The Storytelling Techniques for Financial Modelers to Impress Investors with Karishma Ramnawaj
In this episode of Financial Modeler’s Corner, host Paul Barnhurst sits down with Karishma Ramnawaj, a financial modeler based in Mauritius, to talk about her journey in financial modelling, building and reviewing models, and the lessons she’s learned from both success and failure. Karishma shares her experience of learning on the job, why understanding the end user is critical, and how she balances practical standards with flexibility.
Karishma is a Certified Advanced Financial Modeler (AFM) and FMVA® professional, currently working as a Financial Modeler Associate at Hawkins Eberdal Ltd in Mauritius. With a strong foundation in both project and corporate finance, Karishma specializes in building decision-ready financial models that support capital raising, risk evaluation, and business growth.
Expect to Learn
Why using someone else’s model as a template can be risky
The importance of understanding and communicating key assumptions
How to tailor models for investors and third-party users
What it’s like to fail, and then pass, the AFM exam
The value of applying both corporate and project finance in modelling
Here are a few quotes from the episode:
“If you're going to use someone else's model, make sure you understand everything inside it.” – Karishma
“It's not just about Excel. It's about who's using the model and what story you're telling with it.” – Karishma
Karishma Ramnawaj’s story is a great example of growth through practice, persistence, and passion for financial modeling. Her focus on clarity, flexibility, and end-user needs brings valuable perspective to the modelling process. From overcoming early challenges to passing the AFM exam, she shows the importance of continuous improvement.
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karishma-ramnawaj/
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In today’s episode:
[00:00] - Trailer
[01:56] - Guest Intro
[04:51] - Journey into Modelling
[06:00] - Why She Loves Modelling
[08:37] - Storytelling with Numbers
[10:56] - Key Assumptions & End Users
[13:00] - Project vs. Corporate Finance
[14:26] - Renewable Energy Focus
[15:44] - Modelling Standards & Reviews
[22:16] - AFM Exam: Fail to Pass
[29:18] - Tools, Tips & Final Advice
Full Show Transcript
Host: Paul Barnhurst (00:00):
Welcome to Financial Modeler's Corner. I am your host, Paul Barnhurst. In this podcast, we talk all about the art and science of financial modelling with distinguished financial modelers from around the globe. The Financial modelers Corner podcast is brought to you by the Financial Modelling Institute. FMI offers the most respected accreditations in financial modelling and that's why I completed the Advanced financial modeler. And I'm looking to complete the Chartered financial modeler. So I'm thrilled to have you back the last few months. We've been doing our Mod Squad series and we're back to interviewing guests, so I'm excited to welcome on the show. Karishma Ramnawaj watch. Welcome to the show.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (01:02):
Thank you Paul. It's nice to be here. Thank you for this opportunity.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (01:05):
Yeah, really excited to have you Karishma. And when I mentioned around the globe, I couldn't help thinking, but I think you're the first guest we had. You're in, remind me where you're in Mauritius, right,
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (01:14):
Exactly. I'm based in Mauritius. Yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (01:17):
Maybe we have, but I don't think we've had a guest from Mauritius before, so we tried to cover the whole globe and we're glad you could join us
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (01:24):
Also, Yeah, and
Host: Paul Barnhurst (01:25):
You're in summer right
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (01:26):
Now, right? Exactly. We'll soon have a cyclone. We were supposed to have one, but it's gone. Yeah, so enjoy the sun and of course with the beach from Mauritius.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (01:36):
Nice. Well you enjoy that sun and beach. I think it was negative three Celsius this morning. Oh yeah. I'm a little jealous. Not going to lie. Alright, we start every episode with this question. I know you have one, your horror story, the worst financial model you built, you saw you worked with. What's kind of that modelling horror story?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (01:56):
Yeah, so as you said, I'm sure everyone does have the horrible financial model that they had. And mine came very early in my career. It came with a mix of urgency and a lot of pressure and somewhat inexperience into financial modelling. So what happened was I was in an urgent fundraising process and we needed a financial modeler, sorry to tell in terms of the outbursts, what should be the outbursts for the financial need. So what happened was because of the pressure and the tidal deadline, I took a very complex, yet fully structured, but complex financial model and I used that as a template for this particular project, which I shall tell you was a nightmare. So what I did was I was able to complete the financial model and I gave it to my senior on a Friday night. During the weekend he was doing the review and I got the text.
