Corporate Business Alliance

CBA-FMA · Study material

Contents

The complete contents of the CBA Certified Financial Modelling & Analysis with AI study material: every chapter and lesson, the reading time of each, and where the assessed workbooks fall. One lesson is open to read in full.

Lessons

63

Reading time

3 hours

Workbooks

17

Words

37,900

These figures are counted from the material itself. The reading time assumes a steady pace and no re-reading, and does not include the time spent building the workbooks.

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Read a complete lesson

Formatting, sign conventions, units and period labelling, from Model Design and Spreadsheet Craft, as a candidate reads it, slides included.

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Contents

6 chapters, 63 lessons. Lessons marked workbook carry a spreadsheet you build and submit, marked against the published tolerance. The award requires 6 of the 17 completed to that tolerance.

Introduction

1 lesson · 2 min

  1. CBA-FMA Study Guide2 min

01Model Design and Spreadsheet Craft

13 lessons · 39 min

  1. What this chapter covers2 min
  2. Purpose-driven scoping: decision, audience, horizon and granularity2 min
  3. Workbook architecture: inputs, calculations, outputs and the timelineworkbook4 min
  4. Formatting, sign conventions, units and period labellingFree3 min
  5. Core functions that survive changeworkbook6 min
  6. Referencing, named ranges and consistent row logic2 min
  7. Common formula defects3 min
  8. Error values and systematic fault-finding5 min
  9. Check systems: balance checks, flags, master checks and alertsworkbook4 min
  10. Assumption documentation, sourcing and version discipline2 min
  11. Protecting and sharing models: cell protection, comments and handover2 min
  12. Common pitfalls2 min
  13. Chapter summary2 min

02Three-Statement Model Construction

13 lessons · 35 min

  1. What this chapter covers2 min
  2. The statement linkage map3 min
  3. Building the income statement: revenue and cost driversworkbook3 min
  4. Working capital schedules: days and turnover driversworkbook4 min
  5. Fixed assets, depreciation and capex3 min
  6. Debt schedules: drawdowns, repayments and interestworkbook3 min
  7. Equity, dividends and retained earnings2 min
  8. The indirect cash flow statement: closing the loopworkbook3 min
  9. Cash sweeps and revolvers: an introduction2 min
  10. Circularity: origins and treatments3 min
  11. Balance sheet debugging: a diagnostic sequence3 min
  12. Common pitfalls2 min
  13. Chapter summary2 min

03Forecasting and Scenario Analysis

14 lessons · 34 min

  1. What this chapter covers2 min
  2. Choosing forecast drivers: the driver hierarchy3 min
  3. Growth mechanics: compounding, CAGR and run-rates3 min
  4. Cost behaviour: fixed, variable and stepped costsworkbook3 min
  5. Simple statistical support: moving averages, trendlines and regression2 min
  6. Scenarios versus sensitivities: two different questions2 min
  7. Scenario architecture: assumption blocks, switches and CHOOSE/INDEXworkbook3 min
  8. Sensitivity tools: data tables and tornado rankingworkbook4 min
  9. Sanity checks: testing the forecast against reality2 min
  10. Forecast honesty: anchoring, hockey sticks and spurious precision2 min
  11. Rolling forecasts and variance analysis2 min
  12. Documenting assumption provenance2 min
  13. Common pitfalls2 min
  14. Chapter summary2 min

04Valuation and Investment Appraisal

12 lessons · 39 min

  1. What this chapter covers2 min
  2. Free cash flow: the raw material of valuationworkbook5 min
  3. Time value of money: discounting, NPV and IRR4 min
  4. Investment appraisal decisions: when NPV and IRR disagreeworkbook2 min
  5. The cost of capital: assembling a WACC4 min
  6. Terminal value: the price of everything beyond the forecast3 min
  7. Assembling the DCF: Halcyon Beverages valued2 min
  8. From enterprise value to equity value: the bridgeworkbook2 min
  9. Trading multiples: valuation by comparison6 min
  10. Sensitivity, valuation ranges and triangulationworkbook4 min
  11. Common pitfalls3 min
  12. Chapter summary2 min

05AI-Assisted Modelling, Audit and Assurance

10 lessons · 34 min

  1. What this chapter covers2 min
  2. Where AI helps, and where judgement must lead3 min
  3. The craft of task specification5 min
  4. Iterative refinement: decomposing the buildworkbook4 min
  5. AI failure modes: how assistants get it wrong4 min
  6. Verification discipline: the workflow for any AI-assisted outputworkbook5 min
  7. AI as a model auditorworkbook3 min
  8. Confidentiality, data protection and governance4 min
  9. Common pitfalls2 min
  10. Chapter summary2 min

What the material is

The study material is written to the discipline’s domains and learning objectives, chapter by chapter, with worked examples and unscored checks in the lessons and assessed workbooks where the level requires applied work. It does not contain a bank of practice questions matching the examination; the specimen paper shows the style and standard of the examination, with a written rationale for every option.

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