Investment bankers need to learn financial modeling to properly project the profitability of the companies they analyze (among many other things). Ultimately, they help companies raise equity capital and debt financing as well as advise on mergers & acquisitions. In all cases, bankers need to predict future earnings and cash flow for valuation purposes. Our courses teach aspects of both financial modeling and valuation.

Bankers absolutely need to master the Core Financial & Valuation Modeling Topics as well the Core Merger Modeling Topics. To become "super-star" investment bankers, master the Super-Advanced Merger Modeling Topics and regurgitate everything in your sleep.

Sell-side research professionals analyze and value stocks in the industries that they follow. In short, they recommend "buy", "sell" or "hold" and their responsibility is to generate independent investment ideas to sell to their clients (individuals and institutions). Emphasis should be placed on our Advanced Financial Modeling and Valuation courses and the Core Merger Modeling courses are highly recommended since sell-side analysts obviously will have to be knowledgeable about deals done in their industry.

Sell-side research is either part of a larger bank or are "independent research firms" that sell their research to other firms. Since the Enron fiasco and aftermath, the research industry has been restructured, leaving a skills gap in the research staff between the experienced, senior research analysts and the younger research associates and assistants. Oftentimes, the focus and emphasis have been diverted from proper learning, training and understanding to simply "update the quarterly model". Mastering our financial and valuation courses will give you the leg up to spend more time on qualitative instead of quantitative analysis.

Asset managers are the buy-side, typically large institutional investors with sums of money to invest. These firms can be mutual funds, independent asset managers, pensions, endowments, foundations or insurance companies. There is a multitude of possible career paths, but either way, buy-side professionals need to evaluate if they should buy a stock or security and so, our Advanced Financial Modeling and Valuation courses are directly applicable. In addition, the Core Merger Modeling courses are highly recommended.

Private equity firms invest large sums of money to buy entire companies as opposed to just shares or stock of a company. Leverage means the use of debt; leveraged buyout (LBO) transactions use massive amounts of debt to buy a company and take it "private" (off the public markets). These are high-risk, high-reward deals greatly dependent on forecasting future cash flows to pay down debt; hence, the need to build solid financial, valuation and LBO models is absolutely critical. To be ahead of the game, you must master our Complex LBO Model & Enhancements and Super-Advanced Merger Modeling courses, the capstone modules for all our courses.

Venture capital firms primarily invest in growth and expansion stage companies and similar to private equity, need to build projection and valuation models to evaluate potential targets' profitability and cash flows which determine future potential value.

Credit analysts (essentially Corporate & Commercial Banking) evaluate whether or not to make loans to companies. They focus on modeling out future cash flows to forcast ability to pay down debt (as opposed to a focus on earnings). Credit and leverage statistics (ratios) are covered in detail in our Accounting and Advanced Financial & Valuation Modeling - Enhancements courses. Investment grade debt (bonds) and bank loans are usually safer securites whereas high yield (junk bonds) are more risky - many of these banks lend debt in transactions and as such, credit analysts would need to have an appreciation and comprehension of LBOs and M&As to understand how bankers priced and structured the deal.

Corporate development and business development professionals are the internal buy-side division of companies that make acquisitions. As such, they need to understand the full financial modeling, valuation and merger modeling topics. Emphasis should be placed on the Advanced Financial Modeling and Valuation - Enhancements courses, M&A Deal Structuring, Merger Modeling Basics and if desired, our Complex, Super-Advanced Merger Modeling for complete thoroughness.

At a minimum, undergraduate students looking to get a leg up for interviews, summer internships or obtain learning and training prior to starting their full time position should master our Basic & Fundamental Concepts and Basic Financial Modeling Topics and ideally go through our Core Financial & Valuation Modeling Topics. This will demonstrate your seriousness and commitment to the finance profession, fully prepare you to hit the ground running, provide you with a proper foundation for advanced learning and impress your colleagues and higher-ups with your ability to learn new concepts quickly.

Graduate students looking to get a leg up for interviews, summer positions or obtain learning and training prior to starting their full time, post-MBA position should master our Basic Financial Modeling Topics and Core Financial & Valuation Modeling Topics and ideally go through our merger related courses. This will fully prepare you to hit the ground running, provide you with a proper foundation for on-the-job learning and impress your colleagues and higher-ups with your ability to learn new concepts quicker.