Excel Skills for Finance and Banking Professionals

The financial functions you must know

PMT — loan payment calculation

=PMT(rate/12, nper, -pv)
=PMT(0.06/12, 60, -25000)
-- Monthly payment on a $25,000 loan at 6% over 5 years

NPV — net present value

=NPV(discount_rate, cash_flow_range) + initial_investment
-- Initial investment added separately (it's period 0, not discounted)

IRR — internal rate of return

=IRR(values_including_initial_investment)
-- First value must be negative (the initial outflow)

Financial ratios

Profit Margin    = Net Profit / Revenue
ROE              = Net Income / Shareholders Equity
Debt-to-Equity   = Total Debt / Total Equity
Current Ratio    = Current Assets / Current Liabilities
CAGR             = (End Value / Start Value)^(1/Years) - 1

Financial modelling best practices

Separate inputs (assumptions) from calculations — never hardcode numbers inside formulas
Use consistent colour coding: blue for inputs, black for formulas, green for outputs
Build checks — total assets should equal total liabilities + equity
Name your ranges — =Revenue * GrossMargin is clearer than =B5 * C12

💡 The Excel skill that gets you hired in banking

Speed and accuracy under pressure. Banks test Excel in timed assessments. Know your keyboard shortcuts, know your financial functions, and practice building models from scratch regularly.

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Excel skills for financeand banking professionals