(02:53):
So what happened is your financial model just crashed and we need it really early next week. So you can imagine the pressure, you can imagine, I have to put everything aside and just think that I need to get the model out because we really need it for the fundraising. So I had to put the extra hours and deliver at least a very clean draught early the following week. Fortunately, there was no backlog and were able to provide the financial model for the fundraising process, but I got a really big lesson out of it and for me the lesson was that I need to always take the time to stress a model if I'm going to use it as a template, if not build it from scratch. Yeah.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (03:45):
If you're going to use anyone else's or another version of a model, you need to make sure you understand it inside and out. And there's a reason so often we start from scratch. Exactly. Yeah. So a great story. I mean glad it worked out and you're able to get it delivered. But yeah, it's definitely a learning of the challenges of using other people's models as a template.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (04:09):
Yes, definitely. If you're willing to use a financial model, just make sure that you understand everything and you just use the structure or the formatting if it's already there. But in terms of the logic, you need to understand everything so as to be able to explain to someone else a
Host: Paul Barnhurst (04:28):
Hundred percent agree. If you don't understand it becomes a huge problem. And I've seen it, I'm sure we've all seen it where people who don't understand it and you're just kind of like, ooh, that's not going to end well. Yes, exactly. And that was a lesson learned. Definitely. For sure. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Tell us about your background and how you got into financial modelling. I'd love to hear your story.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (04:51):
Yeah, sure, definitely. So as you know, I'm based in Mauritius and I have a bachelor's degree in mathematics with finance. So that's where I started with problem solving and all the logical thinking. So I am currently doing a master's degree in finance and investment, but a few years ago I had the opportunity to learn about the Financial Moulding Institute and the advanced financial moulding exam. Since the very start of my career, I started in an advisory firm as a junior analyst and I was thrown into building a financial model from no experience. So it was just learning through different resources that I had in hand and I got to know about a FM exam, which was really a good resource to learn really how to build a financial model from scratch.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (05:39):
Yeah, A FM is a great resource. I know we'll talk a little bit more about that later and so I'm glad that kind of helped with the learning. So I'm curious, you got thrown into it mathematics with finance, what is it you love about financial modelling? You've continued to work in it, you've gone on during your A FM and done other things. So what is it you enjoy about modelling?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (06:00):
So I would say two things. Firstly is how I set the logical thinking, the problem solving. And since I'm into fundraising and advisory, I've worked both into project finance and corporate finance and I corporate finance is mainly understanding your client's business. So every business is different, every business model is with a different revenue stream with a different logic that you have to apply and you will always tackle new challenges. And I believe that mathematical skills, it builds me into the logical thinking part, which I really enjoy with financial modelling. And the second part is I always keep in mind the end user. So while building a financial model, I need to have a bigger picture. It's not just the excel that I'm building, it's always about the client who is going to hold it or is it investors that need a specific output from the financial model. So I believe those two things I don't think that I love about financial modelling and it helps me create something great.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (07:05):
Yeah. Oh, thank you for sharing that. So it sounds like that problem solving the logic and also getting to learn different businesses or a few of those things you really enjoy. And I like how you said when you're building a model, always try to keep the end user in mind. I know I've built a few models where I haven't, you don't think of how are we going to update this, what does next month look like? And then you get done and you're just like, oh, this thing's a nightmare. I can't remember how many times when I'm leaving a role going, I really should have fixed this or fixed this process and you're writing it all down to explain the next person and I'm like, oh, that's a terrible way of doing this. I definitely have been guilty more than once
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (07:49):
Than I'm sure everyone does and encounter such situations. But yeah, it's just part of the learning curve and just building something different every time.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (07:59):
I definitely agree there definitely is a learning to it of figuring that out. I know today you had mentioned you're preparing a lot of models for investors, you're dealing with different investors and you mentioned that a big part of the job goes beyond the model. We often talk about the model and working in Excel and what assumptions we use. We all know all those assumptions can make a big difference, but another part of this is storytelling is a big part of that process. You have to be able to tell the story to those involved in the process. So can you talk about how you think about that? How do you go about making sure the model tells a story and that you can convey that story?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (08:37):
