Modeling Financial Statements

Please make sure you read the Announcement in NYU Classes for this course and read the details about highly recommended prework. If you are enrolled in the in-person secion, please read this important note by clicking here.

Overview

MBA ACCT-GB-3304 Specializations:

• Financial Systems and Analytics
• Accounting

The course is indispensable to careers in investment banking, private equity, buy-side or sell-side research, credit research, corporate finance, valuation, project finance, and due diligence advisory. It gives a competitive edge during interviews, internships, and jobs. First-year and second-year students can both take this course.

Help and Office

• Me: dgode@stern.nyu.edu, 212-998-0021, Office: KMC 10-86.
• Teaching assistant: Please check NYU Classes
• Administrative assistant: Justin Pilozo jpilozo@stern.nyu.edu 212-998-4143, Office: Suite 10-185A, KMC 10th Floor, left-hand corne as you enter the department.

Prerequisites

• Please read about and take the modeling readiness quiz by clicking here.
• If you did poorly on the quiz, please review accounting before the class to get the most out of the course. Otherwise, you will be playing catchup throughout the course.

• You need to be able to devote 6-8 hours every week to do the required assignments.
• You need to bring a computer to every class. If you have any technical questions, please contact the IT department (212-998-0180), NOT me.
• I will be using Excel 365. Any version from Excel 2010 onwards should work for you but the older versions may be missing some of the required features. You can get Office 365 for free from Microsoft because you are a student. Given the limited class time, I will not be able show how to replicate Excel Windows on Excel Mac.

Administrative Issues

• You need to be in the following systems before the start of the first class:
  • Albert
  • NYU Classes
  • If you are a non-Stern student, then Stern automatically creates a Stern account for you when you register for a Stern course. All class emails are sent to your Stern email, not NYU email. Please forward your Stern email to your NYU email.
  • I do not control your access to dgode.stern.nyu.edu. It is linked to whatever Stern has entered in the class roster. I cannot override it.
• In case you are blocked from accessing these systems, please ask the administration to expedite matters. Given the complexity of these systems, I cannot manually add you to any system.
• Only registered students can attend. This is a school rule that I am not allowed to override.

Materials and Course Design

• I use my own materials. There is no required textbook. All materials will be electrnically distributed.

Almaris Assignments

• Review your core concepts carefully.
• The assignments appear as tests on Almaris. I may update the deadlines as the course progresses. The deadlines shown at Almaris are the correct deadlines.
• Some assignments are short, others are long. Please manage your time.
• NO EXTENSIONS will be granted for any reason except medical or family emergencies. If you have religious or personal conflicts, please submit the assignments early. The related materials are covered well in advance of the assignments. Please do not email me to request extensions unless you have a medical or family emergency.
• You can collaborate with others while doing assignments.
• All assignments are mandatory. After the first day of class, you can view the on-line assignments at http://www.almaris.com/assess/ using your official Stern email (no aliases) and most recent password emailed to you by Almaris. The Almaris password is different from the Stern password. To retrieve the password, use your Stern email id as it appears in the registrar's records.
• Assignments are marked “late” if you do not meet or exceed the passing score described below before the deadline. There is no additional penalty for lateness other than the low score.
• Assignments have a “passing score” of either 100% or less than 100%.
  • I set the passing score at 100% if I believe that you should be able to ace the assignment. In reality, there is no passing grade. Whatever you get on your last attempt is your final score. That is, you are graded on accuracy but not the number of attempts. If you are allowed five attempts, and you use them, then your score on the fifth attempt is your final score for the assignment. There is a difference between “passing” and getting full credit. If you get 70/100 on your fifth attempt, you “pass” but you don't score a 100.
  • On a few assignments, I set the passing score to be less than 100% if I believe that you may not be able to get every question right. Any score above that score is rounded up to 100%. For example, if the passing score is set at 90%, and you get 93%, then your score is rounded up to 100%. I do the rounding up in a separate spreadsheet. You will see only the raw score on line.
• Almaris is not affiliated with Stern in any way. It is offering these tests to Stern at no charge to Stern.
• Almaris staff is not authorized to extend deadlines under any circumstances. Only my TAs can do that. Almaris staff will reply to your emails only if they pertain to technical issues with the Almaris system. You should contact Stern IT for technical issues with your network.

Exams and Grading

• If you have a qualified disability and will require academic accommodation during this course, please contact me directly. I will arrange a separate room/time for you.
• Grades will be based upon the following factors:
• 20%: Attendance, professional conduct in class, and class participation as measured by being able to answer questions in class when I call on you in class.
  • You will lose points for every missed class unless you have a medical emergency, family emergency, or a confirmed interview, or required work travel for Langone students. No other reasons will be accepted as valid reasons unless you have pre-cleared them with me. If you unfortunately do have a medical or family emergency, do not worry about the course. Take care of that emergency and email me later.
  • Please bring your name tags to each class.
• 30%: Almaris assignments described above.
• 50%: Final exam. Instructions you will see before the exam.
  • Login to Almaris as soon as you receive these instructions in an email from me. You will see inactive links to your exams and instructions.
  • The instructions at the top of the login screen will tell you how many parts the exam has and their weights.
  • Please report any problems such as wrong deadlines or missing parts of the exam to me immediately.
  • Login to Almaris right before your exam. Refresh your screen to see active links for the exam.
  • Your final score on each part of the exam will be max(score1, score2 - 7, score3 - 14, score4 - 21, score5 - 28).
  • You are required to answer all questions without any help from another student or anyone else. Any such communication will be construed as cheating. If you have any doubts, email the TA AND me. Whichever one of us reads the message first will respond. If the exam is held in class, you can ask the proctor.
  • Please keep your email open during the exam and check it periodically. Any updates/corrections will be sent via email.
  • Manage your time. Extra time will NOT be allowed.
  • This is an open-book and open-notes exam.
  • The exam covers the entire course.
  • In case you are unable to complete a spreadsheet or are unable to debug it, and want us to manually grade your spreadsheet, you must submit the spreadsheet online (NO EMAILS) at NYU Classes (look for File Exchange in the left hand menu bar) within FIVE MINUTES of the end of the exam. If you submit a spreadsheet for manual grading, your maximum score on that spreadsheet can only be 72/100. This is because someone else who takes five attempts to ace the spreadsheet will get only 72/100 because of the penalty for multiple attempts. Thus, if you submit the spreadsheet for manual grading, you would be considered to have used up your five attempts.

Important computer tips for the final

• DO NOT WORK ON A SPREADSHEET WITHIN A BROWSER. Save the spreadsheet to your computer, work on it, and save it periodically. If you work on a spreadsheet in a browser and then navigate away from a page, ALL YOUR WORK WILL BE LOST.
• Organize your computer files and designate a directory where you will be saving your exam files.
• Restart your computer before the exam to minimize computer problems.
• Use an external mouse with a scroll wheel. A track pad will slow you down.
• Maximize Excel screen space by hiding the ribbon.
• Use a computer with as big a screen as possible.
• Don’t use an unfamiliar computer.

Schedule

• There is no midterm. There will be no in-class graded quizzes.
• A detailed document listing the sequence of topics, related pages from the materials, related spreadsheets, and related assignments is provided in the course materials. The outline below is a brief summary.