Cohort 3 (Aug 2023)

Finance professionals handling planning, analysis, reporting, and financial operations.

Applying AI tools and techniques to professional workflows — assign alongside more specific AI topics.

Automating professional workflows with AI tools — productivity, operations, and task automation.

Using Claude Code to build and ship software through an AI-powered command-line coding workflow.

Turn the manual FP&A grind into automated, updatable workflows and become the analyst who makes AI actually work for the team.


FP&A Advisor | Microsoft MVP in Excel

Hostess Brands

Chomps

Hormel Foods

Crawford & Company

Telus

Carl Seidman

The person Fortune 500s use for their financial leadership development programs

Claude, Copilot, and Dynamic Excel for Finance

📊 Excel is the most widely-used financial tool on the planet. Master it for finance, accounting, forecasting, analysis, and everyday use.


PULSE Network

TELUS

Sometimes your work takes you longer than you feel it should. Or you build your work files in inefficient ways. They break or take far too long to update. You're frustrated. You go online to search for answers. YouTube is overwhelming. A self-study course or two are helpful, but you don't find the answers you're looking for. You know "there's got to be a better way". Well...there is. Dynamic Excel for Finance will teach and show you how. It cuts to the core of how to use this magical tool for finance, financial planning &amp; analysis (FP&amp;A), management consulting, and every day use. -------------------- What you'll learn will make a massive difference in your everyday work to: ✅ Save time✅ Minimize your rework✅ Eliminate your mistakes✅ Be spotlighted by your Directors✅ Land better opportunities, and✅ Get the promotions you deserve Many Excel training programs are taught by Excel practitioners without finance backgrounds, professors without real-life experience, or investment bankers with a focus primarily in financial modeling. They aren't taught by an actual practitioner who's trained thousands of people at the companies you know and engage with every day... But this one is. Taught by a finance practitioner with 2 decades of Excel experience in a wide range of financial applications, Dynamic Excel for Finance will teach you the most effective and efficient ways to use Excel for your work. It will teach you dynamic Excel modeling that can be used in broader financial modeling to save you an astounding amount of time and frustration. And it's CPE-accredited by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). Excel is used by more than 750 million people. It has nearly 500 functions. You can't possibly learn it all. But there's good news -- you don't have to. You have an entire career ahead of you.Don't leave it to others to create it for you.The time to elevate and accelerate is now. --------------------Seidman Financial is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.NASBARegistry.org. Seidman Financial is a division of Seidman Global LLC.

This experiential learning program is so much more than an Excel training.

People who want to advance well beyond the basics, learning techniques that are known and unknown to most financial professionals.

Anyone who uses Excel for finance, including: financial analysts, managers, accountants, Controllers, investment bankers, and others.

Professionals who are looking to upskill in Excel to save time, eliminate mistakes, minimize rework, and be seen as the go-to on projects.

Entry-level, mid-career, and senior-level finance and accounting professionals who work in a corporate environment or client service.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

Many finance professionals think they follow best practices. But in reality, most don't -- they take shortcuts to get to the finish line. But shortcuts in Excel lead to confusion, poor audibility, and inefficiency. You'll learn how to build work files that don't.

Excel Best Practices

One of the greatest challenges and frustrations Excel users face is dealing with ever-changing sets of data, dates, refreshes, and formula updates. You'll learn astounding mechanical approaches that will shave off hours, days, or weeks of your time.

Working with complex, changing, and large data

When you know what you're doing, and can arrive at your final results through a multitude of different approaches, you win. But so do others on your team. You'll develop expertise that will build your own confidence as well as the confidence others may have in you.

You'll increase your competence and confidence and become a go-to person others look to for guidance

There's a wide gap between finance professionals who know the basics and those who can make their work files really dance. It often comes down to proactivity and dynamics. You'll learn how to use: CHOOSE, OFFSET, INDIRECT, SPILL, SEQUENCE, FILTER, UNIQUE, SORT, SORTBY

Discover how to utilize dynamic and other advanced functionality

To develop good forecasts, that are easy to update, and clear to interpret, you'll need to master the most common and unique functions for dates, time, and math. You'll learn: EOMONTH, YEARFRAC, NETWORKDAYS, DATE, DAY, MONTH, YEAR, MIN, MAX, AVERAGE

Master the MATH and DATES functions

Excel for finance is more than basic functionality. It requires integration and management of large or changing sets of data. You'll learn legacy functions as well as the most recent releases of the last couple years: MATCH, XMATCH, INDEX, XLOOKUP, V/HLOOKUP, DATA VALIDATION

Learn the LOOKUPS

Covered will be foundational functions that serve as the common threads for your work files. You'll learn how and when to use each through a multitude of different exercises and cases. Some functions include: IF, IFS, OR, AND, SUM, SUMIFS, SUMPRODUCT, COUNT, COUNTIF,COUNTIFS

Cover your bases

You won't just learn functions and formulas in isolation. You'll learn how to string them together to accomplish efficiencies you didn't know were possible. You'll learn approaches for building reports, dashboards, conducting month-end close, budgeting, forecasting, and more.

Bringing it all together

This program involves real business cases, real client exercises, and real applications to work you're likely to encounter. You'll learn creative thinking and how to immediately translate the lessons learned to your work.

Direct application in corporate finance, FP&A, management consulting, or investment banking

You'll learn the ins and outs of much of what Excel has to offer. At times you'll say "I had no idea this was possible" or "I had no idea this even existed". That's the point. You're going to learn how to navigate throughout the ribbons, menus, layouts, and shortcuts that will make it far easier for you to do your current and future work.

