The guiding themes of Mazars Financial Modelling

A foundation for world-class financial models

Accessible [1/6] | Mazars Financial Modelling

Excel can be readily understood by an interested party if presented clearly and structured in a human-readable format.  The Mazars financial modelling standard aims to design models that can be used, read and understood by the end user, including the details of...

Responsive [2/6] | Mazars Financial Modelling

We expect our models to be used live and support dynamic situations such as transactions, presentations and decision making.  Use the right functions and functionality to keep the model nimble and structure to give fast feedback to the user. Keep inputs...

Tailored [3/6] | Mazars Financial Modelling

You can’t build a model based on a short description – empathy is needed.  Make the model resonate with the end user through understanding their needs and experience.  Beautiful summaries and dashboards Flexible assumptions User guide Group assumptions together by theme or user Use Excel functionality...

Keep it simple [4/6] | Mazars Financial Modelling

A model should do what is required of it and no more.  Additional complexity and functionality just creates clutter that interferes with the user experience.  Design the model to do what is required using the least functionality possible. Keep formulae concise Do not...

Get it right [5/6] | Mazars Financial Modelling

A model is never right but is sometimes useful.  However, models can certainly be wrong and our techniques help to ensure models are as close to the truth as possible and communicate problems clearly and as soon as they arise.  Consistent rows No hardcoding No circular...

Allow for change [6/6] | Mazars Financial Modelling

A great strength and curse of Excel is that it is easy to change, not just by specialist developers but also by any interested parties.  Times and circumstances change.  Rather than second-guess the future in our models with excessive optionality...