Mickael Maciel

Microsoft just released Agent Mode in Excel. It created a financial model in minutes: Agent Mode is Excel's answer to agentic AI. Instead of manually building spreadsheets, you describe what you want and watch it build in real-time. What makes it different: → Multi-step reasoning through complex tasks → Direct editing of your workbook (no copy/paste) → Uses native Excel features (tables, PivotTables, formulas) → Iterates and fixes mistakes autonomously → Shows its thinking process as it works Real-world examples: • Financial models: DCF analysis with sensitivity tables • Budget trackers: Monthly household budgets with conditional formatting • Loan calculators: Complete amortisation schedules from simple inputs • Annual reports: Multi-sheet financial close reports with charts How it works: 1. Describe your desired outcome in natural language 2. Agent Mode reasons through the task and creates a plan 3. It executes directly in your workbook—live edits you can see 4. Reviews results, iterates, and refines until complete 5. Everything stays editable using Excel's standard tools Availability: → Excel for web via Excel Labs add-in → Requires Microsoft 365 Copilot or Personal/Family subscription → English only for now (more languages coming) → Part of Microsoft's Frontier early access program My takeaway: This took ~10 minutes to build a working DCF model with sensitivity analysis. I love how it reasons through problems and self-corrects along the way. This is what true end-to-end workflows look like—and it's the worst it'll ever be. Now imagine: web search → pull 10-K data → create model → generate insights. All autonomous. All in minutes. The barriers to financial modelling have never been lower. Excel will never be the same. Follow me Alex Banks for daily AI highlights and insights. I cover the most important AI developments each week in my newsletter. Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/ePSZP6KF

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Hello to the new COPILOT function in Excel. This is going to change the way we use Excel and FP&A modeling in a major way. Here's some of what to expect: (1) Generating Summaries: COPILOT will examine large data sets and summarize them into clear, concise narratives. It will help you identify trends that you may not have spotted otherwise. (2) Creating lists and dynamic tables: The COPILOT function can create lists and dynamic data tables that can drive financial models. While Power Query is still a go-to option for connecting Excel to back-end data, this offers a new way to tee up financials for use in forecasting and analysis. (3) Classifying data: You can use COPILOT as a function to categorize non-financial data such as written feedback or survey responses into useable formats. This allows seamless work within Excel, instead of needing to leave the software or use half-baked add-ins that don’t work very well. Suggestions for getting the most from the Excel COPILOT function: (A) Be concise: Like with any generative AI tool, how you write your prompts makes a huge difference. Be objective, be clear, and be contextual. The better your instructions, the better your outputs. Treat Copilot like it's a child who may not know what you're talking about. We're not yet at a stage where Copilot can read our minds and our work habits. (B) Be direct: Use instructions like "rank" or "summarize" or "categorize" to instruct COPILOT to perform those commands. Being vague is not a good strategy for getting the most from the tool. (C) Be easy to work with: COPILOT (the function) only uses data available within the LLM itself. If you need the COPILOT function to analyze workbook data, first import that data into your file before referencing it. Like with any AI-generated results, especially in finance, outputs should be reviewed and validated for accuracy. These are great tools, but they aren't fool-proof. -------------------- When I developed the first Copilot in Excel for FP&A course for LinkedIn Learning, I knew that it was only the beginning of AI-powered FP&A within the most widely-used finance tool on the planet. It's been interesting witnessing the development and rollout of this tool. Now we get to see one small step with a function but a giant leap forward for capability.

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Advanced Excel Features 📈 🔗 Download a free high-resolution PDF (link in the picture)! 1️⃣ Power Query Description: Power Query is a data connection technology that enables you to discover, connect, combine, and refine data across a wide variety of sources. It automates the process of importing and cleaning data. Use-Case: A financial analyst uses Power Query to automatically pull daily stock market data from various websites and combine it into a single report, saving hours of manual data entry and cleaning. 2️⃣ Power Pivot Description: Power Pivot allows for the creation of complex data models by enabling users to import large datasets from various sources, establish relationships between them, and create sophisticated calculations using DAX (Data Analysis Expressions). Use-Case: A sales manager uses Power Pivot to integrate sales data from different regions, perform complex calculations on profit margins, and create interactive dashboards to analyze sales performance. 3️⃣ Dynamic Arrays Description: Dynamic Arrays allow formulas to return multiple results to a range of cells automatically. Functions like FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, SEQUENCE, and RANDARRAY are part of this feature. Use-Case: An HR professional uses the UNIQUE function to automatically list all distinct employee names from a large dataset, eliminating duplicates without manual sorting. 4️⃣ XLOOKUP Description: XLOOKUP is a more powerful and flexible replacement for VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and INDEX-MATCH, allowing for searches in any direction, exact matches, and more. Use-Case: An inventory manager uses XLOOKUP to match product IDs with their respective stock levels across multiple sheets, ensuring accurate restocking decisions. 5️⃣ Power BI Integration Description: Power BI integration with Excel allows users to publish their Excel data models to Power BI, enabling advanced data analysis and visualization in Power BI's interactive environment. Use-Case: A marketing analyst publishes Excel campaign data to Power BI, where they can create interactive dashboards and share them with the marketing team to track campaign performance in real time. 6️⃣ VBA and Macros Description: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and Macros allow users to automate repetitive tasks, create custom functions, and develop interactive applications within Excel. Use-Case: An accountant writes a VBA macro to automate the preparation of monthly financial statements, reducing a task that previously took hours to just a few minutes. Read the rest in the picture down below! ⬇️ Save this post and follow Financial Modeling World Cup for daily finance & Excel content! ✅

