Financial Modeling for Analysts to Build Clear, Structured Models for Better Decisions with Shreya Bhatt
In this episode of Financial Modeler’s Corner, Paul Barnhurst speaks with Shreya Bhatt about her journey in financial modeling and her experience working across infrastructure and project finance. Shreya shares real challenges she has faced, including rebuilding poorly structured models, and explains what makes a model reliable and easy to use. The conversation also covers modeling standards, practical use cases, and how financial models support real-world decisions.
Shreya Bhatt is a Manager at CrossBoundary Group with over eight years of experience in financial modeling and infrastructure finance. She works on project finance, portfolio modeling, and investment analysis, supporting decision-making across sectors like renewable energy and infrastructure.
Expect to Learn
What makes a financial model reliable and easy to use
Common mistakes that make models difficult to work with
How project finance models connect to real-world decisions
When to use different modeling standards like FAST and SMART
How AI fits into financial modeling today
Here are a few quotes from the episode:
A model can either be the most powerful tool or the most frustrating one.” – Shreya Bhatt
“AI can help us, but judgement and interpretation will always remain important.” – Shreya Bhatt
Shreya explains that strong financial models are built with clarity, structure, and consistency. She highlights that while tools and technologies like AI can speed up parts of the process, the real value comes from understanding the business, making sound assumptions, and delivering insights that support decision-making.
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In today’s episode:
[00:00] – Introduction
[02:48] – Worst Modeling Experience
[05:44] – Role at CrossBoundary
[07:35] – Favourite Model Types
[11:14] – Portfolio & Solar Models
[14:06] – FAST Certification Journey
[16:15] – FAST vs SMART Standards
[19:56] – Modeling Best Practices
[23:36] – AI in Financial Modeling
[28:52] – Career Lessons
[33:04] – Rapid Fire Insights
[36:56] – Final Advice
Full Show Transcript:
Host: Paul Barnhurst (00:00):
Financial Modeler's Corner is the world's Premier modeling podcast. It is brought to you by the Financial Modeling Institute, the world's leading financial modeling accreditation organisation. Welcome to another episode of Financial Modeler's Corner. I am your host, Paul Barnhurst, AKA the FP&A guy. This podcast is where we talk all about the art and science of financial modeling with distinguished financial Modelers from around the globe. The Financial Modellers Corner podcast is brought to you by the Financial Modeling Institute. FMI offers the most respected accreditations in financial modeling, and that is why I completed the Advanced Financial Modeler. I'm thrilled to welcome this week's guest on the show, Shreya Bhatt. Welcome to the show, Shreya.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (00:58):
Thanks, Paul. Thanks for this opportunity. I really love it. I'm really looking forward to this conversation.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (01:06):
Excited to have you and I love your background there. That's a fun one. You got going?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (01:11):
Yeah, that's the Victoria for, we had an offsite last month. Just kept it on the back.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (01:18):
Well, thank you for joining me. I know you're joining us today from India, so it's a late time for you, so I appreciate you doing that. I'm just going to start by sharing a little bit of your background and then we'll jump into our questions. So Shreya has over eight years of experience in financial modeling and infrastructure finance. She currently serves as a manager at CrossBoundary Group and throughout her career, she has developed portfolio, operational and optimization models that support the strategic decision-making across sectors such as renewable energy, transportation, and professional services. Prior to her current role, she spent four years with Master's, where she strengthened her expertise in smart financial modeling and advanced analytical practices. Her work spans portfolio modeling, project finance, corporate finance and valuation with a consistent focus on building robust decision-oriented financial models that enhance investment analysis and improve operational efficiency. As a fast-level one certified professional, she applies their structured modeling standards and analytical rigour to deliver clear, insightful financial solutions for complex projects. So I love the background. I can definitely tell we have someone who loves modeling, having spent a long time in it. So I know you have a horror story. What's the worst model you had to deal with or what are your horror stories you look back over your career when it comes to modeling?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (02:48):
If I go back to my career, I think the worst model I have received is for rebuilding a corporate model, which was very huge, multiple sheets, and there was no clear input. Shadings, the links were very random. The workbook was not really structured properly. So it's also a problem when there is no clear sheet purpose. So when most calculations of Pam are entered into the Stinger sheet, it makes it very difficult to understand what is there. And when I go to those sheets, I found that they were poorly labelled, which can make things very worse. And the biggest issue I have ever faced in the bad models or the worst model I ever seen is long formulas, maybe the tangled formulas, which makes no sense when we just press F two. So I feel that when the model is there, it should actually be easy to understand better rather than being it very complicated.