Exactly. So as I said, we need to know about everything that we include in the financial model to be able to tell the story. It's not only about the numbers, but we will also have the specific assumptions as you said. And sometimes if we're looking at a business, it's not necessarily that we'll go into very detailed levels of different types of assumptions. For instance, a business can have different revenue streams, but it does not mean that the output is mainly driven by all the assumptions. So it's the main part that needs to be conveyed to the investors. That becomes the story line from the assumptions to the output. And secondly, in terms of fundraising, it's not only about Excel or the financial model. So we also have to build those numbers and bring it into narratives into the pitch deck, which is really important for the investors.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (09:32):
Got it. Yeah, no, that pitch deck, and that's really to me the story part. So I think there's a couple things here. As you mentioned the assumptions, I've always felt like with a story you have to be able to tell the main part of the story, which really comes back to your key assumptions that you make it a model. So any advice there of how you really make sure everybody is on the same page around those kinds of key assumptions, lessons you've learned. I've definitely had times where you build a model and somebody doesn't realise a key assumption and they have a totally different idea and you're like, oh yeah, that completely changes this model.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (10:07):
I definitely think communication is really important, especially if we engage with the client or third party. It's really important to have open communication and understand the business from their perspective and also try to convey to them that not all the assumptions are really important. It's not about telling if a number is correct or wrong, it's about really stressing the number and giving a range not really a precision because over the time if for instance we are forecasting something, definitely over the time things will change. It's just bringing a risk or uncertainty through scenarios in terms of the assumptions that we are able to provide. Not really correct numbers, but something along the line that we can see the business growth actually.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (10:56):
Yeah. So there are two things I like there that you said is one, it's not about being right, not going to be right, and there's a second as you said, it's not about every assumption.
(11:08):
So how do you decide what assumptions are important? I think that's a huge part of a model. We've all seen a model where they try to add a million assumptions and you get a false level of precision. In my opinion it often isn't better. So how do you decide what those couple key drivers are? And as a general, how many you think you should have that you should really drill into and okay, make sure I understand. I can explain the logic around this assumption that you have a story to go with it. There's key assumptions and I think often people struggle with deciding what the key assumptions are and how to make sure the story and you can relay those. So how do you think about making sure you understand and you're making the right key assumptions, how do you think about that?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (11:53):
So basically for me it's always the end user in mind. So I always think about, for instance, if I have a financial model for investors, and most usually it's going to be international investors. So I know I think and brainstorm the specific assumptions that I need to stress this. It's not going to be all of them. For instance, for them it's going to be RIC exchange. So I know I have to stress test that particular assumption or if I have different revenue streams, it's not going to be all of them. Yes. So it's always going to be the end users in mind and I define on the driver assumptions or the financial model makes
Host: Paul Barnhurst (12:30):
It makes a lot of sense. I think the example you gave of FX revenue we've all seen where a company may have 20 products but one or two products drive 80% of the revenue.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (12:37):
Exactly.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (12:38):
You can kind of probably lump the 18 together and be quick on the, I mean spend all your time on the other two. So I know you mentioned this earlier and that you have both a background in project and corporate finance. Exactly. So I'm curious how has that combination helped you as a modeler? How does having done both project and corporate finance help you in your role today?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (13:00):
So corporate finance is really about business, different businesses, different ones, and it's just a blend of understanding different companies or different business line. And I said everything is a challenge and the way you think about the logic or to apply the different assumptions that we've already talked about. So this has really refined my financial model skills in terms of logical thinking and problem solving. And for project finance it's mostly always how it's investors. So that brings me back to always focusing about the end users and about while I am building a financial model for project finance, I need to take into consideration the end users.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (13:44):
