Building An Executive-Ready Business Case & Financial Model

A Step-by-Step approach to Financial Analysis, Business Case Development, and Executive-level Decision-Making

What you'll learn
Understand what is meant by the term Business Case and the components that should be included in a powerful Executive-level deliverable.
Understand metrics such as Net Present Value, Return on Investment, and Payback Period that executives consider before approving a new business opportunity.
Learn about the most common business case mistakes and how to avoid them.
See how to use a framework to structure and summarize business case impacts in preparation for review and financial modeling.
Create a financial analysis with cash flows, financial KPIs, sensitivity analysis, and intuitive dashboard to illuminate the path to a successful outcome.
Learn techniques for refining assumptions to ensure the most accurate projections.
Consolidate all components into an executive-ready Business Case Brief that is ready for presentation, review and approval.
Requirements
Basic spreadsheet and presentation skills (preferably Excel and Powerpoint).
Description
What do Executives mean when they ask for a Business Case, and what content to they expect in a robust Business Case? How can you think like an Executive to understand and weigh considerations like Net Present Value (NPV), Return on Investment (ROI), Payback period, Revenues, and Profits? How can you build a robust financial analysis, starting from scratch and covering everything from cash flows to key financial metrics to sensitivity analysis and key performance indicators? How do you build a dashboard that people can use to understand the business opportunity, and how do you ultimately package it all up for executive-level approval? In this step-by-step hands-on guide to financial modeling and executive-level business case development, you will learn all this and more. We will start by talking about Business Case fundamentals, including necessary content, key financial metrics and when an executive is likely to prioritize one over another, and how to use a framework to structure your opportunity in preparation for modeling. Then we will open Excel and build a robust financial model from the ground up, complete with Cash Flows, Summary Math, Key Financial Metrics, and Sensitivity Analysis – ultimately resulting in an intuitive and interactive Financial Dashboard. We’ll then organize and communicate the content in a powerful Executive Brief that will position your business opportunity for presentation, review and approval.

Overview

Section 1: Welcome

Lecture 1 Welcome!

Section 2: Business Case Fundamentals

Lecture 2 What is a Business Case?

Lecture 3 Business Case Fundamentals and Common Mistakes

Lecture 4 Financial Metrics and Executive Considerations

Lecture 5 Structuring business impacts in prep for Modeling

Section 3: Developing the financial model to understand the business case financials

Lecture 6 Introduction to the Financial Model

Lecture 7 Modeling Business Case Inputs

Lecture 8 Modeling Cash Flows

Lecture 9 Modeling Key Financial Metrics

Lecture 10 Summary Math

Lecture 11 Running Sensitivity Analysis

Lecture 12 Building a Dashboard to bring the financials to life

Lecture 13 Setting and refining assumptions

Lecture 14 About advanced modeling techniques: Regressions, Monte Carlo, Machine Learning

Section 4: The Business Case Brief

Lecture 15 Communicating the business opportunity in a powerful Executive Brief

Section 5: Wrap-up

Lecture 16 Wrap-up and Closing

Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced business owners, product managers, and financial analysts who want to learn how to develop a robust business case and financial model.,Special interest to those who are focused on preparing a business case for management/executive review.