Financial Analyst Certification Program PDF
Financial Analyst Certification Program PDF
Financial Analyst Certification Program PDF
Certification Program
Table of Contents
Program Overview 05
Curriculum 06
Graduation Requirements 06
Optional Prerequisites 07
Program
Required Courses 08
Overview
Elective Courses 09
Learning Objectives 10
Technical Requirements 13
Tuition 13
Accounting Fundamentals 14
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Table of Contents
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CFI Program in Financial Modeling & Valuation
Corporate Finance Institute® (CFI) is a leading financial
analyst training company that provides career-focused 100 hours
financial modeling and valuation courses. CFI’s courses
and certifications have been delivered to tens of
thousands of individuals at the top universities,
investment banks, accounting firms and operating 25 financial analyst courses
companies in the world.
Whether you are new to the corporate finance industry 14+ financial model
or an experienced professional, CFI training on financial templates
modeling and valuation will help you master new skills,
achieve professional goals, and advance your career.
$497 ($2,900
CFI courses are designed to provide you with in-demand
save over 80%)
industry knowledge, hands-on practice, and
confidence that will help you stand out from competition
and become a world-class financial analyst. 100% online
By following CFI’s blueprint for professional success, you will learn the best practices, tools, and techniques to
master financial modeling, company valuation, discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, merger models (M&A),
sensitivity analysis, accounting fundamentals, financial statement analysis, and much more.
This professional training program will help you gain on-the-job skills and knowledge that might otherwise take
years of hands-on experience to learn.
Trained by globally experienced instructors, graduates complete our analyst program with new knowledge and
skills essential for successful careers in corporate finance, investment banking, equity research, corporate
development, FP&A, treasury, and accounting.
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Program Overview
Ready to advance your career? Join tens of thousands
of professionals who demonstrate a commitment to
the field and dedication to continuous improvement of
their corporate finance skills.
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Curriculum
CFI classes are offered 100% online, allowing you the
flexibility to start the financial analyst program, set
your own schedule, and study at a time that’s most
convenient for you. Strategy
Accounting
Financial
Presentations & Modeling
The analyst program includes 7 optional Visuals
prerequisites to review the fundamentals, 9 required
courses to build a strong foundation in financial
Budgeting &
modeling and valuation, plus a minimum of 3 elective Forecasting
courses that allow more focus on specific topics and
skills (12 required courses in total). Valuation
Finance
ο Excel 17%
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Optional Prerequisites
Recommended
Course Name Course Code Study Hours
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Required Courses (9 required)
Recommended
Course Name Course Code Study Hours
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Elective Courses (3 required)
Recommended
Course Course Code Study Hours
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Learning Objectives
The CFI Program covers a critical body of knowledge necessary for becoming a world-class financial analyst.
The core curriculum for the program includes:
Financial Modeling
✓ Develop industry-leading best practices for layout,
design and structure of models
✓ Learn how to build a dynamically linked 3-statement
model in Excel from scratch
✓ Create a multi-year forecast to project the income
statement, cash flow and balance sheet into the future
✓ Use advanced Excel formulas and functions to make
models both robust and dynamic
✓ Perform scenario analysis, sensitivity analysis,
accretion/dilution analysis and other advanced
modeling practices
✓ Learn how to build models that are well designed,
intelligently structured, and easy for other users to work
with
Valuation
✓ Learn how to value a company using comparable
company analysis, precedent transactions, and
discounted cash flow DCF modeling
✓ Build numerous DCF models from scratch in Excel
and learn how to calculate a firm’s weighted average
cost of capital
✓ Understand how and when to use Enterprise Value
and Equity Value multiples for valuation
✓ Learn about the pros and cons of different valuation
methods, and become proficient in all of them
✓ Arrive at a range of values for a business combining
multiple methods
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Financial Analysis
✓ Learn advanced forms of financial analysis including
ratios, rates of return, risk assessment, credit metrics,
debt schedules, cash flow waterfalls and more
✓ Assess the overall attractiveness of investment
opportunities using financial models, scenarios, and
multiple types of analysis
✓ Develop insightful and charts and graphs for PowerPoint
presentations
✓ Build Excel dashboards and use advanced data
visualization techniques
✓ Go beyond the financial model to truly understand the
risks and opportunities of an investment opportunity
Presentations
✓ Learn to create beautiful charts, graphs and
tables in Excel
✓ Build professional PowerPoint presentations
and pitch decks
✓ Create insightful dashboards and outputs for
presentations
✓ Learn how to use data visualization to get your
point across
✓ Impress executives and leadership teams with
deep insights and impactful presentations
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Why Certification is Necessary
In a highly demanding job market, it is critical for you to gain a competitive advantage through professional
development and industry-oriented certifications.
