Description
Financial modelling is an essential skill for those working on investment projects or in advisory roles in areas such as private equity, M&A, real estate, project finance or venture capital.
It is increasingly common for the key players in this sector to require job applicants to have proficiency in financial modelling as part of their skill set. This is for the simple reason that a significant part of their day to-day role involves the design, construction, and handling of these financial models. As a result, firms often include a financial modelling exam as part of their selection process.
The exam is online in English with an approximate duration of 2 hours (depending on the nature of the case provided). The candidate will be given enough financial information from which to build a model in Excel, together with a set of questions. The answers have to be obtained from the candidate model’s output.
The exam is scheduled every Friday at 15:00 hrs (CET).
The exam session is conducted remotely and requires a device running Windows (not available for Mac users). Candidates are requested to install Zoom for the remote proctoring and authorise the recording of the exam.
Exam contents
- Financial Statement Analysis
- Profit and Loss
- Balance sheet
- Cash flow
- Margin and ratio analysis
- Financial statements integration
- Company valuation methods
- Discounted Cash Flow
- WACC
- Free cash flow
- Modelling debt and equity
- Returns to investors
Private Equity sector specific technical knowledge
- Leveraged buyouts
- Sources and uses
- Senior debt
- Mezzanine
- Refinance
- Dividend recaps
- Bolt-on acquisitions
- Ratchets
Certification
To get the certification as Financial Modelling Expert in Private Equity granted by EFFAS, the candidate must have a modex pe® minimum score of 50% of the total examination points correct, as demonstration of having the technical knowledge, command of Excel (formulas, consistency, flexibility) and ability to structure, design and present the case clearly and in an orderly and logical manner. Thus, any mark of 50% or above will be granted “Apt”, or “Non Apt” if below 50%.
IMPORTANT: Please note that you will be graded on these parameters. Overall presentation, consistency and structure of your model, Accuracy and logic in your results and answers, Excel command, Percentage of completion.
For recruitment purposes: Upon agreement of the certified candidates to join the database, Modex PE® also offers investment advisory teams, head-hunters and human resource departments, an important benchmark on the modelling skills of a prospective candidate as part of a much broader database. More importantly, the Modex PE® database also offers them a source of financial modelling skilled candidates, presenting important savings in time and resources.
