The Certificate in Financial Modeling (CIFM) certification is a comprehensive global certification exam designed to assess a candidate’s expert level understanding of Financial Modeling with Excel on investment management including equity, fixed income, alternative investments, investment banking, financial advisory, financial engineering and corporate finance decision making. This program tests a candidate on his capability to develop a disciplined and systematic approach to take financial and investment decisions with the help of excel tools.
Who should do Financial Modeling?
This Financial Modeling Certification is suitable for people in Investment banking, Investment management, Corporate Finance, Equity research, Credit Research, Business planning & strategy, Private equity funds, Hedge Funds, Portfolio Management or commercial banking. It is also ideal for all finance specialist and generalists or graduates who want a career in any of the profiles related to:
• Investment Banking Analyst
• Equity Analyst
• Fixed Income Analyst
• Investment Advisor
• Portfolio Manager
• Corporate Strategy and Finance
The evolution of financial markets the world over along with other investment classes, have created a need for finance professionals with a new level of sophistication and a deep understanding of analysis using tools such as excel & technology. The FM certification is a credential designed specifically for financial professionals who want to attain an advanced level of competency in Financial Modeling
Careers after Certificate in Financial Modeling
After successful completion of the program one would be able to add desired value in a career in the following fields
• Investment Banking
• Private Equity
• Hedge Funds
• Equity Research (Buy-Side and Sell-Side)
• Asset Management
• Corporate Finance and Strategy
• Private Wealth Management
In addition, the course will benefit Fresher’s, Entrepreneurs, Advisors, and Accountants who are involved with financial markets…
Reference Book – Certificate in Financial Modeling
- The Suggested/Recommended reference books are available on leading bookstores and online portals. Students can buy the recommended reference book directly from the Market for the said course. The reference book fees are not included in your Exam Fees.
- Financial Modeling (MIT Press) – by Simon Benninga
- Financial Analysis and Modeling Using Excel and VBA by Chandan Sengupta
- Financial Modeling in Practice: A Concise Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Level
by Michael Rees - Financial Modeling and Valuation: A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private
Equity by Paul Pignataro - Financial Modeling for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs: Developing Excel Models
to Raise Capital, Increase Cash Flow, Improve Operations, Plan Projects, and Make
Decisions by Tom Y. Sawyer - Financial Modeling: A Backward Stochastic Differential Equations Perspective
(Springer Finance) by Stephane Crepey - Building Financial Models (McGraw-Hill Finance & Investing) by John Tjia
- The Oxford Guide to Financial Modeling: Applications for Capital Markets, Corporate
Finance, Risk Management and Financial Institutions by Thomas S. Y. Ho & Sang Bin
Lee - The Mathematics of Financial Modeling and Investment Management by Sergio M.
Focardi & Frank J. Fabozzi - The Handbook of Financial Modeling: A Practical Approach to Creating and
Implementing Valuation Projection Models by Jack Avon
Course Outline - Finance skills required
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- Basics of Time Value of Money
- Preparing loan amortization schedule and related calculations
- Capital budgeting and its techniques.(NPV, IRR, Payback Period)
- Fundamental analysis of securities (DDM & FCF).
- Mergers and Acquisitions, post-merger calculations.
- Financial statement analysis using ratios(Profitability, Activity, Solvency,
Liquidity) - Dividend and its payout policies (Constant Dividend, Constant Pay-out,
Residual Approach, Share Repurchase). - Relative valuation (Justified and trailing ratios, EV/EBITDA approach).
- Risk and return calculations using standard deviation.
- Concept of capital structure and cost of capital.
- Excel skills required:
- Navigation, use of Spreadsheet, Basic mathematical Calculations
- Basic excel functions: SUM, AVG, MAX, MIN, Count, etc.
- Mathematical functions: Sumif, AverageIf, Round, etc.
- Logical functions: If, And, OR.
- Finance functions: NPV, IRR, PMT, Cumipmt, Nper.
Training Calendar:
You can find the upcoming training schedule for CIFM program here
Exam Details
Equalifi is offering the CIFM examination on an external, remote-proctored platform. Candidates can schedule an exam by paying the exam fee. Once the exam fee payment is done and exam registration is confirmed, the exam platform sends out the exam link by email to the candidates. Candidates can appear for the exam anytime any day within the next 1 year through this exam link from any place. Candidates need a good internet connection and a functional camera on their PC/ Laptop to appear for this exam.