(03:56):
So our models can either be the most powerful tool or the most frustrating one. So it really depends on how you build it. And I think, yeah, that was the worst model I have ever seen. So I have also seen some Optima, the model which I received for the rebuild and they were also kind of, I would say, a different kind of models I had received. So like operational models where they were random linkings, no balance sheet checks, and I dunno how they were relying on that model output. So it really matters how you build it. Yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (04:36):
Yeah, a hundred percent agree. It really matters how you build it. You need to be able to rely on the model. I'm curious about the first one, you mentioned the rebuild. Did you start over or did you try to fix the existing model?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (04:47):
I generally start from scratch. I think in my early career I used to work from the scratch. So I have built the models from scratch, where I take the model in, I understand what the requirement is, what they are trying to do in this model, and then when the client is there, we discuss how it is required, who the people are who are going to use it. So that is how we collect all the information and then we make a model out of all those inputs. So I generally enjoy financial modeling throughout my career, but I have learned that a model truly never finish. So even if I have built it for a base model for a delivery, but it can always be improved. So there have always been instance where I have been building the models from scratch to make it better. Yep,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (05:44):
Got it. So I know today you work at cross boundary group. Can you talk a little bit about what that is and your role there?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (05:53):
So yeah, I work at cross boundary group. So the group is currently divided or split it into advisory and investment firm. So I work with the investment firm where we focus on helping the capital flow into the underserved and frontier markets. The goal is to support sustainable growth while we still deliver strong financial returns for the investors. So we work with the governments, investors, development institutions, companies to fund the high impact projects and especially in the areas like energy, infrastructure and climate. So I'm a manager in financial modeling team working with CrossBoundary Energy and cross boundary access firms and I build and review financial models that help investors and clients understand whether the project makes sense financially and on the day-to-day basis I test as I'm just look at the risk and returns, turn the complex number into clear practical insights. So I work closely with the deal team to make sure the analysis is realistic and useful. So for example, if I support stress testing the financial model for one of the energy platforms, so I help by presenting a clear story to the investor that how it is working and my focus is always making the analysis practical like decision ready.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (07:20):
Got it. Thanks for that. I know over your career you've built several different types of models, bid models, portfolio models, you're doing a lot of project finance infrastructure. Is there a type of model you like building most?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (07:35):
Yeah, I think that's a tough one, but I think right now I love financial models, so I love all types of models. But right now I think I really enjoy working on project finance models because over my career I have been in consultant firms where we get the clients, we make the model, we deliver it on time, we make sure that client is very happy with it. But right now I'm in a company where I'm dealing with everyone. I'm in a client side and I'm dealing with everyone. So currently I'm working on most of the project finance models and I'm loving that and I find it most interesting in playing around with the numbers to find the breakeven points, seeing how the changes in assumptions affect the outcome to sensitivity scenarios and it makes the model feel much more connected to the real world. So that is why I think I'm right now my favourite project. One model I especially enjoyed working on was a template I designed to work for 11 different countries. So it was a template which was used for 11 different countries and it was a project finance model and it had all the full text functionality with the inputs that can handle different permutation and combinations. And it was definitely complex, but that's what made it interesting and one of the parts I enjoyed the most was simplifying the structure making model more flexible while still keeping all the functionalities intact. So yeah, it was a good model.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (09:19):
I can see where that's a challenge. If you had 11 different countries, there's going to be a lot of nuance that you have to build into the model and into the templates, whether it's tax stuff or other things that are just going to be a little bit different between the different countries.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (09:34):
