Afm 481 Week 1 Computer Skills Assignment
AFM 481
Assignment Number One
Computer Skills Assignment
You have recently been appointed to a position of financial analyst with a large manufacturing concern. Your immediate superior has brought the CFO into your office, explaining that you are a graduate from the Accounting and Financial Management program at the University of Waterloo, and therefore, you are a computer wizard.
The CFO, a gruff old lady of at least 55 years of age, looks at you with a mixture of admiration and disdain. “I’m presenting a financial analysis to the Board of Directors in a week’s time, and I need to have a good functioning financial model,” she said, stopping to look over your shoulder at the FaceBook page now quickly reduced to an icon on your desktop. “Your predecessor provided me with a spreadsheet analysis that showed the right …show more content…
numbers most of the time, but the board kept challenging me with other assumptions and situations. The stupid spreadsheet first gave me wrong numbers –astronomically wrong – and then simply froze up when I tried to input new variables.”
“This is not going to happen again, do you understand?
Never again, even if I have to replace the entire financial analysis group!” as she glanced over at your boss, who was now perspiring slightly. “Never was I so embarrassed!” “You will make it happen.” With a wave of her hand like the Queen of Hearts, she strode out of your tiny closet, back to the regal “C” suites on the 18th floor.
Holding back a desire to chuckle, you know what you have to do. “Could I have a week to work on it?’ you inquire innocently of your direct boss, knowing that you could wow them with your knowledge of financial modelling on Excel. “I heard through the grapevine that she does this presentation alone, but she really doesn’t understand how the spreadsheet works .”
“That’s all the time available,” was the quick response. “By the way, I’ve offered to help her in the meeting, but it’s restricted to VP’s only, so she has to have a robust model that she can’t damage. Just make sure that we both have a job at the end of this.”
“By the way, they’ve changed the assumptions on the model, so don’t make the mistake of using any model from the last
presentation.”
As you are left alone, you remember that your introduction to the financial analysis group included a discussion on the handling of risk. The company had been badly burned on their last capital expenditure of this type, and the board had requested that the financial analysis group provide an analysis that would allow them to make probabilistic decisions.
You have been provided with @Risk, and believe that the appropriate use of @RISK in this situation would be quite helpful.
REQUIRED:
Prepare an Excel spreadsheet for the CFO to use in the Board Meeting. Make sure you provide annotations to inform the CFO of what’s happening, as well as a separate set to inform the marker of what you are proud of in your work.
Based upon your meeting with the CFO, you now understand the requirements of the spreadsheet that she has asked you to prepare. Prepare the spreadsheet, annotating it so that all of your improvements are visible to the CFO.
ASSIGNMENT NOTE: You should also annotate the spreadsheet for the markers to mark your assignment!
Assignment Number One
Computer Skills Assignment
You have recently been appointed to a position of financial analyst with a large manufacturing concern. Your immediate superior has brought the CFO into your office, explaining that you are a graduate from the Accounting and Financial Management program at the University of Waterloo, and therefore, you are a computer wizard.
The CFO, a gruff old lady of at least 55 years of age, looks at you with a mixture of admiration and disdain. “I’m presenting a financial analysis to the Board of Directors in a week’s time, and I need to have a good functioning financial model,” she said, stopping to look over your shoulder at the FaceBook page now quickly reduced to an icon on your desktop. “Your predecessor provided me with a spreadsheet analysis that showed the right …show more content…
numbers most of the time, but the board kept challenging me with other assumptions and situations. The stupid spreadsheet first gave me wrong numbers –astronomically wrong – and then simply froze up when I tried to input new variables.”
“This is not going to happen again, do you understand?
Never again, even if I have to replace the entire financial analysis group!” as she glanced over at your boss, who was now perspiring slightly. “Never was I so embarrassed!” “You will make it happen.” With a wave of her hand like the Queen of Hearts, she strode out of your tiny closet, back to the regal “C” suites on the 18th floor.
Holding back a desire to chuckle, you know what you have to do. “Could I have a week to work on it?’ you inquire innocently of your direct boss, knowing that you could wow them with your knowledge of financial modelling on Excel. “I heard through the grapevine that she does this presentation alone, but she really doesn’t understand how the spreadsheet works .”
“That’s all the time available,” was the quick response. “By the way, I’ve offered to help her in the meeting, but it’s restricted to VP’s only, so she has to have a robust model that she can’t damage. Just make sure that we both have a job at the end of this.”
“By the way, they’ve changed the assumptions on the model, so don’t make the mistake of using any model from the last
presentation.”
As you are left alone, you remember that your introduction to the financial analysis group included a discussion on the handling of risk. The company had been badly burned on their last capital expenditure of this type, and the board had requested that the financial analysis group provide an analysis that would allow them to make probabilistic decisions.
You have been provided with @Risk, and believe that the appropriate use of @RISK in this situation would be quite helpful.
REQUIRED:
Prepare an Excel spreadsheet for the CFO to use in the Board Meeting. Make sure you provide annotations to inform the CFO of what’s happening, as well as a separate set to inform the marker of what you are proud of in your work.
Based upon your meeting with the CFO, you now understand the requirements of the spreadsheet that she has asked you to prepare. Prepare the spreadsheet, annotating it so that all of your improvements are visible to the CFO.
ASSIGNMENT NOTE: You should also annotate the spreadsheet for the markers to mark your assignment!