I like that. I'm curious, you mentioned in the corporate finance side you've worked with a lot of different businesses, you get different industries, different businesses, they all have their own revenue streams. I'm curious, is there a favourite type of model, like industry you like to model or one that any project that really stands out like oh, that was really fascinating to learn about?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (14:03):
So I'm really into renewable energy right now and we have different types of renewable energy. So you get so low, you get thin, you get a hydro and whilst they're almost the same specifically for a project finance, different method or different technologies require at least the drivers to be different. So that has been a really learning curve into project.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (14:26):
Yeah. And one, have you enjoyed one more than the other? Are they all kind of similar enough? It's not a big difference between wind, solar, hydro,
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (14:35):
So basically more solar energy. I've worked on a lot of solar energy projects. I would say I'm more into solar compared to hydro and
Host: Paul Barnhurst (14:44):
Doesn't surprise me. I think solar is the most popular of the three. It's probably the most long-term sustainable of the three, at least on any kind of scale at the moment I got more. And how long are those models typically? Are they 30 years old, 50 year? How far out are you going with solar?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (14:59):
So it depends actually on the ppa. So the power producer A and we would say for on average a third year financial model would make sense. Yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (15:10):
No, I've heard project they often go out very far and I'm always thinking 30 years from now I'll be lucky to be alive, let alone be able to forecast how much revenue I'm going to.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (15:19):
Yeah, that's true actually
Host: Paul Barnhurst (15:21):
I commend those that are going out 30, 50 years difficult.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (15:25):
Yes, that's true.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (15:26):
So I know you mentioned when we were kind of chatting and emailing back and forth, a lot of your work today involves not only building models but auditing models. So I'm going to start with when you're building and auditing models, do you follow a standard template? How do you think about that? So
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (15:44):
I would say mostly not really auditing but more into reviewing financial models and definitely yes I would follow a standard. So it's just going to be the basic standards that I would use for myself to build a financial model for instance. Most of those go through the file standard, which I do feel it's really useful because you need to have something flexible, which a third party will understand and something really clear and transparent. So while I'm building a financial model, I keep those things in mind. So the financial model need to be transparent, need to be flexible, there need not to be any hardcode numbers somewhere or a formula that is just broken in the middle of a hundred of columns in between. So those are the standard practise that I would use in building a financial model that I would use during a review.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (16:34):
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 the AFM program podcast listeners save 15% on the AFM program. Just use Code Podcast.
I'm curious, how closely do you follow fast? You just kind of take that as a general guideline because FAST is very thorough. I think of all the standards out there, it's probably the most prescriptive. So how do you balance that? What do you think about that? I know some people that hey, they follow religiously and others are like these are way too many instructions. I got some guidelines I'm going to follow, I like some of them fast but I'm going to do my own thing. Where do you sit on that spectrum?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (17:41):
So I would say in between. I wouldn't take or follow the standards line to line, but as I said, I want something really transparent. I want something that if someone else takes the model can understand. So it's just the highlight of the guidelines that should be followed and not really the intricacies of the framework and
Host: Paul Barnhurst (18:02):
That's where I'm at. You and I are of the same philosophy. I think the guidelines are good, whether it's fast or smart or whatever the standard is. I think there's some general rules that everybody should follow, but I'm not real big on getting prescriptive and saying you have to do this or you have to do that.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (18:20):
Yes, exactly.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (18:22):
There are a few, I don't know if you know Heidi er, she does a lot of modelling stuff and she calls it her commandments of modelling. So sometimes there are, I'm like number one thou shalt not hard code. I'm like, okay, we can all agree on that. Yes, I would too. So it kind of made me laugh because your commandments, you think okay, there's a standard if you have to follow.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (18:46):
Yeah, and we usually see a lot of model get broken. For instance for you just said a hard broken model, if someone else just changes an input and out of nowhere you just see the balance sheet is not balancing anymore and you spend hours and hours trying to find ways the error, but you can't find it because someone else just put a hot code number or a dead number in some kind of formula. Yeah,