Yeah, and it keeps on adding on. If you go, it was like I was building a portfolio kind of thing within a project finance model and it was just kind of very interesting. But then it also had some kind of VBAs, which was in the end, if you have finalised the country you can just delete all the other things. So it can just compact your model in the end for one country.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (10:02):
It makes a lot of sense. Do you have a favourite industry you like to work with? You prefer renewable energies or is there a certain industry that you enjoy more than others?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (10:13):
Yeah, I think I like renewable energy and yeah, I have worked on it quite for so long. So yeah, I definitely like that.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (10:22):
Okay. Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. I know renewable energy projects are often 30, 50 year model, probably a lot of complexity in the length and assumptions that you got to be really dialled in on because we all know none of us know what's going to happen 50 years from now. So you need to at least make reasonable assumptions.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (10:43):
And I think the industry is being quite interesting in the terms of how the funding is coming in from the different platforms and then it makes very interesting to build it up in the model and see how it impacts other things. So it makes it very interesting.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (11:01):
So I know one of the things when you and I chat as you mentioned is you're doing some portfolio and many of those are around solar energy. So what are the key things you need to watch for some of those key variables when you're doing roll-up type models?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (11:14):
So when I think I'm working on portfolio models for solar, so I currently work for energy and also the access that is quite niche as of now. But yeah, so first thing I look closely for commercial variables and that is like tariff contract, nurse escalations. And because those small changes here can materially impact the portfolio returns and from the project model perspective, getting these assumptions consistent across the project is critical. So yeah, first is the commercial variables. Secondly, I think I focus on the technical and operating assumptions like capacity degradation, availability and operating costs. These feed directly into the generation and cashflow stability. So I make sure they are realistic and aligned across the assets. And the last one is financial variables, which are quite interesting when it comes to funding and leverage cost of debt and all the scr, these refinancing as exemptions. So when rolling projects are, I pay attention to how individual project structure is aggregated at the portfolio level and yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (12:36):
Makes sense. And I could see each of those different things that you got to focus on and any of those, right, your cost expenses, your financing methods, whatever it might be, small changes can make a huge impact, especially over a long timeframe. Always good to have very practical assumptions. So I want to switch gears here a little bit and talk about the fast. So I know you completed level one of the FAST certification for just in case anyone from our audience doesn't know FAST is one of the primary modeling standards out there. They're a pretty detailed standard that helps guide how people should model. So what motivated you to earn the level one certification? Why did you do that? What was it about Fast as a standard?While my background is in fact, I am also passionate about financial modeling. Like many financial modelers, I was self-taught. Then I discovered the Financial Modeling Institute, the organization that offers the Advanced Financial Modeler program. I am a proud holder of the AFM. Preparing for the AFM exam made me a better modeler. If you want to improve your modeling skills, I recommend that AFM program podcast listeners save 15% on the AFM program. Just use Code Podcast.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (14:06):
I think I earned a certificate early in my career around eight years ago, maybe first year of my career when I had just entered this field and I didn't realise that real world impact financial models can help. So at that stage I was still learning and the basics of the modeling, but what really stood out was exposure I got from my company. I was amazed at how they build the Excel models that were large complex yet so easy to understand. So that experience parted my curiosity and pushed me to learn more. And over the time I realised how important it is to build models in a structured way and one that has tell the bigger story, not very crunch numbers. So following the fast adult play, the big role in the learning journey and it helped me create models that are structured readable and easy to understand. Yeah, I'm more importantly like fast and made morning adaptable and turn into a common language for clearly presenting a bigger picture in one place.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (15:19):
