1.1 Introduction

Welcome to the world of finance! Each semester when we finance professors welcome our students to class, we are met with mixed emotions. Some students are excited at the prospect of learning the technicalities of finance. Others have heard finance is hard and wish they were in a PE class instead. We’ve done our best to make this text as readable as possible, with a focus on applying the concepts we explain in Excel. Some of the students who use this text are finance majors, but many of them are not. We’ve written this text with both groups in mind, and the Excel skills you will learn can be applied in many different fields.

Excel is an incredibly versatile tool that can help you create reports, analyze financial data, and perform calculations quickly and effectively. This module includes 12 lessons that will teach you how to use Excel in the field of finance. Each lesson includes instruction, examples, and an assignment to help you apply what you have learned.