Host: Paul Barnhurst (19:10):
A hundred percent. We've all seen it. Somebody was telling me that a big huge model, he inherited the worst model he ever had. He CR on LinkedIn. And what he found as soon as he got into the model was they had written a VBA code that every time someone finished the model it automatically forced it to balance. Oh I would say that's kind of the worst
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (19:30):
One as well.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (19:31):
Yeah, anytime you force it to balance, you're just creating problems. If it's a couple dollars, you're a billion dollars. Okay fine. There could be a rounding, very small rounding error, but it needs to balance to where they're a hundred percent outside of an immaterial potential rounding error. Otherwise no.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (19:53):
Yes, exactly. Because it's always something that went wrong either in terms of the calculation or you're not following accounting principles properly somewhere and the balance sheet is there to flag it to you. So
Host: Paul Barnhurst (20:06):
I think you make a great point, right when a balance sheet doesn't balance, I think there's three things that can cause it. The two you mentioned and I think they kind of go together, there's the calculation error there and I think within calculation there can be error if you want to call it, but it's generally, it's almost something. It's model design, whether it's calculation or sign or whatever, it's in your design. And then you mentioned the second one, you're not following accounting and that's the big one. I want to know if someone's made a model error, I need to figure that out and I'm going to be relieved to find that out before it's a problem. But if someone's not following good accounting, it's like, okay, what are they doing in the business? How does that impact operations? They're very different solutions and things you need to understand depending on which one it is. I appreciate that distinction. I think it's a great way to look at it kind of calculation versus, and usually for me, I don't know if it's good or bad, usually it's a calculation error. I would What did you do the first time your balance sheet didn't balance? Have you ever plugged one or did you have to spend hours figuring it out?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (21:06):
It happened to me a couple of times early in my career to be honest with you. And it's just that I have the whole model built and it's just the balance sheet that it's not balancing and most of the time it's a sign error that happens to me and I would usually spend a couple of hours trying to figure out the problem and just ask a colleague to have a third eye view on the financial model and he would come up to me. So it's just a sign error and it just breaks me that someone else balances the model when I have built the whole financial model.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (21:39):
Yeah, no, I hear you. Someone looks at it for five minutes, goes, here's your problem and you're just like, do you know how many hours I spent? Exactly. We've been there. When I was taking the A FMI all done and my balance sheet didn't balance. I was kind of the leader of the next section and fortunately I did the rest of everything in my model, got it all looking pretty, and finished everything. I had enough time. I went back and said, let's see if we can figure it out. And it turned out I just put parentheses in the wrong place on my working capital
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (22:06):
Formula.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (22:07):
So once I found that simple solution, but it took me a good 15 minutes to find it, I'm like, no, I'm running out of time here.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (22:15):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (22:16):
So I've been there.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (22:18):
I have to bounce back on that one. My first financial model for the exam did not balance as well.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (22:23):
Yeah, no. So let's talk a little bit about that. I think it's great, you've taken the advanced financial modeler and what I love is you are willing to share when we talk. You didn't pass the first time, you took it again and you passed. And to me that's the sign of progress and learning. That's what we should all do. I pushed my test out I think four times before I finally took it. So I probably would've been failing a couple times if I hadn't kept pushing it out. So I can relate here, but tell us about your journey. Tell us about the experience of taking the A FM.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (22:52):
So I just got to know about the A FM exam through someone in the financial modelling community and I was really excited. It was really early in my career and I've been trying to build a financial model, trying to learn about financial modelling, but I just said to myself, it's something I'm doing every day. I think I should be able to do it. So I might say overconfident at that time. I don't know, is it not enough practice or going through all the resources might be, but we need to just make sure and focus that the A FM exam is time constricted and four hours sitting down to build a financial model. It's something that you need to practise and it doesn't just come like this if you're building a financial model for a year or two or even three or four years. So what happened to me was maybe I was too overconfident and I did not go through the whole materials that we have on the platform and I just took the exam and as I said, the balance sheet did not balance. I tried to have all the sections that we have in the financial model and I also also going through the horizontal approach, which I learned later that the vertical approach take less time.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (24:08):