I like what you said there about it allow you that bigger picture in one place and just the importance of standards we've all seen what happens when a model isn't well structured, whether you use fast or smart or your own standard, if a model doesn't have good structure, you lose confidence in it and it becomes really hard to trust the numbers are right, the example you gave at the beginning, right? We open it up and if you see no input sheet or you see hard codes or all kinds of colours, you immediately wonder what else is wrong. So totally agree with you the value of standards. So I'm curious when it comes to standards, how do you decide when you're going to use FAST versus maybe your own standards versus another standard like smart? Because there's a lot out there and none of 'em are perfect, let's face it right? There's a reason there's a lot of standards so I'd love to know how you think about it when you're modeling.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (16:15):
So I usually take Vanguard approach rather than strictly following one of the standard. And the fast standard is very well defined, I should say. It provides clear rules around the structure, formulas, links, input, sharings, overall model discipline. But it's especially helpful for building models that are very easy to follow and review. And the smart approach on the hand applies like similar principles but follows more flexibility, which can be useful as models grow in size and complexity. So in practise I prefer FAST for smaller or more universal models like such as bid models, like plant models, especially when they'll be used by wider group of users and for very large and complex models like portfolio roll-ups and corporate models, I think I lean towards smart and as it allows great flexibility without losing clarity. So ultimately both standards work but as long as you understand the objective and apply them efficiently and consistently,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (17:31):
If I understand correctly, you generally go with smart when you need more flexibility as maybe it's a bigger, a little more complex model when you're building something a little more standardised, a smaller model you like the fast and that it's a little more detailed in what you need to do.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (17:50):
If I give an example in the bid model or project finance model, we have someone which is working from deal team and they are looking into the model like the revenue part. They want to see the tariff there clearly labelled so that they can relate it with the escalation, the flax and everything. I think the password better there because it gives more of the detail of the lines when we do the calculations. But when we are going to the corporate models or portfolio models there we have a very big sheets of calculations for different projects for one asset codes, one SPVs. So in that part I feel that we can compact a lot more of details at same row, maybe at same column. So that is why I would prefer smart in there. And yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (18:44):
Thanks for sharing that example. I appreciate it. I think that's helpful. And what I like is the practicality of approach because I see some people they're like, hey you need to use fast no matter what or you need to use smart or you got to follow these 25 rules and never vary from them. And my philosophy has always been look whether it's fast, whether it's smart, whatever it is, there's general guidelines you should be following. There are some rules that you should avoid at all costs. Like don't hard code, put in an adjustment line, do whatever you can. I've done some of it but it's a bad idea. And there are some others that are kind of like that, Hey you should have an input section now you can debate, should it all be on one sheet, should it be on different areas within the model? As long as it's clearly labelled. I've seen both work well. I like one input sheet, so it's like inputs, you got to have 'em, they got to be structured exactly how you structure it. There can be some flexibility depending on the model. That's at least how I think of it. So I think we probably have some similar ideas there, but I'd love to know what advice would you give to other Modelers? Someone's trying to figure it out, thinking about standards, any advice you'd offer to them?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (19:56):
I think my key advice would be to pick a modeling standard and follow it consistently. If you use fast, apply it fully in that portal and if you use smart, do the same. And even if you have follow some formal standard which you have made on your own self, like the rules just stick to them. I think all the standards, what they tell us is about consistency and consistency is what makes a model easy to hand over, maintain and trust over its lifetime. So well applied standards significantly improve the clarity, usability, and the decision making. Understanding the impact of these rules on the end user is just as important as following the rules themselves. So just stick to the consistency.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (20:52):