As financial analysis practices and business tools evolve at an ever-increasing rate, a gap is formed between
the foundation provided by postsecondary institutions and the on-the-job competencies required in today’s
business environment.
The CFI Training Program and certification were established to pick up where traditional schooling leaves off
and bridge this education gap.
A certification from CFI on your resume gives recognition of competence, demonstrates a commitment to
ongoing professional development, and helps with job advancement.
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Technical Requirements
✓ An Internet connection is required to take this program, including the ability to play audio as courses include
voice lectures
CFI strongly suggests that students have the following technology in order to successfully complete projects and
assignments online:
✓ PC or Mac
✓ A recent version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari or another web browser
Tuition
Students can enroll in the full CFI Program or pick and choose individual courses.
Program fees may be paid by Visa® , MasterCard® , PayPal, money order, certified check or wire transfer.
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Accounting Fundamentals
No prerequisites required
This two-part series will guide you through the accounting process, exploring the layout of the balance sheet,
income statement, and cash flow statement, and demonstrating how to prepare financial statements from
scratch. This course incorporates a wide range of applied exercises and case studies.
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Reading Financial Statements
No prerequisites required
In this two-part course, we use a published set of financial statements and annual report to understand the
financial strength of a company and help us to make informed decisions.
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Fixed Income Fundamentals
No prerequisites required
This 2-part series will introduce you to the main products and players in the fixed income markets. It
illustrates the points covered using real market data and examples of the most commonly used Bloomberg
screens for bonds. Core concepts such as bond pricing, duration and yield curves are covered in detail. This
course incorporates a wide range of applied exercises and case studies together with quizzes to test what
you have learnt.
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Excel Crash Course
No prerequisites required
Learn all the tips, tricks, shortcuts, functions and formulas you need to be an Excel power user. This course is
designed specifically for Excel spreadsheet users who are already performing professional financial analysis
and financial modeling or are looking to prep for a corporate finance career.
This free spreadsheet training course starts with the Excel basics and quickly progresses to a more advanced
level where even experts will learn something new. We think it’s important to start at the bottom and build
a solid base, which is why we review all the foundational skills you need before building more advanced
spreadsheets. You’ll learn to ditch the mouse and use only keyboard shortcuts to dramatically improve your
spreadsheet building skills.
In the second half of the course you’ll notice the functions and formulas getting more sophisticated and the
quality of financial analysis and financial modeling becoming much higher. This half of the class focuses on
finance-specific formulas that you’d use as an analyst performing financial analysis on the job.
1. Learn everything you need to know about Excel spreadsheets for a career in corporate finance
2. Master keyboard shortcuts, functions, and formulas to save time speed up your modeling skills
3. Follow industry leading best practices; simulates on-the-job analyst training
4. Stand out in an interview or move up the ladder at work by dramatically boosting your MS Excel skills and
confidence
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Introduction to Corporate Finance
No prerequisites required
This introduction to corporate finance course will give an overview of all the key concepts you need for a
high-powered career in investment banking, equity research, private equity, corporate development, financial
planning & analysis (FP&A), treasury, and much more.
The course covers a wide range of topics ranging from mergers and acquisitions to various types of capital
raising. The program provides a qualitative overview of each topic, designed to give students an introduction
to basic concepts, which they can explore further in our later courses.
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Math for Corporate Finance
No prerequisites required
This four-module course demonstrates how a number of mathematical formulas can be used to conduct
detailed analysis on a set of data and/or variables.
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Excel Modeling Fundamentals
Recommended Prerequisite
1. Accounting Fundamentals
This four-part series provides tips and tricks for Excel model builders, gives advice on how to audit your
financial models, demonstrates how to use better formulas, and shows you how to monitor and handle
uncertainty using scenario planning.
1. Learn how to speed up your Excel modeling skills by using keystroke navigation
2. Significantly improve how you can edit your worksheet by learning how to use editing shortcuts in Excel
3. Develop the skill every model builder needs in editing and modeling your spreadsheet in mere minutes
4. Build flexibility into financial forecasts
5. Break down complex calculations
6. Minimize errors in Excel models
7. Understand Excel function syntax performance
8. Learn how to perform sensitivity analysis
9. Understand how data tables and goal seek can facilitate your model building process
10. Measure the impact of future uncertainty on cash flows and profit with scenario planning
11. Use scenario and solver tools to see how certain inputs can impact your model
12. Quickly and easily find errors and audit a spreadsheet
13. Use the auditing tool-bar to make your spreadsheet error-free
14. Use test data to uncover errors
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Financial Models & Templates Library
No prerequisites required
This course gives you examples of completed professional grade models that would be used in the
industry. These models and templates provide additional practice after each of the courses offered at
CFI on financial modeling. You can learn by reverse engineering these models and seeing how they were
built by deconstructing them. You can also use them as a starting point for future work on the job.