I'm the FP&A guy and a passionate financial modeler. When I wanted to improve my modeling skills, I turned to the Financial Modeling Institute. Save 15% on FMI's program with code podcast at http://www.fminstitute.com/podcast.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (24:33):
So that was my lesson to learn actually. And I decided no. So first time failure is not a way to stop. We need to go through it because I know I love financial modelling and I want to go far through into financial modelling. So let's just take our baggage and leave whatever happened behind let's start afresh. What I did was I think it took three months, I started three months before the exam. I went through all the resources, I watched all the videos and we have incredible videos with all the learning lessons, the case studies I went through, all of them practised. Yeah, I changed my approach. I took the vertical approach for building the financial model, which took me less time. I just created new case studies for myself. I went through the whole different scenarios that could happen during the exam. So during the exam I just did the exam and the time and I was able to balance the financial model. Everything was, I would say perfect, but for me it was good. When I had a look back at the exam, I was really proud and when I compared to the first one I said okay, the first one was not good at all. So that was a learning lesson for me
Host: Paul Barnhurst (25:45):
And I love that you looked at it as a learning lesson. One of the favourite quotes I've seen is failure leads to success. It's that idea that if you're not willing to fail, fail, it's really hard to hit great heights. So kudos to you for retaking it. I think that's great. Now we're going to move into some of what I'll call kind of standard questions that I've mixed it up a little bit from before. I've added one. And the first one would love to know, have you tried building a model or building models with these AI agents that can build in Excel for you? Have you played with them at all yet?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (26:18):
Not really, but I have seen a lot of models being built on LinkedIn being shared by a lot of financial models so far. And I was really like, is AI going to take over our job now or can we still do financial modelling? Yeah, I've come across different new formulas in terms, for instance, dynamic arrays, which I've seen doing really great and I've also seen AI trying to build new financial model with the new AI versions. But I would say I haven't got time really to get into those things so far.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (26:52):
Fair enough. Was just kind of curious. It's a question I'm starting to ask everybody because we see all the hype on LinkedIn, there's hype, there's reality, and we're all at different points. Just kind of curious to see where you're at. Would love to know later on if you start playing with them, send me a note, let me know and I'll share on another episode kind of what your take is. I'm starting to ask people next, everybody has one. What's your favourite Excel shortcut? Quite a lot of them,
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (27:18):
But F two. Yeah, just entering the formula bar and exiting it and just correcting things. Yeah, that would be the one that I would use a lot.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (27:28):
That's a great one. F two and escape, right? Trying to avoid F1. Exactly. Any modeler will appreciate and understand that one. So what's the most unique or fun thing you've created? A model or just in Excel? Something in Excel for her in your personal life.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (27:44):
So I actually do budgeting for myself. I try to focus on my budget and try to see where I will be. Am I spending quite a lot of money or should I just hold on the expenses? And it's really useful for personal budgeting.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (28:00):
And do you find yourself pretty good at sticking to your budget? Like you build something and you're like, oh, I was pretty close, or is it one of those going I to get better at following it?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (28:09):
I would say nearly there.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (28:12):
That's good. That's really good. I have to admit I'm terrible at budgeting in my personal life. I do it for work and the bad thing is I'm really good with numbers and keeping a general idea in my head. So I'm generally good at managing to a high level of where I want to be, but, and I know I'd save more if I did a real budget, but that's okay. So again, kudos to you. Alright, now we're going to move into our rapid fire section. So I'm going to explain how this works. I think I have about 10 or 12 questions. We're going to go through 'em in rapid fire successes. So one right after the other. You cannot say it depends. You have to pick a side. So if I had said do you prefer vertical or horizontal models? You got to pick one. And then when we're all done, if you want to elaborate on one or two answers that are most important to you, you can. So the whole idea is just to kind of quickly go through these. You ready? Alright. Circular references in models. Yes or no, VBA, yes or no? Do you prefer a horizontal or vertical model layout? Vertical.