Excel Navigation

After you learn thorough navigation of what exist, you'll dive deep into the tools and features. Some of these features have been around for years while others are brand new with few people knowing about them. Not only will you learn what these tools are, you'll go through exercises to help you understand a multitude of ways to implement.

Excel Tools

Excel has nearly 500 functions. <ul><li>Fewer than 100 are financial-type</li><li>Fewer than 50 are date- and time-type</li><li>Fewer than 35 are text-type</li><li>Fewer than 25 are lookup-type</li><li>Fewer than 15 are logical-type</li></ul> You'll learn the most important functions you need to be effective and efficient in your everyday work.

Formulas and Functions

Shortcuts in Excel lead to confusion, poor audibility, and inefficiency. You'll learn work file and modeling best practices so you can build files that don't.

Work File Structuring

A relatively new concept, Excel dynamics allow users to update data sets, forecasts, and formulas quickly and easily within minimal manual involvements. You'll learn close to a dozen different approaches for employing Excel dynamics which will save immense time, eliminate your mistakes, and streamline your updates to minimize rework.

Excel Dynamics

It's one thing to become an Excel guru. Many Microsoft MVPs are. But few of them understand how to weave together Excel mastery with your job requirements in finance. You'll learn 20+ financial applications using basic, intermediate, advanced, and dynamic Excel methods.

Excel for Finance

Here's the Course:

Great Excel training shouldn't just focus on tips and tricks. It should focus on comprehensive understanding and direct application to your work in finance. It's about embracing the best practices and techniques for getting great work done. That's Dynamic Excel for Finance.

Meet Carl, your instructor and guide

Partial list of who I've worked with:

"Prior Excel courses have been based around tips, tricks, and shortcuts. Whereas this course gave real world examples." -- John Jewell, Director of FP&amp;A at StellusRx

What attendees of Dynamic Excel for Finance have to say:

Curious what past Excel for Finance and FP&A Technical Mastery Program attendees have to say?

"This seminar is one of the best I’ve ever attended and it is not the easiest subject to do.&nbsp;Carl is very knowledgeable and an excellent presenter!" ﻿-- Zhuming Smith, Founder and CEO of Apex Signs and Graphics, Inc

Financial Planning and Analysis Manager at Optum

What other attendees say about Dynamic Excel for Finance

"This is the best course I've ever taken -- it’s&nbsp;Excel&nbsp;on&nbsp;steroids&nbsp;for FP&amp;A and overall with great real-life examples that will give a lift to the overall knowledge of the finance department." ﻿-- Robert Knebel, Management Accountant at Hydro Ottawa

Frequently Asked Questions

"Carl's an excellent instructor.&nbsp;He breaks down complex formulas and processes into simple steps.&nbsp;Most importantly, the basis on all material is how it can be applied to the finance/accounting function and processes immediately." -- Aaron Hill, Fractional CFO at Watchpoint Group

Many Excel and financial training programs use made-up exercises. But not this one. You'll work on Excel and data files and conduct analysis on real client companies (names removed...of course).

Real-life cases of real-life companies with real-life colleagues

Tired of listening to so-called experts and talking-heads drone on in lecture-style format? Me to. That's why I don't do it. My programs are highly interactive and challenging with real life client stories. You won't just learn how to execute techniques, you'll learn why we do it the way we do and how it's been successful in real companies.

Interactive and rich in engagement

I do my best to ensure each cohort is made of great people. They're sharp, savvy, and want to learn and contribute. This chemistry ensures it's a positive experience for everyone.

Learn with a cohort of peers

Learning is better with cohorts

"I have taken several of Carl's courses. I always like the way he presents the material.&nbsp;This course focused on detailed aspects of Excel functions, both new functions for dynamic analysis and useful ways of using older functionality." -- Bob Brammer, Former CTO Northrop Grumman

Become a go-to Excel expert and take control of your finance and analytics career

<a href="https://maven.com/seidman-financial/the-fractional-cfo-power-skills-program" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here for more info</a>

The Fractional CFO Power Skills Mastermind

<a href="https://maven.com/seidman-financial/excel-finance" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here for more information</a>

Dynamic Excel for Finance

<a href="https://maven.com/seidman-financial/cash-flow-forecasting-and-modeling" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here for more info</a>

Cash Flow Forecasting and Modeling

<a href="https://maven.com/seidman-financial/financial-modeling" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here for more info</a>

Advanced Financial and Business Modeling

<a href="https://maven.com/seidman-financial/managing-data-for-finance-with-power-query" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here for more info</a>

Managing Data for Finance with Power Query

<a href="https://maven.com/seidman-financial/financial-planning-and-analysis" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here for more info</a>

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Technical and Strategic Mastery

<a href="https://maven.com/seidman-financial/delivering-financial-presentations-with-executive-presence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here for more info</a>﻿

Delivering Financial Presentations with Executive Presence and Influence

Forecasting and Valuing Major Capex Projects

Data Visualization and Power BI for Finance

Explore Other Courses with Carl Seidman

Here's what students have to say about the shortened 2.5-hour LinkedIn Learning version of Dynamic Excel for Financial Planning & Analysis.

Submit your contact info and Carl will be in touch.

Course completed by

About this course

Get notified about the next cohort

Learn from live sessions