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Financial Analysis Fundamentals
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Accounting Fundamentals
2. Reading Financial Statements
3. Excel Crash Course
This four-module course demonstrates how you can perform a financial analysis on any organization using a
wide variety of ratios derived from its financial statements.
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Building a Financial Model in Excel
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Accounting Fundamentals
2. Financial Analysis Fundamentals
3. Excel Crash Course
This four-part series guides you through how to apply a structured approach to financial modeling in Excel.
It covers the many hallmarks that make financial models robust; demonstrates best practice techniques in
planning model structure; and explains how to forecast the income statement from operating revenues down
to operating profit.
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Business Valuation Modeling
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Accounting Fundamentals
2. Reading Financial Statements
3. Excel Crash Course
4. Building a Financial Model in Excel
This business valuation course provides participants with the skills needed to perform detailed
business valuation modeling using three main methods: Comps, Precedents and DCF Analysis.
The valuation training provided in this series will be particularly valuable to those who are
looking for a detailed and step-by-step explanation of how to value a company based on
comparable companies, past M&A transactions and a Discounted Cash Flow Model (DCF).
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Budgeting and Forecasting
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Accounting Fundamentals
2. Reading Financial Statements
Build and develop budgets, forecast results, and use variance analysis to track performance. This interactive
and applied course enables participants to:
Those who are responsible for financial management, budgeting, and forecasting within their organizations.
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FP&A Monthly Cash Flow Forecasting
Recommended Prerequisite
1. Building a Financial Model in Excel
Master the art of building a rolling 12-month cash flow forecast model in our Financial Planning &
Analysis (FP&A) course. In this course you will learn to build a cash flow model from scratch complete with
assumptions, financials, supporting schedules and charts.
We will look at how to forecast revenues, operating expenses and changes in balance sheet items to arrive at
monthly cash flow. From there we will assess the financial impact on the business, decide if capital needs to
be raised, evaluate credit metrics, and create elegant charts to inform management.
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Sensitivity Analysis for Financial Modeling
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Building a Financial Model in Excel
2. Business Valuation Modeling
This single module advanced financial modeling course takes a deep dive into sensitivity analysis. By the end
of this course you will have a through grasp of how to build a robust sensitivity analysis system into your
financial model.
Form and function are both critical to ensure you can handle quick changes and information requests when
you’re working on a live transaction.
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Advanced Excel Formulas
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Excel Crash Course
2. Building a Financial Model in Excel
3. Scenario & Sensitivity Analysis
Learn the most advanced formulas, functions and types of financial analysis to be an Excel power user. This
course builds on our free Excel Crash Course and is designed specifically for spreadsheet users who are
already proficient and looking to take their skills to an advanced level.
This advanced tutorial will help you become a world class financial analyst for careers in investment banking,
private equity, corporate development, equity research and FP&A.
This advanced Excel training course starts with a blank spreadsheet and quickly dives into using combinations
of functions and formulas to perform dynamic analysis.
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Excel Dashboards & Data Visualization
Recommended Prerequisite
1. Excel Crash Course
This in-depth course will teach you how to build a custom Excel dashboard using professional data
visualization techniques. By the end of the course you will have a solid understanding of how to tell a story by
combining data, charts, graphs, and other visuals.
This course will teach you all about the most important data visualization techniques, including:
Additionally, this online course will teach you how to create a dashboard in Excel from scratch. The main
dashboard topics covered in this class include:
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PowerPoint & Pitchbooks
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Building a Financial Model in Excel
2. Business Valuation Modeling
Learn the most advanced functions, tips and best practices for presentation design to be a distinguished
PowerPoint user. This tutorial is designed specifically for financial analysts who need to create PowerPoint
presentations, mainly in the form of pitchbooks. This is a classic skillset for Analysts who need to make world-
class presentations.
This advanced PowerPoint tutorial will help you become a world-class financial analyst for careers in
investment banking, private equity, corporate development, equity research and FP&A. By watching the
instructor build the pitchbook right on your screen, you can easily pause, rewatch, and repeat exercises until
you've mastered them.
1. Theme colors
2. Slide master
3. Gridlines and guides
4. Formatting text boxes
5. Formatting shapes and lines
6. Inserting tables and charts from Excel
7. Alignment
8. Creating a timeline
9. Inserting a background picture
10. Inserting a color filter
11. Crop images to shapes
12. Icons and transparent logs
13. Slide transitions
14. Animation
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Behavioral Finance Fundamentals
No prerequisites required
Behavioral finance is the study of the influence of psychology on the behavior of financial practitioners. In
this three-part course, you will learn about the wide range of decision making biases and information
processing errors that influence our financial decision making.
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Real Estate Financial Modeling
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Building a Financial Model in Excel
2. Business Valuation Modeling
Build a dynamic Real Estate Financial Model to evaluate the investment return profile of a development
project in Excel.
