The document discusses financial modeling and links in FAST (Financial Analysis Standard Template) models. It states that financial modeling should be collaborative to reduce errors, speed up development time, and lower costs. It then provides guidance on creating and using links in FAST models, including how to link to calculations on other worksheets and best practices for linking to avoid issues like "daisy chains".

3. Financial modelling should be collaborative. Collaboration
reduces error, speeds up development time and lowers
cost. The Financial Modelling Handbook is a collaborative,
crowd-sourced guide to building better financial models
using the FAST Standard.

4. Kenny Whitelaw-Jones talks
about financial modelling for a
living. He’s leading the Financial
Modelling Handbook project. He
hopes your name will be on the
cover when it’s published.

5. Links are a core component in FAST
financial models.
This guide explains what they are for, how
to create them and how to use them.

6. In order to understand the role of
links in FAST financial models,
we recommend that you first read
about calculation blocks.
Click on the image to right to
download a quick introduction to
the use of calculation blocks.

7. To get the most from this guide
you should understand the
reasoning behind the worksheet
structure in FAST financial
models.
Click on the image to right to
download a quick introduction to
FAST financial model design.

8. FAST employs a number of
standard formatting conventions.
These are referred to in this
guide.
If you are not familiar with the
FAST Format macros, click on
the graphic to find out more and
install.

9. When we’re building a new calculation block, we first
have to gather up our ingredients. We do this by
creating links.
Image: Scandic Hotels - Flickr

10. In this example, we are modelling revenue. Retail spend per domestic
passenger has been calculated in row 93. We need to create a local
link to this calculation.
Start in Column E.
Tap =, and move to the label of the calculation you want to call up.

11. By linking to the label in column E, you have an easy check that you
are linking to the correct ingredient. It also helps keeps labels
consistent throughout the model.

12. By default, links should be row anchored. This makes them easier to
use again elsewhere in your model since they always point back to the
correct row. Row anchor the link by tapping F4 twice.

13. Hit enter and copy the link right across the timeline.
There are numerous methods to copy across. The quickest and
easiest is to use the F1F9 Utility macros.

14. Having further built out the block, we now need to link to an ingredient
from the time sheet – the forecast period flag.

15. The process starts in the same way, type = in Column E. Then use
control + page up / down to navigate to the time sheet.

16. When linking to a line item on another sheet, the cell selection indicator
hides in the intersection of the freeze pane. It emerges upon pressing the
down arrow.

17. . . . You are now in a position to copy the link across the time line, just as
you did at step 4.

18. In FAST Financial Models, links to calculations on other worksheets are
given a different format than local links. FAST recommends a blue font
for imported links.
Imported links, marked in blue, may be copied and pasted elsewhere in
the model; local links, marked in black, may only be copied and pasted
on the worksheet in which the original link sits.

19. Shift+Spacebar selects the row
Control+Shift+M will add blue font for import formatting

20. The steps involved in copying a link are:
- Shift + spacebar to select the link
- Control + c to copy the link

21. Navigate to the place in the model where you need to use the ingredient.
This is normally in the construction of another calculation block.
- Shift + spacebar again to select the destination row

22. Finally, hit enter to paste down the link.
Remember: only imported links (i.e. links to calculations on other sheets)
can be copied to different sheets within your model.
Local links (i.e. links to calculation on the current sheet) can only be
copied on that sheet.

23. “Daisy chains” occur in a model when
a modeller links to an existing link.
This is a major cause of inflexibility.
The FAST recommendation is to:

24. It’s normal to see long chains of links
in models. These make it hard for
reviewers to locate the original
calculation or input. It takes time and
is frustrating to trace back through all
the intermediate links to find the
source

25. X
Whenever one of the intermediate
links is deleted, none of the links
further along the chain will work.
X
Most modellers have had the experience of the whole model
turning to #REF whenever anything is deleted. This is caused by
daisy chains.

26. Instead of creating daisy chains, all
links should point back to the
source calculation.

27. This allows any link to be deleted
without causing #REFs across the
model.

28. By copying existing row-anchored
links, all links will point back to
source calculations.
If you only link to inputs, or calculations, you will avoid daisy
chains in your model.