Well said, if you're consistent every time in your model, it's going to be much easier for somebody to audit it, to follow it, et cetera. And I would go one step further, make sure you're consistent within your organisation. If you decide to do one standard and somebody else does something quite different, they decide to use a different colour coding, then it makes it really hard if you have to share models between teams. So I think the one thing I add to that is a hundred percent agree with the consistency, but try to be consistent across your team, your broader organisation. I'm sure you do a fair amount of audit modeling and you appreciate when the people are consistent when you're auditing that model.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (21:37):
Yes, yes, definitely. It makes work very easy and I think it feels more connected when you are in the same team following the same rules and you know that how things works here and yeah, it's very really easy to connect and understand each other then.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (21:55):
Yeah. Alright, I'm going to shift gears here again a little bit. There's been a tonne of talk the last few weeks about ai, right? We're seeing all these new tools in Excel and build models for you and just a tonne of AI tools, whether it's Claude Open, ais came out with their own version, you have copilot and you have a tonne of other companies. So I would love to get your thoughts. How do you think about these AI tools that say they can build models for us and they just seem to be coming at us really fast. What are your thoughts about this whole kind of AI and modeling.Bad financial models can lead to bad decisions or worse. So how do you minimise the risk of a bad model? You make sure the models you build are great Financial Modeling Institute developed the Advanced Financial Modeler accreditation programme to help modelers like you. The AFM programme offers a step-by-step approach to building world-class financial models. The programme ensures that you know the best practises in model design and structure and will help you brush up on your Excel and accounting skills too. Be the one on your team to build great models. If you want to impress your boss and your clients, get a FMI accredited podcast listeners, save 15% on the AFM programme. Just use code podcast at http://www.fminstitute.com/podcast.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (23:36):
I'm generally very excited about it. The potential of AI and financial modeling is very exciting and I see it as a powerful partner for Modelers maybe because it can help us to deliver the model very fast and it may help us to build a model, but it'll give us a more stronger analysis and more interactive meaningful outputs like dashboards and scenario tools. So this feels like a natural evolution of modeling, right? Every technology comes in and we evaluate, evolve around it. So learning to work alongside new technology is how the field progresses. So AI can free up some time to focus on what really matters like judgement structure, insight, which are more time consuming in financial modeling than once you get the model engineering, you know how to build a model, but finding a way out how to do that very efficiently to give the best of it takes time. So at the same time, modeling is much more than just building Excel files. So a good Modeler connects inputs and outputs to tell a clear story and it builds a reliable foundation. It creates insights so it also support real decisions. So AI can enhance that process, but thinking and interpretation will always remain central to this role. I think
Host: Paul Barnhurst (25:12):
A hundred percent agree. We can all see that AI is coming, it's getting better and better at building models that can help us. But like you said, it's something that's there to help us. We still have to make judgement calls, we still have to understand things. We're not there yet. Whether we'll get there one day or not, who knows? But we're definitely not at the point where you can just turn it over to AI and then deliver it to your client. I wouldn't do that. There's not a chance.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (25:39):
Definitely, definitely. Even if a machine makes the whole model, we will have to review it at the end. We believe in our instincts rather than a built up tool in our front. Yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (25:56):
Yep. And I'm curious, are there anything you're seeing that really excites you? Any tools or have you used AI to where have you maybe used AI to help you? Where are you seeing the benefit today?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (26:10):
Recently, I would just say into the context, I haven't used it yet, but I quite use it on the VBS side for getting the VBS quotes and different codes around what I can do. But when I see I have just seen a webinar which was there for TFI access when I was seeing that webinar, I quite understand that how it's like it's going to be there but it is only going to be, it can give you a structure but it cannot give you a reliable decision tool. So yes, AI will be there, it'll help you to give the calculations at your place where you want, how the standards you are following maybe. But when it comes to a decision making, I think it's only the financial model which can tell that how reliable this model is, even if it's AI made. So yeah, I believe that AI could help but it cannot take our jobs.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (27:15):
