Spreadsheet Models for Managers


Getting Access to Spreadsheet Models for Managers


If Spreadsheet Models for Managersyou use Excel to model businesses, business processes, or business transactions, this course will change your life. You’ll learn how to create tools for yourself that will amaze even you. Unrestricted use of this material is available in two ways.

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Make your check payable to Chaco Canyon Consulting, for the amount indicated:
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Spreadsheet Models for Managers

Accounting for a capital lease 10/3
Session Links
  • On the effective date of the lease contract, record a purchase of the asset for the amount of the asset under contract
    • Debit the appropriate asset category
    • Credit a liability of the amount of the contract
  • On the date of each payment
    • Record an interest expense equal to the interest amount of the payment
    • Credit liabilities by the principal amount
    • Credit cash by the payment amount
  • Each accounting period
    • Depreciate the entire asset

These are general rules. They can change over time, and they can vary somewhat according to the nature of the asset. Beware. But for modeling purposes, they’re good guidelines.

As you can see, the sequence of accounting entries that must be made during each period can be somewhat complex, especially when you’re modeling a company that has many items of equipment under lease.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 27-Apr-2016 04:15:26 EDT

The LCA Is an Example of a Spreadsheet Idiom

The Lease Characteristic Array is an example of a construct that makes more effective the modeling of a wide class of problems involving leasing. Certainly, it can be generalized, and certainly there are other possible constructs that could also be helpful with these kinds of problems. But let’s not stop there.

Certainly there are other problems that are susceptible to similar approaches. That is, we can create spreadsheet “idioms” that have applicability to problems more general than the problem immediately at hand. In a field as rich and complex as spreadsheet modeling, it is extremely unlikely that you will find all such techniques described in books, course, or Web sites. From time to time, you’ll have to invent them yourself.

You’ll do best if you can figure out how to produce useful idioms that can help solve wide classes of problems.

A Tip for Verifying Complex Models

Many models are linear with respect to some of their input parameters and input streams. This means, among other things, that when we multiply the input by a constant K, the output also increases by a factor of K. If you know that your model is supposed to be linear with respect to some input parameter or input stream, you can use this fact to check your model: doubling the input should double the output.

You can build these checks into your model from the beginning by defining parameter multiplication factors. For instance, suppose you know that the model’s personal computer expenses should be proportional to the number of employees. By introducing a scaling parameter (normally 1.0), which multiplies the initial number of employees, and multiplies the hiring streams, before they’re used in the rest of the model, you can easily investigate the effects of changing the number of employees, to verify proportionality.

It's Easier to Prevent Errors Than It Is to Correct Them