(29:18):
I figured after our conversation. What about dynamic raisin models? Should we be using 'em yes or no?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (29:25):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (29:26):
What about Foley Dynamic array models?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (29:29):
I would say no.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (29:31):
Okay. That's not uncommon. How about this one? External workbook links? Yes or no? No. A big no. Alright. Named ranges, yes or no?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (29:42):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (29:42):
And then we already know you loosely use formal standards, so I'll skip that one. Do you think financial modelers should learn Python in Excel? Not really. No? Okay. What about power query?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (29:53):
Yes.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (29:53):
How about power bi? Yes. Okay. Will Excel ever die?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (30:00):
No.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (30:03):
Alright. So this is a fun one. Do you believe financial models are the number one corporate decision making tool? Yes. Okay. And then what's your lookup function of choice? What's your favourite lookup function Index. Match index. XM match or index match. Index match. Alright, got it. And then is there one or two of those you want to elaborate on? Because I know there's always some nuance.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (30:27):
Yes already about the vertical approach. I said it's easier and in terms of presentation, especially for the A FM exam, it's really good in terms of the VBA, I would say since I'm into project finance and usually the interest does create a circular reference, so I would not leave into iterative mode on an Excel there. I would use A VBA macro instead.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (30:50):
I like you said, on the vertical and horizontally, I used to always be big horizontal modeler, but I did fp and a where you were often modelling 30 cost centres and each call centre had the same P and l. So they'd go all go on a different sheet. And then when I saved for the A FM and built just a basic three statement model, without that level of detail I'm like, oh, this is much easier to link if I do it all on one page. Exactly. I totally all of a sudden understood vertical. So I like to say if I'm doing a cost centre type model, I'm still going to be mostly horizontal if I'm building something that's more of a three statement where very clear schedules and really defined vertical is just much easier.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (31:25):
Yes, I would agree on that.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (31:28):
I think we're of a similar mind there. It took me a while once I built a three because I didn't build a three statement my entire career being in fp and a, it was all p and f cost centre and different things like that. And sometimes just some key assumptions. So funny how different modelling can be depending on your job.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (31:43):
Yes, that's true.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (31:44):
So alright, well we head toward wrapping up here. Any final advice you could give? If you could give our audience one piece of advice to help them be a better modeler, what would your advice be?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (31:56):
My advice would be don't have to stress yourself. You won't learn everything at the really beginning and it's not a polished model that you would build at your first go. It's always about the learning curve. You need to take it bits by bits and every model that you build or you create will be a beautiful piece of art for yourself. Just enjoy the journey and just learn through it.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (32:18):
Great advice there. Enjoy the journey, learn through it and realise, as I like to say, some of your models are not going to be very good. You'll get back time. I like to call 'em. You'll build a few Franken models. That's
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (32:29):
True.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (32:30):
So I think that's really good advice. Sometimes we're so hard on ourselves and we want to be perfect from the beginning, but it takes practise.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (32:36):
Exactly.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (32:37):
If our audience wants to learn more about you or maybe get in touch, what's the best way for them to go about doing that?
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (32:43):
They can just find me on LinkedIn. So my LinkedIn, it's that's it. Fun things I do or interesting things that I find from other community members, I just share on my LinkedIn page and everyone can just join the community and learn together.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (32:59):
Awesome. Well thank you and I would encourage people to check out Karishma on LinkedIn and thank you for carving out some time for me, especially during your summer Mauritius. I hope you get to go out and have some fun and enjoy the weather out there and I'll be jealous as I'm bundling up when I go.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (33:16):
Yeah. Thank you very much Paul and I hope you have a good winter as well.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:22):
You have a good summer and thanks so much for joining us.
Guest: Karishma Ramnawaj (33:25):
Thank you. Bye bye.
Host: Paul Barnhurst (33:29):
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 www.FMInstitute.com/podcast and use Code Podcast to save 15% when you enroll in one of the accreditations today.