This financial modeling real estate excel course is designed for development professionals, lending / banking
analysts, surveyors, and anyone interested in mastering the art of building a real estate development models
from scratch.
In this real estate modeling course, you will learn step-by-step how to build a dynamic a financial model
that incorporates sensitivity analysis of development costs, sales prices, and other aspects of development.
This real estate development financial modeling in Excel course is designed for anyone who is seeking to
develop intermediate to advanced financial modeling skills and become an expert financial modeling for real
estate development.
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eCommerce Financial Model & Valuation
Recommended Prerequisites
In this course, you will master the art of building a financial model and valuing an eCommerce Startup. In
this course you will learn to build a startup financial model from scratch complete with assumptions,
financials, valuation, and output charts. We will look at how much money this business has to raise based
on its business plan and model out each year of cash flow.
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Mining Financial Model & Valuation
Recommended Prerequisites
In this course, you will master the art of building a financial model for a mining asset, complete with
assumptions, financials, valuation, sensitivity analysis, and output charts. In this course we work through a
case study of a real mining asset by pulling information from the Feasibility Study, inputting it into Excel,
building a forecast, and valuing the asset.
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Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Recommended Prerequisites
This advanced financial modeling course on mergers and acquisitions is designed for professionals working in
investment banking, corporate development, private equity, and other areas of corporate finance that deal
with analyzing M&A transactions.
This course is built on a case study of Online Company Inc acquiring Brick ‘n’ Mortar Co.
Through the course of the transaction, students will learn about:
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Leveraged Buyout Modeling
Recommended Prerequisites
This advanced course covers how to set up and build an LBO model step-by-step including assumptions,
financing, forecast income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, debt schedule, DCF, IRR, sensitivity analysis,
error checks, all formulas, functions and formatting.
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Financial Modeling using VBA
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Building a Financial Model in Excel
2. Business Valuation Modeling
This four part course provides participants with the skills needed to incorporate Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) into financial models. This VBA module series will be particularly valuable to those who
regularly build financial models in Excel and are looking for a thorough introduction to VBA.
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Corporate & Business Strategy
Recommended Prerequisites
1. Introduction to Corporate Finance
2. Building a Financial Model in Excel
3. Business Valuation Modeling
This Corporate & Business Strategy course covers the most important terminologies, theories, concepts,
and frameworks on strategy. The course is designed to guide you through a comprehensive strategic
analysis process, and demonstrate the application of theories into real-world business situations.
CFI's Corporate & Business Strategy course is beyond just academic definitions, theories and concepts —
you will take raw data and information provided in the case study, perform analyses as guided through the
video lectures, and build strategic alternatives based on the result of your analyses. At the end of the day,
you will be able to create a detailed strategy document, describing the entire strategic analysis process
from external analysis to the recommendation of strategic alternatives, which can then be presented to the
management board of the company.
1. Understand how the strategic analysis process helps decision makers perform in-depth analyses and identify
optimal strategic alternatives
2. Differentiate between the three levels of strategy (corporate, business, and functional)
3. Perform external analysis by looking at the supply chain, mapping out strategic groups, building competitive
forces model and analyzing PEST factors
4. Perform internal analysis by understanding a company's core competencies, competitive advantage, value chain
activities and ways to sustain competitive advantages
5. Assess a company's current corporate-level, business-level and functional-level strategies
6. Learn how to generate, evaluate and select optimal strategic alternatives through methods such as SWOT
analysis, DCF analysis and multi-criteria analysis
7. Tie strategic alternatives to a company's mission, vision and goals
8. Apply all theories taught in the lectures into a case study and generate the appropriate strategies using the
provided information
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Body of Knowledge
The CFI Body of Knowledge represents the main topics, skills, and abilities required to successfully complete
the program. The CFI Program is designed to instill the practical skills required to perform world-class financial
analysis.
I. Accounting
III. Excel
• Excel layout
• Excel settings
• Basic financial analysis setup
• Advanced financial analysis setup
• Functions and formulas
• Excel tips and tricks
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• Better formulas
• Catering for uncertainty
• Auditing a model
• Excel template setup
• Financial statements
• Financial analysis
• Macros
• Introduction to VBA for financial modeling in Excel
• Design, build and run VBA sub procedures
• Create customized Excel functions
• Branching, looping and procedure code
IV. Finance
V. Financial Analysis
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VI. Financial Modeling
VII. Math
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VIII. Presentation
• Data Visualization
• Excel Visuals
• Focus attention
• Storytelling
• Excel Dashboards
• PowerPoint Layout
• Design Principles
• PowerPoint Setup & Functions
• Slide Master
• Formatting Tips
• Transitions
• Animations
IX. Valuation
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For more information or to register for
our courses please contact us at:
learning@corporatefinanceinstitute.com
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