This boot camp is optional but strongly recommended.
I have included brief demos of Python in Excel and Claude in Excel to
show you the latest cutting-edge tools.
Log in to Zoom with your nyu.edu email and nyu.edu browser profile.
Contact NYU IT if you don't know how to select the browser profile.
Logistics
The sessions have non-overlapping content. You can attend in person (KMC
3-65) or via Zoom (link below).
Day 1, Session 1: Sunday, September 27, 2026, 10 am - 1 pm
Day 1, Session 2: Sunday, September 27, 2026, 2 pm - 5 pm
Please note the different start and end times below.
Day 2, Session 3: Sunday, October 4, 2026, 9 am - 12:30 pm
Day 2, Session 4: Sunday, October 4, 2026, 1:30 pm - 5 pm
Please note there is no seminar on October 11.
Day 3, Session 5: Sunday, October 18, 2026, 9 am - 12:30 pm
Day 3, Session 6: Sunday, October 18, 2026, 1:30 pm - 5 pm
We do not record these sessions because recording leads
to poor attendance and low interaction. You need to commit to Learning
Excel. Almost no students watch the recordings after requesting them.
The issue is most likely related to you not using the nyu.edu browser
profile to register. Regardless, don't worry if you can't register. Please
show up in person or on Zoom. Enter your name and email in this
Registration Sheet
and check the sessions you are attending. Please use this sheet if and
only if you can't register online. If you have already registered, please
ignore this sheet.
Zoom registration: Use nyu.edu email and and BROWSER profile
Zoom is confusing. Please read the following instructions carefully:
Same link for all days, but separate registration is required.
You must register for each day separately (two registrations total).
Each registration for a given day covers both sessions that day.
Ignore Zoom's confusing message
Zoom says: "Please choose only one meeting to attend." This is
misleading.
What it should say: "Please register separately for each meeting by
selecting the appropriate meeting from the dropdown."
Even though the same Zoom link will be used for all sessions, you
must register for each of the three days separately by selecting the
corresponding meeting from the dropdown.
Overview
Excel is an important tool for business analysis. Being productive in
Excel requires understanding the underlying business concepts, laying out
the problem in a spreadsheet, and optimizing it using various Excel
functions and features. This seminar helps you apply advanced Excel
techniques to become a productive Excel power user. By the end of this
course, you should be able to:
Organize spreadsheets to optimize teamwork and analyze scenarios.
Create concise and understandable spreadsheets that reduce the risk of
errors.
Utilize advanced Excel techniques to automate and condense schedules,
build scenarios, and make spreadsheets responsive.
See demos of Python in Excel and Claude in Excel
Excel Requirements
You need the most recent version of Excel included in Office
365.
Microsoft Office 365 USED to be free for students. Now they charge $3
per month (
Microsoft Office 365 for Education). The web version is free, but it lacks many features of the desktop
version (shortcuts do not work). NYU Stern has a license for Office 365,
but I am not sure how that works now. Please contact Stern IT and ask
them.
Windows and MAC will work, although the Windows version is easier to
use. Since Stern podiums have Windows, I will be using Windows in class.
Topic 1 [Introductory]: Time value of money, credit cards, car loans, and
mortgages
Business skills taught
The focus here will not be on teaching finance per se, but on illustrating
how to use Excel to solve finance problems.
