Too often, finance courses stop short of making a connection between textbook finance and the problems of real-world business. Financial Modeling bridges this gap between theory and practice by providing a nuts-and-bolts guide to solving common financial models with spreadsheets. Simon Benninga takes the reader step by step through each model, showing how it can be solved using Microsoft Excel.

The long-awaited third edition of this standard text maintains the andquot;cookbookandquot; features and Excel dependence that have made the first and second editions so popular. It also offers significant new material, with new chapters covering such topics as bank valuation, the Black-Litterman approach to portfolio optimization, Monte Carlo methods and their applications to option pricing, and using array functions and formulas. Other chapters, including those on basic financial calculations, portfolio models, calculating the variance-covariance matrix, and generating random numbers, have been revised, with many offering substantially new and improved material. Other areas covered include financial statement modeling, leasing, standard portfolio problems, value at risk (VaR), real options, duration and immunization, and term structure modeling. Technical chapters treat such topics as data tables, matrices, the Gauss-Seidel method, and tips for using Excel. The last section of the text covers the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) techniques needed for the book. The accompanying CD contains Excel worksheets and solutions to end-of-chapter exercises.

Praise for the previous editions:

andquot;Benninga has a clear writing style and uses numerous illustrations, which make this book one of the best texts on using Excel for finance that I've seen.andquot;
andmdash;Ed McCarthy, Ticker Magazine

andquot;The author describes this as a 'cookbook' and that is a good analogy.... Its breadth is extensive, covering simple present valuing and cost of capital ... to the likes of real options and early exercise of American-style options.... A worthwhile acquisition.andquot;
andmdash;Paul Dentskevitch, Risk Magazine

andquot;Financial Modeling is highly-recommended to readers who are interested in an introduction to basic, traditional approaches to financial modeling and analysis, as well as to those who want to learn more about applying spreadsheet software to financial analysis.andquot;
andmdash;Edward Weiss, Journal of Computational Intelligence in Finance

andquot;Financial Modeling belongs on the desk of every finance professional. Its no-nonsense, hands-on approach makes it an indispensable tool.andquot;
andmdash;Hal R. Varian, Dean, School of Information Management and Systems, University of California, Berkeley

andquot;This is applied finance theory for the professional at its best. As a student, I and countless others learnt the intricacies of Lotus and financial theory from Professor Benninga's first bookandmdash;Numerical Techniques in Finance Now, as a professional, I do not have to 're-invent the wheel' in Excel. An invaluable guide. A must for all financial analysts.andquot;
andmdash;Vikas Nath, Global Strategist, Emerging Equity Markets, Union Bank of Switzerland, London

For the 2nd Edition:
andquot;This is applied finance theory for the professional at its best. As a student, I and countless others learnt the intricacies of Lotus and financial theory from Professor Benninga's first bookandmdash;Numerical Techniques in Finance Now, as a professional, I do not have to 're-invent the wheel' in Excel. An invaluable guide. A must for all financial analysts.andquot;
--Vikas Nath, Global Strategist, Emerging Equity Markets, Union Bank of Switzerland, London

For the 2nd Edition:
andquot;Benninga has a clear writing style and uses numerous illustrations, which make this book one of the best texts on using Excel for finance that I've seen.andquot;
-- Ed McCarthy, Ticker Magazine

For the 2nd Edition:
andquot;The author describes this as a 'cookbook' and that is a good analogy.... Its breadth is extensive, covering simple present valuing and cost of capital ... to the likes of real options and early exercise of American-style options.... A worthwhile acquisition.andquot;
-- Paul Dentskevitch, Risk Magazine

andquot;I've learned a great deal from the first two editions of Simon Benninga's Financial Modeling, and the Third Edition offers both new topics and updated coverage of topics from earlier editions. The book gives clear, well-illustrated instructions for using Excel software to solve finance problems, ranging from basic to highly sophisticated, in both corporate finance and investments. The many excellent examples draw on actual company data, and the book gives useful tips on obtaining current data from the Internet. Financial Modeling is an outstanding resource for finance professionals, instructors and students. As with earlier editions, I plan to keep my copy close at hand.andquot;
andmdash;Robert A. Taggart, Professor of Finance, Carroll School of Management, Boston College

andquot;The new edition of Simon Begginga's Financial Modeling is a comprehensive and effective learning-by-doing tool in motivating users and making easily accessible the concepts of modern corporate finance, investments, and derivatives. In the real world of finance, its clear step-by-step approach empowers the practitioner to search the Internet for financial data, build programs to analyze them, and make sound financial decisions. I strongly recommend it to the finance student and practitioner alike.andquot;
andmdash;George Constantinides, Leo Melamed Professor of Finance, The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

andquot;Financial Modeling by Simon Benninga is an outstanding resource for teaching the essentials of finance to both undergraduates and masters students. It is comprehensive, lucid, and a highly useful resource in every financial modeler's toolkit.andquot;
--Richard W. Roll, Professor of Management, and Japan Alumni Chair in International Finance, UCLA

The third edition of this standard text retains the popular andquot;cookbookandquot; features of earlier editions and includes expanded and new coverage of such topics as bank valuation, the Black-Litterman portfolio selection model, Monte Carlo pricing methods, array function, and getting information from the Internet with VBA.

Simon Benninga is Professor of Finance at Tel Aviv University and Visiting Professor of Finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.