1. Financial Modelling
HANDBOOK
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in a financial model
ACTUALS
INCLUDING

2. NATURE IS
PLEASED WITH
SIMPLICITY AND
NATURE IS NO
DUMMY.
ISAAC NEWTON

3. ABOUT THE FINANCIAL
MODELLING HANDBOOK
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.
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HITANSH
Hitansh Doda is a Financial
Modeller with F1F9. He is part of
the Project finance team and has
worked on various infrastructure &
energy models.
Financial Modelling
HANDBOOK

5. Unless you are modelling a greenfield project or a
brand new startup, financial models often require us
to include several years of “actuals”.
This modelling guide explains how to incorporate
“actuals” in both balances and flows.
Financial Modelling
HANDBOOK
DOWNLOAD THIS GUIDE AND THE
ACCOMPANYING EXCEL EXAMPLE
in a financial model
ACTUALS
INCLUDING

6. To get the most from this guide you
may want to refresh your knowledge
of modelling balances.
Click on the image to the left to
download the “Modelling Balances”
handbook guide.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN . . .
Financial Modelling
HANDBOOK

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HANDBOOK
ACTUALS INPUTS
Actuals should be kept in a separate input sheet. This allows clarity on what is
“actual” and what is forecast and it allows users to update actuals in an efficient way.
This guide assumes that you have accurate actuals in a structure that’s ready for
modelling. Often in our Corporate FP&A modelling, work is required to prepare the
actuals to be used in the model. This is not covered in this guide.
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HANDBOOK
A last actual periods flag is used to
“inject” the last actual period
balance into the corkscrew.
The “Debt balance – actuals” come
from the actuals sheet that will be
used to initiate the balance.
GATHER THE DATA
This corkscrew is calculating the debt balance after deducting the principal repayments.
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3
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FORECASTING USING ACTUALS
The last actuals debt balance
appears as the closing balance
for the period to 31 Dec 2013.
Formula in L36:
= IF(L32 = 1, L31, L34 - L35)
This then drives the opening balance for
the next period.
The last actuals balance therefore
“drives” the forecast balance.
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ON THE BALANCE SHEET…
On the balance sheet you may want to show a combined line item with both actuals
and forecast balance. Using the actuals period flag, we can merge the balances for
both the periods – actual and forecast.
Formula in L41:
= IF(L40 = 1, L38, L39)
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UPDATING FLOWS
7
Interest is charged on the outstanding balance until the debt is repaid.
The “Debt interest – forecast” line
items is a forecast, based on the
forecast outstanding balance.
“Debt interest – actuals” is linked
from the actuals input sheet.
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UPDATING FLOWS
9
Once again we use the Actual period flag to create a “Debt interest” line item that
combines the actuals with the forecast. This line item can then be linked into the
financial statements.
Formula in L22:
= IF(L22 = 1, L19, L20)
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