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#ExcelTutorial | It’s Excel’s 40th birthday so I’m back with another video celebrating two landmark features: Data Validation (1997) and Partial Matching (2002). Data Validation allows us to control cell inputs by only allowing users to enter valid values. It helps keep your spreadsheets error free and should definitely be included as part of a wider best practice framework for designing better spreadsheets. Partial Matching allows us to essentially search our Data Validation drop-down list. Check out both features in this short video and don’t forget to JOIN US on September 30th to celebrate all things Excel! 🥳🎉 #excel40 #excel #microsoftambassador

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Use Excel? You're going to love this trick 👇 ✔️ Turn your hardcodes blue... 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮. 📃 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀: Open a new spreadsheet. Highlight the entire sheet (top-left corner). Then go to: ▪️ Home > ▪️ Conditional Formatting > ▪️ Highlight Cells Rules > ▪️ More Rules > ▪️ Use a formula to determine which cells to format > ▪️ Then, 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆/𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮: =and(isblank(A1)=FALSE,isformula(A1)=FALSE,istext(A1)=FALSE) ▪️ Then, hit the Format button > ▪️ Format it so the font turns blue (or whatever color you'd like) > ▪️ Click OK and go back to your spreadsheet. ~~~ 📍𝘱.𝘴. 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯: https://lnkd.in/e4PEhWM4 ~~~ 🔨 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝟭: Okay now... Type in a number, say 1,000. Did it turn blue automatically? 🔨 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝟮: Now, type your name. Did the font stay black? 🔨 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝟯: Now, create a formula. Did the font stay black also? If so, it's working! ✔️ 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁: Now all the hardcodes in your sheet will turn blue AUTOMATICALLY. No need to remember. This is a HUGE help for financial modelers. It helps us keep our files clean. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Is it perfect? No. But, a nice helpful tidbit to know. 🛑🛑 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝘆... 🛑🛑 🛑 "𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿!" This is 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦, so be mindful when selecting your range. (perhaps just pick the active range on the tab, not the entire sheet) With that said, I've had very few performance issues with this in the past. (unless it's in Google Sheets -- that thing loves to slow down). 🛑 "𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗚𝗼 𝗧𝗼 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹!" (Select Constants > Format Blue) This is my preferred approach, actually, but you have to 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 to do it. That's the only potential issue (you forgetting). So that's where automating it can be helpful. So big picture... just give it a 𝘵𝘳𝘺. ↳ Maybe you love it. ↳ Maybe you hate it. ↳ All good either way 👍. 💡 𝗕𝘁𝘄... Excel is super cool, but it's not everything. If you want to turn spreadsheet skills into 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, you need to understand financial modeling. I can teach you here 👉 https://bit.ly/FMECourses

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In the YouTube video, we showed how to price European Option using Binomial Tree in Excel 📊📊 👉 One of the most intuitive ways to understand option pricing is through the Binomial Tree model. ➡️ In this approach, we model the possible paths of the underlying asset’s price by assuming that in each time step, the price can either move up (u) or move down (d). ➡️ For a European option, which can only be exercised at maturity, we build the tree forward to generate possible asset prices, and then work backwards to calculate the option value. ➡️ At maturity, the option payoff is known (max(S-K,0) for a call; max(K-S,0) for a put). Moving backward, we discount the expected value of the option under the risk-neutral measure at each node. ➡️ The beauty of this model is that as the number of time steps increases, the Binomial Tree converges to the Black-Scholes price, bridging discrete-time intuition with continuous-time finance. 👉 In simple words: the Binomial Tree helps us understand option pricing step by step, like climbing down a ladder — from possible future prices to today’s fair value. YouTube Link 📊📊 https://lnkd.in/eTwWPYut To enroll in the Quant Bootcamp, click on the link below 📊📊 https://lnkd.in/gUD9iJwV

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Inventory is one of the trickiest items to project in financial models — but there are proven methods you can use. 📥 Download the Excel model here: https://lnkd.in/eBas4SCJ Here are three approaches to project inventories: 🔹 1. Scenario-Based Approach 👉 Uses Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) to estimate future inventory levels. 👉 Incorporates scenario analysis (e.g., changes in DIO by +/- 5% or 10%) to assess impact on cash flow. Best for: Sensitivity analysis and understanding how inventory changes affect liquidity. 🔹 2. Component-Based Approach 👉 Breaks down inventory into Raw Materials, Work in Progress (WIP), and Finished Goods. 👉 Uses Days on Hand for each component to estimate total inventory. Best for: Businesses with complex supply chains and manufacturing operations. 🔹 3. Roll-Forward Method (ideal for short-term forecasting) 👉 Tracks beginning balance, purchases, COGS, and write-offs over time. 👉 Helps reconcile with financial statements and adjust for write-downs. Best for: Retail and industries with detailed inventory tracking needs. P.S. Solid modeling skills are the foundation of every finance career.  👉 Get my Financial Modeling Course and sharpen your toolkit. https://lnkd.in/dpi_5gAa  👉 Then take it further — join the AI Learning Platform to see how modeling evolves with AI. https://bojanfin.com/  See you soon.

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Financial Modeling Tip: How to avoid using long formulas Instead of using long complex formulas, link and repeat. This improves readability, reduces errors, and makes collaboration easier. Learn how in this video. Do you use this approach in your models? Let us know in the comments! #FinancialModeling #ExcelTips #Productivity #FinanceSkills

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