This course is currently being recorded, and will be available later this year. For more information please see the provisional course details & agenda.
This course is based on a three-day in-person course developed and presented by Penelope Lynch over more than two decades. The course is a mixture of theory and practical work, looking in detail at the process of writing, developing and running a project finance spreadsheet model. The course content draws on forty years of real-world experience in this field, and is designed to offer a 'toolkit' of practical methods supported by an understanding of the theory and principles of good practice which underly them. The agenda covers optimal model layout and structure including detailed review of individual model sub-sections, avoidance of circular code, maintaining flexible timings within the model, incorporating monthly calculations neatly into a semi-annual model structure, checking and debugging, and running the usual project finance sensitivities safely and easily. In addition, without assuming any pre-existing VBA knowledge, the course includes guided development of a macro to control inherently circular calculations, and considers how to copy this and other macros from model to model. This online presentation comprises recorded theory modules and expanded practical demonstrations, working through a series of practical exercises which can be completed by the student in their own time. The online delivery eliminates the time-constraints imposed by in-person classes, allowing all students to work at their own pace and permitting more material to be included. The course is suitable for project finance modellers at all levels, building from the key base elements of model design with a model framework allowing clean solutions to sophisticated modelling challenges.
A number of specialist extension modules will be available as optional additions to the main course, including modelling for PFI/PPP, renewables modelling and including exit valuations in the model.