FMVA® Electives

As part of the FMVA® program certification requirements, students need to complete at least 3 elective courses.  (Students can choose which elective courses to complete, and may take more than 3 at no additional cost.)

Students taking the elective course(s) are expected to have either completed the recommended prep course(s)* or possess the equivalent knowledge before enrollment:

Elective Courses

Advanced Excel Formulas

This course is designed specifically for spreadsheet users who are already proficient and looking to take their skills to an advanced level. This advanced tutorial will help students become world-class financial analysts for careers in investment banking, private equity, corporate development, equity research, and FP&A.

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 6.5 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Excel Crash Course
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Scenario & Sensitivity Analysis

See additional information on the Advanced Excel Formulas course here.

Real Estate Financial Modeling

This Excel-based real estate financial modeling course is designed for development professionals, lending/banking analysts, surveyors, and anyone interested in mastering the art of building Real Estate Development Models from scratch. 

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 6.5 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on the Real Estate Financial Modeling course here.

Startup / e-Commerce Financial Model & Valuation

Learn to build a startup financial model from scratch complete with assumptions, financials, valuation, and output charts by looking at how much money a business has to raise based on its business plan and modeling out each year of cash flow.

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 6.5 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on Startup / e-Commerce Financial Model & Valuation course here.

Mining Valuation & Financial Model

Work through a case study of a real mining valuation for an asset by pulling information from the Feasibility Study, inputting it into Excel, building a forecast, and valuing the asset in this course.

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 5.0 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on Mining Valuation & Financial Model course here.

Renewable Energy Modeling

This course covers the most critical concepts in evaluating a renewable energy project by guiding through a case study on a solar energy project. 

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 6.5 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Excel Crash Course
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on Renewable Energy - Solar Financial Modeling course here.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Modeling

This course is designed for professionals working in investment banking, corporate development, private equity, and other areas of corporate finance that deal with analyzing M&A transactions.

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 8.0 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Excel Crash Course
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Modeling course here.

Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Modeling

This advanced class covers how to set up and build an LBO model step-by-step including assumptions, financing, forecast income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, debt schedule, DCF, IRR, sensitivity analysis, error checks, all formulas, functions, and formatting.

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 11.0 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Excel Crash Course
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Modeling course here.

Corporate & Business Strategy

This course covers the most important terminologies, theories, concepts, and frameworks on strategy and is designed to guide through a comprehensive strategic analysis process, and demonstrate the application of theories in real-world business situations.

Difficulty: Advanced Level
Duration: Approx. 7.5 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  Introduction to Corporate Finance 
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on the Corporate and Business Strategy course here.

Excel VBA for Finance

This course will teach the fundamentals of Excel VBA and is perfect for finance professionals who are comfortable with Excel and want to expand their knowledge. The course starts with the basics by teaching how to set up the VBA environment, when and why to use VBA, and how to build custom formulas. 

Difficulty: Beginner Level
Duration: Approx. 7.5 hours to complete
*Recommended Prep course(s):
      ‣  N/A

See additional information on the Excel VBA for Finance course here.

Amazon Case Study (New Edition)

This course is built on a case study of Amazon, where students are tasked with building financial modeling and performing comparable company analyses to value AMZN shares. 

Difficulty: Intermediate Level 
Duration: Approx. 13 hours to complete 
*Recommended Prep course(s): 
      ‣  Excel Crash Course
      ‣  Building a 3-Statement Financial Model 
      ‣  Business Valuation Modeling

See additional information on the Amazon Case Study course here.

Operational Modeling 

Financial models play a critical role in supporting business decisions. Learning to model the right way using a proven framework will help you become a more effective financial analyst.

Difficulty: Intermediate Level 

Duration: Approx. 8 hours to complete 

*Recommended Prep course(s): 

  1. Accounting Fundamentals
  2. Reading Financial Statements
  3. Excel Crash Course

See additional information on the Operational Modeling course here.