Financial Modeling [Hardcover]

Simon Benninga (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0262026287 | ISBN-13: 978-0262026284 | Edition: third edition

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 "cookbook" 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: "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." --Ed McCarthy, Ticker Magazine "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." --Paul Dentskevitch, Risk Magazine "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." --Edward Weiss, Journal of Computational Intelligence in Finance "Financial Modeling belongs on the desk of every finance professional. Its no-nonsense, hands-on approach makes it an indispensable tool." --Hal R. Varian, Dean, School of Information Management and Systems, University of California, Berkeley "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 book--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." --Vikas Nath, Global Strategist, Emerging Equity Markets, Union Bank of Switzerland, London

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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."--Richard W. Roll, Professor of Management, and Japan Alumni Chair in International Finance

The third edition of this standard text retains the popular "cookbook" 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.

"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."--Robert A. Taggart, Professor of Finance, Carroll School of Management, Boston College

(Robert Taggert )

"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."--George Constantinides, Leo Melamed Professor of Finance, The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

(George M. Constantinides )

For the 2nd Edition: "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." Ed McCarthy Ticker Magazine

For the 2nd Edition: "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." Paul Dentskevitch Risk Magazine

For the 2nd Edition: " Financial Modeling belongs on the desk of every finance professional. Its no-nonsense, hands-on approach makes it an indispensable tool."Hal R. Varian , Dean, School of Information Management and Systems, University of California, Berkeley

For the 2nd Edition: "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 book -- 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."Vikas Nath , Global Strategist, Emerging Equity Markets, Union Bank of Switzerland, London

"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."Robert A. Taggart , Professor of Finance, Carroll School of Management, Boston College

About the Author

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

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 1168 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; third edition edition (January 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262026287
• ISBN-13: 978-0262026284
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Business & Investing > Finance
  • #38 in Books > Computers & Technology > Software
  • #66 in Books > Business & Investing > Economics

More About the Author

I am a professor of finance at Tel Aviv University and visiting professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In the last 20 years I have written a series of books on financial modeling.

My current books are Financial Modeling (3rd edition, MIT Press, 2008) and Principles of Finance with Excel (2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2010). Both books integrate Excel with financial problems. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of Excel for anyone doing finance, whether student or practitioner, but for some reason most finance books either ignore Excel completely or do not instruct the reader in the nuts-and-bolts of Excel implementation of finance problems. Hence my books.

Of the two currently in-print books, Financial Modeling is a more advanced modeling/finance book that includes VBA and some more advanced mathematics (all explained within the confines of the text). FM has become perhaps the standard financial modeling book at universities and among practitioners. It has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Russian.

Principles of Finance with Excel is an introductory text that covers the standard concepts of a "Principles" or "Introductory" finance book while maintaining the integration with Excel. PFE is gaining increasing adoption at universities in introductory finance courses.

I maintain a full website at http://simonbenninga.com that includes materials for instructors using my books in courses.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the single most useful book for finance students and professionals ever published, February 20, 2008

By 

Bachelier ""1004"" (Ile de France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Financial Modeling (Hardcover)

Simon Benninga's 3rd Edition of Financial Modelling with Excel is the single most useful book for finance students and professionals ever published and continues to offer an outstanding reference and textbook for students and practitioners of applied finance.

For further information, please use the "Look Inside" feature and examine the Table of Contents carefully, because I will emphasize selected portions.

It is difficult to overstate how useful and practical and helpful this work is for a wide audience and Financial Modelling is the single finance book I recommend for everyone after they have taken (or read themselves) Introductory Finance.

For those looking for "one-stop-shopping" for models that resemble those of professional financial analysts then there is no better value than Benninga's FM3.

Benninga's FM3 is a coal-face work for those who must make financial decisions using models. There are further specialist texts in topics covered here (credit modelling, portfolio construction, option pricing), but the models in FM3 are the first advanced models applied to loans, bonds, options, and equity portfolios. Master these and then specialized texts are easier to digest.

"Cookbook" metaphors are too strong and do not do this work justice, for Financial Modelling 3rd (FM3) is not a mere collection of recipes but rather topical introduction, explanation, and then direct technique.

If we can make a comparison with a "cookbook" then FM3 falls somewhere between "The Joy of Cooking" and "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." "Joy" combines chapters on technique, ingredients, and tools with dense pages of endless recipes, whereas "Mastering" emphasises technique and a few well-selected recipes.

The welcome new chapters cover bank valuation, the Black-Litterman approach to portfolio optimization, and Monte Carlo methods and applications to option pricing, and the previous 2nd edition's small chapter on using array functions and formulas has been expanded. The chapter on data downloads from YAHOO is also welcome, especially for those on a budget.

There is a single significant flaw in the work, which is excusable and redeemable. Far too often the discounting in the chapters is done over a flat interest rate curve. While the term structure of interest rates is covered, and historical term structures and parallel shifts and steepening and flattening is covered in isolation in a thorough chapter and with wonderful data files, the necessity and explicit connection of discounting from an appropriate yield curve is left implied and only mentioned in a few exercises. I would have preferred a "round up" chapter where each of the subjects treated (bond discounting, portfolio expected returns, options, etc.) under a yield curve with advanced models. Sure BLOOMBERG and REUTERS have these sort of things (often incorrectly) programmed, but students need to learn explicitly about them and do the exercise themselves to comprehend the importance of curve discounting.

The CD attached in the back of the book is alone worth the price, with over two score of models that are practical and adaptable for students and professionals alike. The files are stored and separated according to chapters and subject matter. Each file has logical progression of the concepts advanced in the book, and each separate sheet either stands alone or appropriately links to data and models on other sheets, so editing for your own purposes is a breeze.

For those who want to train themselves in Finance (not "personal finance") then I suggest reading Copeland, Weston, & Shastri's Financial Theory and Corporate Policy (4th Edition) and Brealey, Myers, and Marcus's "Corporate Finance" and "Investments" followed by working through FM3. Such a course would give any self-disciplined person the equivalent of a Masters of Science in Finance.

Full disclosure: I am thanked in the "Acknowledgements" for providing a few helpful comments on the second edition.

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick Tip, April 12, 2008

By 

SelfTraining - See all my reviews

This review is from: Financial Modeling (Hardcover)

Rather then comment extensively on the content of the book (as others have done rather well), I felt like I would pass this tip (which I wish I had known to prevent frustration). I feel that anyone without a working knowledge of Visual Basic, and manuevering around Excel should obtain the skill set with the well written technical sections. I would suggest starting with part VI introduction to Visual Basic (chapters 36-41) then moving on to Technical Consideration (chapters 29-35) and THEN moving onto the substantial matter of the first 4 parts. This will help keep you from getting frustrated while interacting with the software and allow you to focus on the concepts. Again this is only for individuals without a working knowledge of the platforms, if you do possess those skills then the above recommendation is a moot point.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superlative treatment of finance, February 15, 2008

By 

A. Ali "Harkonnen" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Financial Modeling (Hardcover)

This book is nonpareil: there's nothing presently on the market that can compare in coverage, lucidity, and pedagogical skill. This is a must-have for both MBA and MFE students. For portfolio theory, option theory, and the use of (naive) Monte Carlo methods for pricing exotic options, this book should be the first port of call. Also included in portfolio theory is an intelligible treatment of the Black-Litterman model -- the first I've seen that's clear to understand -- given with spreadsheet models (this alone justifies the price of the book). Eveything is done using Excel, and the last 300+ pages give a clear exposition of various features of this spreadsheet program, including macros and VBA.