Financial Modeler's Corner
00:44:45 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:44:45] S1: Okay. Do you believe financial models are the number one corporate decision making tool? And if no, what is? [00:44:51] S0: I'm gonna go ahead and say no after listening to a lot of guests' answers. I usually say yes. I think they should be, but I think gut checks, politics, and stupid people rate above model. I shouldn't say stupid people. And people making bad decisions rate above model. [00:45:08] S1: I think that's probably the most honest answer I've heard to that question. And the last one, what is your lookup function of choice? Choose VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, index match, XLOOKUP, something else. [00:45:20] S0: If I was Mark Proctor, I'd say filter because I would make him happy. But I gotta be honest here. Power Query is my favorite, but that's often not practical, so XLOOKUP. [00:45:28] S1: Filter's a great shout, though. I have to be honest. That is a great shout. [00:45:31] S0: Yeah. And I'm starting to see more and more after seeing what Mark's done with it, where if I spend a little more time, I could see where... Because he's gotta think a little differently to use it. It could be better than any of the other lookups. So I think it's... There's a real argument to be made. It's the most flexible of any of them. [00:45:46] S1: I know you normally allow your guests to choose which question to go back to. You put me in charge, so I'm not gonna let you. Merged cells, when are they allowed?
00:45:46 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:45:46] S1: I know you normally allow your guests to choose which question to go back to. You put me in charge, so I'm not gonna let you. Merged cells, when are they allowed? [00:45:55] S0: In formatting of a report, never in the raw data. If you use a merged cell in your raw data, yes, you should go to hell, as many guests will say. But if you're doing it on the front of a format, I don't care. As long as it's clear that's formatting and you have all the raw data in a nice area where the person can go work off it. If the raw data is part of your report format, you should not use merged cells because they're gonna hate you because the first thing they're gonna wanna do is get to that data, and they're gonna be like, what have you done? And spend ten minutes undoing merged cells. Now you could just ask AI to do it, but... So that's my reasoning. [00:46:27] S1: Okay. I'm uncomfortable with your position, but I accept it as you are a grown adult as well. I think until they come up with the vertical alignment for merge cells, if you're listening to Microsoft, improve named ranges and give us vertical alignment, the name manager and give us vertical alignment on merge sales, please. I'm comfortable enough to be uncomfortable. [00:46:48] S0: That's fine. I just wanna let you know, Dim also said they were acceptable. [00:46:51] S1: It's really difficult because I generally just agree with everything Dim says. Okay. Fine.
00:46:51 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:46:51] S1: It's really difficult because I generally just agree with everything Dim says. Okay. Fine. [00:46:55] S0: Well, what was great is actually I was finishing up the interview with Dim and Ryan Humphries, anyone who's listening the show, was back there and he heard that answer and he was like, oh man, do I gotta change my answer now? [00:47:04] S1: Yeah. Okay. Well, you got through it. You survived. I've really enjoyed putting you on the spotlight. Is there anything else you wanted to share? Like, one more question, I guess. What's coming up for you? I know you've just started writing for Forbes or you will be soon. Like, what's on the horizon for the FP and A guy? [00:47:21] S0: Yeah. So writing for Forbes, I've been working on software market map that I hope to release. I have a course that I was originally gonna release in January that I need to finish. I've recorded it all. I just need to get the recordings done. So there's a few course things I hope to get out, and I think those are the main things. I mean, there's nothing really big out there just continuing to be annoying to everybody on LinkedIn. [00:47:42] S1: I mean, I'll be there with you, Paul. [00:47:46] S0: And, you know, who am I? Even travel one day. [00:47:49] S1: Yeah. Do. Come and join XL on the road at some point. We... Faye and I had dinner with you in Salt Lake City, didn't didn't we? So we can do that again. I will hand back over to you. Thank you for leaving me in charge for this episode. It's been a pleasure, and I'll let you wrap up.
00:47:49 · Giles Male, Paul Barnhurst
[00:47:49] S1: Yeah. Do. Come and join XL on the road at some point. We... Faye and I had dinner with you in Salt Lake City, didn't didn't we? So we can do that again. I will hand back over to you. Thank you for leaving me in charge for this episode. It's been a pleasure, and I'll let you wrap up. [00:48:02] S0: Alrighty. Well, normally, I ask the guests at this point how people can get in touch with them. But if you don't know how to get in touch with me, then you're probably not watching the show, and it won't matter what answer I give. So we'll go ahead and wrap up and just say thank you, Giles, for taking a few minutes. I enjoyed getting you share a little bit about my experience with the audience. Would love for you to leave a rating and review if you enjoyed the episode, and we hope to see you in future episodes. So thank you, everybody. [00:48:25] S1: Thanks very much. [00:48:26] S0: Financial Modeler's Corner was brought to you by the Financial Modeling Institute. This year, I completed the advanced financial modeler certification, and it made me a better financial modeler. What are you waiting for? Visit f m I at w w w dot f m institute dot com backslash podcast, and use code podcast to save 15% when you enroll in one of the accreditations today.