthrough of how we do it.
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6. BESPOKE

Our courses are thoughtfully designed to provide comprehensive coverage of key topics essential for financial modellers working on transactions. Whether you're building foundational skills or refining advanced techniques, our programs equip you with the knowledge and tools to excel. If you’re seeking something more specific or advanced, we’re here to help. Get in touch with us, and we can customise our offerings to meet your unique requirements, ensuring you gain the skills needed to tackle even the most complex challenges.

The learning objectives are:

  • Portfolio modelling.
  • Advanced scenario modelling.
  • “Even more Advanced” debt!.
  • Techno economics and optimisation.
  • Risk simulation.
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