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May 4, 2022

Corporate CPR Episode 38: Financial Modeling for Your Organization with Ian Schnoor

May 4, 2022

On today’s show, we discuss financial modeling for your organization.

Ian Schnoor, CRM, CFA is one of the founders of the Financial Modeling Institute in 2017. He oversees the organization including its strategic direction. Ian is also founder of The Marquee Group, a leading provider of financial modeling training, consulting and accreditation.

Over the last 20 years, Ian has taught thousands of business professionals and university students around the world. Ian is passionate about teaching and brings a hands-on, interactive approach to every course.

Ian teaches at Queen’s University in Canada and is a recipient of the “Instructor of the Year” award in the Master of Finance program at the Smith School of Business. Previously, Ian spent a number of years in the Investment Banking departments at Citigroup and BMO Capital Markets. Ian completed his Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree with academic distinction from the University of Manitoba and has also attained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Key Takeaways:

Who is impacted by the discipline of financial modeling?

Any role in the organization that will be thinking about forecasting financially for budgeting purposes is concerned about financial modeling. A model cannot perfectly predict the future, but we want to create competence, improving and enhancing decision-making.

How do you know if you have a good model?

It works well electronically. Every formula has to make sense. It tells a story. It flows and is logical.
It works well on paper or as a PDF. It shouldn’t need additional explanation. Starts with the answer and then with the assumptions that were made.

How can an executive be assured that a business case coming across their desk has meaningful numbers, rather than rough guesses?

Find out what research went into finalizing the numbers. Experience is key. This isn’t a job for the new hire. You want the data to be derived from historical data from your own company, past experiences in other companies, or research of other companies.

How do we know what questions to ask when building a model?

Don’t be afraid to ask seemingly obvious questions. Often departments have different ideas about things without realizing. Make sure everyone is aligned. The most important thing is planning and getting the right answers from the appropriate people. Your questions will build from these basic questions: