This section offers detailed guidance on entering assumptions into the various sheets. Any currency symbols and denominations are for illustrative purposes only.

Excel-Financial-Model contains many variables and features that may not be required by all users. These can be left blank or filled with zero values. The entry of assumptions for the opening balance is entirely optional and only makes sense for existing companies with historical data.

Note: Assumptions should be entered only in dedicated, specially formatted input cells (cell style “Input” or “Input_perm”).

Where possible, Excel's data validation option has been used to prevent data input errors and avoid miscalculations. Some cells have a drop down arrow to select from a list of options. In other cases there are error (stop) alerts when entering invalid data, indicating which inputs are acceptable (only negative numbers, only integers between 1 and 12, etc.).

The following sections give guidance on entering some important and critical assumptions (self-explanatory assumptions are not covered here) as well as background information where helpful. The sections cover each sheet in the recommended processing order (as described in chapter "Overview and Familiarization").