No, I appreciate you sharing that. And I definitely feel like right now I say a lot is it's modeling or whatever fp and a, these different finance tasks that should be human led, AI assisted fabulous tool. But it's there to augment, not to replace us, at least today. Well we'll see what the future holds. The famous economist, I think it was John Maynard Keynes who said it in the long run we're all dead so I'll worry about the short term.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (27:47):
Yeah, yeah definitely.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (27:51):
Alright, so these are some standard questions we ask different guests and then we're going to move into rapid fire here in a few minutes. So the first one, do you have a favourite Excel shortcut? If so, what is it?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (28:03):
I love shortcuts and I mean one of my favourite is F five and I use F five a lot during the reviews. So when I'm going back and put during the calculations, I really like how Q can efficiently can make the review process. So shortcuts, I love them, they are like mini gifts. Once you know them you really enjoy them.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (28:27):
Agree. And F five is a great one I've seen in snore do some presentations where it shows a lot of the trace precedent, the way you could tell for row consistent using F five, find all your formulas, your blanks, so many different things that you can do with that F five menu as you get in there. That's a good one. What's the most important lesson you've learned during your career? What's the number one thing you've learned that's helped you the most?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (28:52):
So during my career I have really understood that being patient and kind with the learning process. So I have often seen people that they try to learn everything at once, they are through it, but that's not how real learning works. So growth takes time and everyone learns differently so your journey won't look same as someone else. So even the same as it did before. So it's important to give yourself space to learn to your own pace and make mistakes and improve gradually.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (29:28):
I love that advice is we all learn differently, be patient, be kind. Sounds like somebody who has had to do a lot of learning and probably has had to remind themselves of that a few times. I know I have.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (29:41):
Sometimes when you work on a model you're like, why it's not happening, why it's not happening, I need to do this. And I think somewhere we get lost in that and we are angry on ourself on not doing five, but we should be patient about it and then think on fresh Mind next morning and then I think it'll be done. It happens a lot of time that I get stuck on some of the formula. In my earlier career I was stuck on a formula. Why I am not able to get this calculation in this formula and how it is going to be done. My mind is shut down and then next day when I woke up I'm with a solution. So you just have to be a patient there.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (30:29):
The last part you said there, sometimes just sleeping on it at night can be incredibly valuable because it's 11, 12, 1 in the morning and you're probably not getting a lot more benefit. You're frustrated, you're tired, you're not thinking clearly. Just be patient on yourself, go to bed, come back to it the next day and often the answer will come to you.
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (30:53):
Yes. Yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (30:55):
I'm with you on that. Alright, so what's the most unique or fun thing you've done with the spreadsheet in your personal life?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (31:01):
Yeah, so I have done two of the things. I have done my taxes on Excel sheets, like calculating taxes, where should I invest, how much I should do. And the best one is my wedding budget and planning. So I have done entirely done everything on Excel I have done, I could have made an invitation to there but I think I should hold myself in. So I did everything from expenses, strict tracking to timeline to bills and everything.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (31:36):
Awesome. We've had a few people met you in the wedding. My favourite was the person that tried to put a score to rate how valuable each person would be at the wedding to kind of decide who they were going to invite. And I'm like what do you do when your spouse puts a five or your partner and you put a one for somebody And he's kind of laughed, he's like, yeah we finally scrapped it, it wasn't working and I just kind of laughed. So it's amazing what we can do in Excel. I had another one that had all their life goals in Excel and wanted to review it with their partner and I kind of laughed. I'm like, how'd that go? It's like, well we're not using it today and not surprised.
