Investment Banking Manual

Download CFI's free investment banking book

Investment Banking Manual

Covering accounting fundamentals, valuation, financial modeling, & Excel skills, this 400+ page guide to investment banking is a must-have for new analysts & associates.

Welcome to the official investment banking eBook from the Corporate Finance Institute. In this 466-page analyst manual, we walk through all the important skills and the body of knowledge required for a new hire at a bank. From accounting fundamentals to valuation, financial modeling, and Excel skills, this eBook cover all the major topics in investment banking for a new analyst or associate.  We hope you find this book useful in reaching your future goals.

CFI’s investment banking book is divided into three chapters: accounting, valuation, and financial modeling.  Below is a detailed breakdown of what’s included in each chapter.

Investment Banking Book – Accounting (Chapter 1)

The accounting section of CFI’s investment banking book includes:

Accounting and analysis fundamentals

• Accounting framework
• Balance sheet issues
• Income statement issues
• Cash flow statements

Accounting and analysis for mergers and acquisitions

• Acquisition accounting
• Accounting for associates and joint ventures
• Considerations for investment banking
• Comprehensive examples
• New M&A accounting rules

Valuation (Chapter 2)

The investment banking book includes:

Discounted cash flow techniques

• Discounting fundamentals
• Estimating free cash flow for valuation purposes
• The key value drivers of cash flow
• Calculating the terminal value
• Putting it all together – DCF with terminal value calculation

Cost of capital

• An introduction to risk
• Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)
• The Cost of Debt and WACC

Comparable company analysis

• Why do we do comps?
• Comparable universe
• Sources of information
• From Equity Value to Enterprise Value
• Which multiple?
• Using comps
• Special Situations
• Keys to success

Precedent transaction analysis

• Introduction
• Mechanics
• Valuing the target
• Control premia
• Problems with precedent transactions

Financial Modeling (Chapter 3)

The financial modeling section of the investment banking book includes:

Best practices financial modeling

• Introduction
• Introducing the Ribbon
• Quick Access Toolbar
• Page Layout menu
• View menu
• Model set up
• Model structure
• Referencing
• Formatting
• IF and some other logical functions
• Data retrieval – the LOOKUP school
• Volatile functions
• Consolidating data
• Arrays
• Dates
• Switches
• Sensitivity
• Validating data
• Pivot tables
• Model completion
• Charts
• Historic financials
• Forecast financials
• Debt modeling
• Formatting Continued
• Formulas
• Names
• Data functionality
• Auditing and error detection tools
• Auditing a model – a process

Appendix

• Excel tricks
• Excel function keys
• Other shortcuts

Book Review

Below is one of many reviews CFI received from satisfied readers:

“The investment banking manual book covers just about everything you need to know to jump in as a new analyst or associate.  For anyone who wants a crash course or refresher on a wide body of knowledge, this is the ebook for you.”

Additional Resources

This Investment Banking Analyst book is a great way to jumpstart your banking knowledge.  Whether you are going for an interview, or just started on the job, this book is a great way to get a lot of information in one highly organized format.  And the best part is…it’s 100% free!

To learn more and advance your career, check out these additional CFI resources:

• All CFI eBooks
• Investment Banking Interview Questions
• Finance Interview Questions
• Career Map
• See all valuation resources
• See all financial modeling resources