Setting up loan amortization tables for various types of loans
Time value of money problems; annuities
Excel skills taught
Understanding the Excel interface and setting up files
Accessing menus
Excel options for data creation
Undo and redo
File manipulation: Open, Save, Save As, Close Workbook, and Switch
Programs
View: Maximize window, Remove all toolbars, Hide Ribbon, Title Bar, and
Status Bar, Zoom options, Print gridlines, View gridlines, Print preview
Custom views, Freeze Panes, and Split Window
Navigation and selection
Navigate between sheets and screens: Next worksheet, Previous worksheet,
Right one screen, Left one screen, Navigate to a specific worksheet
Move around a sheet: Beginning of a row, the first cell on a worksheet,
move to the edge of data regions, turn on End mode, End of a data region
(last nonblank cell). Last used cell on a worksheet
Extend selection, Select entire row, Select entire column, Select
current data region, Select region/worksheet, Select only visible rows
and columns, Select array formula range
Find and replace, Find different cells
Go to a cell with a specific address or attributes
Enter text
Edit a cell and show its precedent cells
Insert, Edit, and Delete comments
Insert or Edit threaded comment
Wrap text
Merge cells [Use very sparingly]
Center across selection [Preferred]
Spell check and Thesaurus
Enter formulas and name cells
Relative versus absolute addresses: A1-style versus R1C1-style, Toggle
absolute references
Autosum
Name manager, create names from a selection
Paste names if names are present
Enter an array formula
Insert function and Insert function arguments
Format numbers and characters [Excel styles are covered later]
Show Format Cells dialog
Access format number dialog
Toggle Bold, Italic, Underline, Strike-through
General number format, Decimals, Time, Date, Currency, Percentage,
Scientific notation
Fonts, Zip codes
Alignment and indentation, Borders and Shading, Width and height
Align: Left, right, center, top, bottom, and middle
Indent and outdent
Border dialog, Single and double borders, Shading,
Row heights and column widths, show and hide
Difference between merging cells and centering across selection
Difference between wrapping text and starting a new line in a cell
Group and ungroup
Insert, delete, and clear
Insert and delete sheets, rows, columns, and cells
Different types of Clear
Copy, paste, and fill
Select cells using keyboard
Copy Cut/Move
Show Clipboard to copy multiple items
Different types of paste, Paste Special Dialog
Format painter
Copy formula from the cell above, Copy value from the cell above
Fill down, right, left, and up
Fill selected region with data
Fill Series
Fill justify
Flash Fill: Fill based on a pattern
Formula auditing and calculations
Formula auditing and calculations
Toggle display of values/formulas
Trace Precedents, Trace All Precedents, Trace Dependents, Clear All
Arrows
Calculate all worksheets in all open workbooks
Evaluate
Setting up spreadsheets and cell types
Setting up an Excel worksheet to separate inputs from outputs
Developing and reviewing business plans is an integral part of what
entrepreneurs and executives do. Understanding how different pieces of a
business plan fit together financially is critical to being a successful
manager. Business plans are also the basis of budgets used to monitor a
business or division's progress.
Business skills taught
Linking financial statements
Linking net income on the income statement and dividends on the cash
flows to retained earnings
Linking financing to debt and equity
Linking cash flows to cash
Deriving cash flows from the income statement and balance sheet
assumptions
Deriving receipts using revenues, receivables, and deferred revenues
Deriving payments using expenses, prepayments, and payables
Excel skills taught
Excel best practices
Separating assumptions from formulas to highlight assumptions clearly
Setting up formulas that can be dragged across
Excel styles
Excel styles for consistent formatting
Modifying styles for global changes
Excel templates
Using templates for consistent formatting across workbooks
Excel add-ins
Excel Add-ins for sharing styles and code across workbooks
Topic 4: Identifying key performance drivers and scenario analysis
Business skills taught
Key drivers
Identifying key drivers and key performance indicators
Scenario analysis
What-if analysis using data tables
Excel skills
Seeking user input
Data validation
Spinners
List boxes
Data tables
One-dimensional tables
Two-dimensional tables and their interpretation
Scenarios
MATCH; INDEX
VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP
INDIRECT
Topic 5 [Advanced]: Multiperiod models, waterfalls, and cascades
Business skills
Waterfalls and cascades
The skills listed below can make you ten times faster and more accurate.
Building waterfalls and cascades efficiently
Building advanced scenarios
Excel skills
Excel functions needed for multi-period models
SUMPRODUCT, ARRAYS
OFFSET
Reversing using LOOKUP
Automating charts
Dynamic charts
Advanced flexible charting using OFFSET
Integrating what-if analysis with scenarios
Combining the following functions to produce highly efficient spreadsheets