(32:16):
So love what we can do in Excel. That's probably one of my favourite questions. I've definitely had some unique answers over the years. Alrighty, so we're going to move into rapid fire. So just a reminder of how this works, the reason it's rapid fire is we're going to go through the questions quickly, you pick and answer it. So if I asked one, you would just say yes or no or just answer the question quickly and then at the end you can give some context. I recognise many of these answers are nuanced that there may be more. So I ask you one and you're like at the end you could be like, well let me tell you why I said that and here's what the exception is. There may be one, but just to make it quick. So this should take about just a minute or two to run through the questions. Circular references in models, yes or no?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:04):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:06):
VBA, yes or no?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:09):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:11):
Lambdas. Should we be using Lambdas in our financial models?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:14):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:16):
I have a feeling you might come back to that one. You hesitated for a minute. I made you think that's good. External workbook links? Yes or no?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:24):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:25):
Do you think it's important to use as many keyboard shortcuts as possible when modeling, yes or no?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:31):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:32):
Okay. Short financial models always be print ready?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:38):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:39):
Okay. Are merge cells ever acceptable in a model?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:44):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:47):
I always love people's answers on that one. There's usually strong opinion there. Okay. Do you think financial Modelers should learn Python in Excel?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (33:57):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:58):
What about power query?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (34:01):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:02):
How about power bi?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (34:05):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:06):
Do you believe every financial Modeler should be able to build a fully integrated three statement model?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (34:12):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:13):
Okay. And this is a fun one. I always get to ask, will Excel ever die?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (34:19):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:21):
That's a pretty common answer. What financial statement do you believe is most important for financial Modelers? Is it the income statement, the balance sheet or the cashflow statement?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (34:33):
I think cashflow.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:35):
Okay. Do you have a favourite language model you like to use? What are these? LLMs, Claude, copilot cha, EPT or something else?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (34:44):
Copilot. That's all.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:46):
Okay. If I told you you had to pick one and only one for the rest of your models, would you pick sensitivity analysis or scenario analysis
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (34:57):
Maybe. Scenario analysis.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (34:59):
Okay. Do you believe financial models are the number one corporate decision-making tool?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (35:06):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (35:07):
Okay. And the last one, what's your favourite lookup function in Excel V lookup index match X lookup. Choose something else. Which one do you like?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (35:16):
X lookup.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (35:18):
X lookup. I like it. Alright. Are there any of those you want to elaborate on? I know there's a few, you had to think about 'em for a minute. So any you want to elaborate on?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (35:26):
Yeah, on the Lambda side, I think it is a new formula I know, but it still needs to be searched more how it works, how it can impact in bigger models. It might look that it is working very good but until, unless we are not using it very ly, we might not know that how it can affect in the model.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (35:56):
That's a valid point. That makes sense. Another one you thought about for quite a while, maybe you want to elaborate on this is should financial Modelers everybody be able to build a fully integrated three statement model you went with? No, but it seems like you thought on that one for a minute. Anything you want to add there? I
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (36:11):
Like the financial model can do accountings and build the financial statements, but I have also seen some of the financial models which are like they don't build a full I right, but still they're good Modelers. They know the knowledge, they have all the contacts in there, but it's just that it might work for them like that.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (36:33):
And I agree with you on that one. I like to see what different people say. So I have a similar view because most of my career I didn't build three statement models, but that's one that some people have very strong opinions on, so it's fun to see what people have to say. Alright, as we wrap up here, any final advice or any last thoughts you'd like to share with the audience before we finish up?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (36:56):
Stay curious. That's how you grow and learn. Modeling standard shortcuts, new formulas, new approaches to modeling. That's what makes it. It's very interesting. And just as importantly, help others to learn how to model and understand the tool and see how we can add the values.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (37:17):
Great advice, stay curious, help others. I love it. If someone's listening to this episode and they want to reach out to you or maybe learn a little bit about you, what's the best way for them to do that?
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (37:26):
Ping me on LinkedIn directly. You can also get my mail on LinkedIn. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (37:31):
Perfect. I figured it was probably LinkedIn. That's a pretty common answer these days. But thank you so much for carving out some of your evening for this conversation, Shri. I really appreciate it. I enjoyed chatting with you, so thank you. Thanks
Guest: Shreya Bhatt (37:45):
For this opportunity. I'm really grateful. I hope to see you somewhere.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (37:50):
Financial Modeler's Corner was brought to you by the Financial Modeling Institute. This year, I completed the Advanced Financial Modeler certification, and it made me a better financial modeler. What are you waiting for? Visit FMI at https://fminstitute.com/podcast/ and use Code Podcast to save 15% when you enroll in one of the accreditations today.